The Impact of the Internet on Mycology

Online Poster, presented as a conventional poster at the Mycological Society of America/ American Bryological and Lichenological Society joint meeting, San Juan Puerto Rico, June 8-12, 1998

* THOMAS J. VOLK, Dept of Biology and Microbiology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse WI 54601 volk.thom@uwlax.edu web page http://TomVolkFungi.net

and

* KATHIE T. HODGE, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 kh11@cornell.edu. web page http://www.keil.ukans.edu/~fungi/

Abstract

The internet has changed the way we do mycology. It has promoted fast and easy communication between researchers through electronic mail and newsgroups. This poster, for example, was prepared by the co-authors exclusively via e-mail. One of the newest tools for reaching a broad range of people and educating them about mycology is the World Wide Web, which can include video and still images as well as text. Many researchers, teachers and amateur mycologists, especially in developing countries, do not have access to books or journals in the field of mycology. Increasing numbers of web sites are available that provide up-to-date information and illustrations from nearly every aspect of mycology. Keys and databases are increasingly available, including such valuable resources as herbarium and nomenclature databases. One problem is the lack of peer review on the internet; anyone with a computer can put up a web site, leading to much misinformation that can be interpreted as fact. This presentation will discuss some advantages, problems and the future of the internet as a source of information. The Mycological Society of America's web page [http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3msa/], Kathie Hodge's Mycological Resources on the Internet [http://www.keil.ukans.edu/~fungi/], and Tom Volk's Fungi [http://TomVolkFungi.net] will be used as a basis for discussion.

E-MAIL AND MYCOLOGY

New improved e-mail! Today, with the right software, we can participate in e-mail discussion groups, automatically filter incoming e-mail into topic-specific mailboxes, send formatted text, and send files and applications as e-mail attachments. The downside? Spam- unsolicited junk mail, often in large quantities. See the box of spam for coping mechanisms.

E-Mail not quick enough for you? There are also electronic chat boards, where you can talk live with other people interested in the same topics.

Quotes from outrageous requests

From a high school student:
"I need to know What is Homeostasis? Could you include the folowing: Plasma membrane, Cell Transport, diffusion vs. Osmosis, Active vs Passive Transport, and ATP and the cell?? Also how do cells grow and reproduce? This is the last one What is the difference between a plant and an animal cell?? I would apreciate it if you could get this to me tomorrow morning?? If you can't could you get it to me by tomorrow night?? "

WEB PAGES

The Mycological Society of America's web page http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3msa/
Kathie Hodge's Mycological Resources on the Internet http://www.keil.ukans.edu/~fungi/
Tom Volk's Fungi http://TomVolkFungi.net

Uses and flexibility of web pages

• Education: college, high school, grade school
• Using web pages in the classroom. Computer projection systems, self-study
• Amateur mycology
• Questions from readers, get feedback from experts.
• Customized text development
• Research: Literature search for students, researchers
• Mushrom cultivation information
• Promote organization or business
• Provide links to other resources
• Provide images for classroom/research use or
• Adjuncts to or substitutes for paper publication
• Get people working on the same thing in touch with one another.
  e.g. Web pages of MSA members Quote from e-mail: "This is my favorite part of the MSA web page. It shows the diversity of things we're working on"

WEB PAGE DEVELOPMENT

HTML is child's play! See this annotated web page.

Software for page building

Mac AOLpress (freeware) Abode PageMill Claris Home Page Microsoft Frontpage Any good text editor (try BBEdit Lite: freeware)

