Don't know if this has been mentioned on a thread already, but I came across a web site on signal transduction while looking through the journal listings on Stanford's Highwire web. The site (http://www.stke.org) is free for some period of time.
Jason
About STKE
History
Goals
Why Signal Transduction?
Features of the Prototype
Future Plans
Summary
Staff, Editorial Board, Funders, and Participating Publishers
History: The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) established a collaboration with Stanford University Libraries (SUL) and The Center for Resource Economics/Island Press (Island Press) in 1996 to help scientific researchers and non-profit organizations harness the power of the Internet and electronic publishing. At that time, only a handful of journals were available through the Internet, and the World Wide Web was in its infancy. It was clear, however, that the Web could transform the ways in which scientists gathered and shared information as part of research efforts. We recognized that Web-based technologies could enhance access to databased information and greatly improve the effectiveness of information transfer and the creation of new knowledge. Development work on the project began in early 1998 after the collaborative received a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to create a prototype of the web-based electronic networking tools we envisioned.
Knowledge Environment is the term coined by the collaborative to describe the collection of electronic networking tools we are developing. Knowledge environments (KEs) use practical, production-quality tools to systematize the consensus knowledge within a scientific domain, and to facilitate users? access to that knowledge. In a KE, access occurs through searching, browsing, and current awareness features combined with user-friendly graphical interfaces. KEs combine primary and review literature with more dispersed sources of "how-to", "what-is", and "where-to" knowledge. Specific electronic tools that facilitate entry of information into the underlying databases are also being developed as part of the concept.
Goals:
The overarching goal of the KE project is to identify and develop a mix of tools and approaches (algorithms, schemas, programs, and human organizational structures) that are stable, scalable, inter-operable, and cost-effective across a wide range of disciplines.
The defining goals for the KE project are to save the researcher time in the information-gathering process, to increase the likelihood of the scientist making new connections between facts from discrete sources, and to support educational, collaborative, and community-building efforts.
An additional goal of the project is to better understand the tools and organizational structures scientific authorities need when they attempt to systematize a domain's knowledge.
Science?s STKE is our first example of the type of tools and approaches that we think will meet our goals of increasing the speed and effectiveness of information transfer. The success of these tools will be measured in terms of increased effectiveness for the researcher.
Why Signal Transduction? Signal transduction (ST) is the study of how cells control their own and each others? behaviors through chemical signals. ST research is an intensely active field of biomedical research and is of interest to a broad array of scientists. Science's STKE, should be useful to the scientists who specialize in ST as well as the many scientists who need to follow and appy the current findings of this field even though their primary interest may not be in ST mechanisms themselves. ST research was selected for the prototype KE because:
The characteristics of the potential user base will allow us to test many of the electronic tools that are central to the KE concept.
The user population is an interdisciplinary group so we will be able to test those KE tools that are specifically designed to facilitate communication across disciplines and to filter information such that only material relevant to the user?s interest is presented.
The natural way in which this topic can be mapped by classes of data structures will allow us to test the use of a graphical interface to access and display data from a database maintained by experts.
No single journal serves as the main source of ST information; researchers must scan numerous sources to stay abreast of current advances. Thus, there is a clear need for information management tools.
The informal exchange of information within this research community is also fractured because ST researchers do not all belong to one scholarly society.
Features of the Prototype: Experienced editors from Science worked with software developers from HighWire Press to develop the prototype, which includes information management tools that ST researchers indicated they needed. Science's STKE emphasizes information vetted by authorities in the field, prudently supplemented with automated functions where appropriate. The high editorial standards that have been the benchmark for Science are applied to selection of material for Science's STKE. In addition, seventeen publishers have agreed to include full-text access to ST content from their journals in the prototype. The content and major automated functions of the site are described in the introduction.
Future Plans: Science's STKE will be freely available for an initial period of six months. During this time, assessment will focus on users? behaviors related to gathering information. After the initial testing period, we will discuss our results with our cooperating partners and funders to determine modifications to the site as well as potential models to ensure the future sustainability of Science's STKE.
Summary: We believe that KEs will dramatically change the ways in which scientists gather information, make informed decisions, plan and execute research, educate graduate students, and collaborate with individuals and groups from around the world. The KE tools are meant to become an integral part of the working environment of these individuals and groups, and lead the way to capitalizing on the distributed intelligence of many different communities. Further, the collaborative structure of the KE concept will enable scholarly communities to pool their resources to more effectively exploit the power of the Internet.
Development of Science?s STKE has been a truly collaborative effort. Without the support of our funders and the participating publishers, our vision could not be tested. In addition, we are grateful for the ongoing guidance of our Editorial Board.
Science's STKE
Editorial Team
L. Bryan Ray, Ph.D. (Editor)
Lisa Chong, Ph.D. (Associate Editor)
William Busa, Ph.D. (Consulting Editor)
Monica M. Bradford (Project Director)
David Gillikin (Electronic Media Manager)
Betsy Harman (Assistant Production Manager, Internet)
Trish Berg (Production Associate, Internet)
Cara Tate (Editorial Manager)
Development Team
Bill Witscher (Associate Director)
Demian Harvill (Technical Manager)
Jeff Plautz (Application Software Developer)
Serge Taylor (Database Developer)
A.J. Snijders (Application Software Developer)
Josh Vura-Weis (Application Software Developer)
Tony Smith-Grieco (Systems Software Developer)
Teresa Torres (Application Software Developer)
Ann Van (Research Assistant)
AAAS
Floyd E. Bloom, M.D. (Editor-in-Chief, Science)
Beth Rosner (Associate Publisher)
John Meyers (Marketing Director, Advertising)
Chris Peterson (New Media Sales Manager, Advertising)
Michael Spinella (Director, Membership/Circulation)
Marlene Zendell (Deputy Director, Membership/Circulation)
Scott Oser (Marketing Manager, Membership/Circulation)
Renuka Chander (Research Manager, Membership/Circulation)
HighWire Press
Michael Keller (Publisher)
John Sack (Associate Publisher and Director)
Island Press
Chuck Savitt (President and Publisher)
Kristy Manning (Research Associate)
Henry Reath (Consultant)
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