From: boss@geovax.ed.ac.uk (Bruce Gittings)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis
Subject: Re: WH0 reads the Spatiotemporal Bibliography?
Date: 27 Jan 93 02:48:02 GMT
Organization: University of Edinburgh, Geography Department.

In article <199301260508.AA01047@kiev.fis.gdwb.OZ.AU>, jhr@KIEV.FIS.GDWB.OZ.AU (Julien Harrison-Rogers) writes:

> Darius Bartlett writes:
>> I hope I am not being over-cynical, but I would love to know just what
>> proportion of those dozens of people who have requested the bibliography
>> have any intention ever to read it, use it, build on it? And, also, how
>> many of those who have received copies have any intention of offering any
>> sort of feedback to Richard Snodgrass et al?
> 
> have you asked him personally about this first ?
...
> I get your gist, but I still hope this all is in a 'fun' tone, but the authors
> offered it; we are greatful to read it; and if we feel inclined we will give
> feedback to the authors we will with a thanks attached as well. That's how
> the world  goes around.

Oh goody,  a little bit of friendly mud-slingy... I'm afraid I can't resist
throwing my few kilos of finest soggy podsol.  Here goes...

I sympathise greatly with Darius.  Firstly I should say that I picked up a
copy of said bibliography primarily to lodge in our library for our Master's
students.  I say "picked it up" - I did not e-mail the list hoping the kindly
providers of the bibliography would send it to me,  nor did I email them
directly,  as undoubtedly they will have just discovered what I discovered when
I tried to do something similar a few years back ie. that (1) you get dozens of
requests  (2) half the email addresses bomb for one reason or another  and (3)
you can easily spend your life-time sending these things out.   While
information dissemination is vital, there are ways and means.

My point:  while it is now very easy to tell the world you have some resource, 
(the joys of the computer age and all that) it still requires manual
intervention to send out the copies  (given it is a lot easier than reprints in
the snail-mail).

My second point:  like the kind authors of the S.T.B. if you make it available
via ftp and ftp-mail then people can easily get it for themselves,  which saves
everyone time and effort.  While a subsequent posting showed how eager they
were to distribute STB and how pleased they were at the response,  everyone can
help pay them back for their efforts by using the easiest route possible to
request it.

My final point:  We should not take the authors for granted and not even bother
to thank them.  While that may be the "way Julien's world goes round" I would
like to think their was still courtesy-time left in our existence to say a big,
public THANK-YOU for other people's hard effort which all save us (YOU and ME)
time.  If we can further thank them by augmenting their bibliography we will
again be showing our appreciation and showing they are not taken for granted as
people can so easily be (vis Julien's comments) across this medium.

Oh,  isn't this fun,  I'm sure I'll be flamed,  but what the heck!!! :-)

Regards,

Bruce.
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