PC Notepad HTML writer Microsoft Frontpage Netscape Navigator Gold, Navigator 4.0 Team Fusion Most newer versions of word processing programs will save a document as HTML-- but they never save it exactly as you would like to see it, so additional processing is needed Ever wonder what all those strange, new words mean? Here is SOFWeb's useful guide to the language of the Internet. CRITICAL ISSUES Information quality Users must be alert to the potential unreliability of internet information sources. Internet sites are seldom subject to peer review. Anyone with a computer can put up a web site on anything! Mushroom photographs may be misidentified. Unscrupulous webmasters could provide misleading information to promote a product or service. Finding information The internet has no "center." So there's no one directory to all the information that exists out there. The web is growing so fast that no one search engine can possibly include all internet sites. Try multiple search engines, or start let someone else narrow down the search by using a links library, such as Kathie's WWW Virtual Library of Mycology. Speed Bottlenecks in data transfer are caused by your internet connection, your computer, the server computer, and the number of people accessing the server. Web pages heavy on graphics and special effects are slow to load. Who'd want to read a book if it took 3 minutes to turn the page? Keep your user in mind when you design your pages! Many people with high speed ethernet connections forget about their end users and place large files (images or java script) on their web pages that may take several minutes to download over phone line connections. Remember, much of the world is still operating on 2400 bps modems. Computer viruses We know from personal experience to be diligent in scanning every file for viruses. Periodically update your antivirus software--new viruses are constantly being manufactured and discovered. Viruses can only be transmitted in an executable file and are only harmful if the file is executed. Be especially careful of Word Processing Macro viruses. Macros are executable files! DEALING WITH SPAM Spam is unsolicited commercial e-mail. Because spammers don't like to listen to us complain, they usually disguise their return address and use a subject line designed to pique our attention. Spammers use robots to pick up e-mail addresses from USENET newsgroups, web pages, and other spammers. Spam can sometimes accumulate massively in your email inbox. How to cope? Move to Washington. Starting July 1998, the fine for sending spam with a misleading return address or subject to or from Washington State will be $500-1000. If you are the spam recipient, the fine is paid to you. As yet untested in court... Protect your e-mail address. Disguise it when posting to newsgroups; be careful about posting it to the web. Filter spam. Devoted spam-despisers provide tips on constructing filters that automatically remove spam from your inbox. See Engst, MacWeek xxxx. Don't respond! It doesn't do any good to ask to be taken off the mailing list. Your reply merely indicates that you exist, and is an open invitation for more spam. Some companies exist merely to sell e-mail addresses to spammers. Report the spammer to their internet service provider (ISP). Usually this does no good, but certain ISP’s will act on preventing their subscribers from sending spam. Chase the spammer. OK, this is difficult and ineffective, but potentially satisfying. There ARE ways of tracking them down. THE FUTURE OF MYCOLOGY ON THE INTERNET Electronic publishing Articles in electronic journals can be in color, and include pictures, graphs, and lots of accessory data. They can be published quickly and inexpensively. Already some authors refer to a web page for an illustration of new species, or provide online versions of their articles, like this Mycotaxon paper on Bridgeoporus nobilissimus by Burdsall, Volk, and Ammirati. The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature does not (yet?) consider internet publication valid for nomenclatural purposes! An electronic journal would be more easily available, and could potentially be searched and indexed much more effectively than paper publications. Articles would come out much more quickly after review, and overall costs would be lower. Problem areas include copyright and password protection--why subscribe to a journal if you can get it free online? Why should a library subscribe? There are many considerations that would have to be worked out. PDF format is flexible, indexable, and readable on any computer platform. A picture of the document, not the text of the document is online. e.g. all Forest Products Laboratory (Madison, Wisconsin) publications are available online. Databases Online databases ensure wide availability, free up room on your hard disk, and can be easily kept up-to-date. User inputs and error corrections are facilitated. Hard copies of databases are usually out of date as soon as they are printed. Moreover, printed copies are not easily searchable. "Literature:" (e.g. Index of fungi, Fungi on Plants and Plant Products, AnaTeleo) Herbarium databases (e.g. Beltsville, University of Michigan) Culture collections Mycoflora (or mycota!) of an area (inventories) Images of fungi Keys and Identification Resources Synoptic keys are easily implemented using database interfaces (e.g. FusKey and PezWeb) Dichotomous keys can be easily constructed (e.g. see this key to North American Armillaria species) Image databases allow internet-wide searches for illustrations Newsletters Continually updated bulletin boards and newsletters mean the latest information is always available. Links to job ads and requests for fungi and other materials can be provided in a timely manner. Recommendations Design user-friendly pages to describe your work Use internet keys and identification guides Participate in collaborative efforts like AnaTeleo Interact in online discussion groups like MSAPOST Don't let your computer gather dust! Get Online!