President's Message
Kansas Academy of Science, Annual Meeting, March 22, 1996
The Kansas Academy of Science now faces a crucial time, in which
the academy must adopt new methods or cease to exist as a viable
scientific organization. KAS officers have recognized this
long-term problem for several years. On this basis, the academy
has undertaken several worthwhile projects, including:
- Much improved annual meetings/symposia.
- Fall field-trip series.
- Distinguished Lecturer series.
- Improvements in the Bulletin (newsletter).
- Changes in the Transactions.
- Membership campaigns, new flyer, etc.
In spite of these significant efforts, the academy continues to
suffer major problems---stagnant membership, high costs of
publication, and limited visibility. These problems represent
broad cultural trends that are well beyond our local control or
ability to change. In order to improve its status, KAS must
identify new trends and take advantage of emerging opportunites.
The KAS executive council has approved the following new initiatives.
- Expanding our geographic emphasis to include the entire
Great Plains from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
- Establishing an electronic list-serve bulletin board for KAS
and "Great Plains" science---KAS-L.
- Making the World Wide Web our primary means of
communication, including announcements, newsletters, and
scholarly publications.
Internet and the World Wide Web are the new media by which the
academy may enhance its scientific role and provide valuable
services to our members. Scientific publication on the World
Wide Web is taking off rapidly. Most people except that all
major scientific journals will be available in electronic format
by the end of this decade. Electronic bits will soon replace
paper as the primary medium for dissemination of scientific
reports and databases.
There are several advantages to using the World Wide Web as the
primary vehicle for academy publications:
- No limit to length of scientific articles, including original datasets.
- Color illustrations, images, audio, video, etc.
- Hypertext links to other Web sites around the world.
- High editorial and reviewing standards.
- Rapid publication, months instead of years.
- Near instantaneous and global availability.
- Ability of viewers to print publications or download databases.
- Copyright/trademark protection.
- Minimal publishing costs, and no sales tax.
In order to further develop these possibilities, KAS has already
begun several pilot projects on Internet and the World Wide Web.
The KAS executive council will experiment with several means of electronic communications
and scientific publications during the next few years. Some of these will prove successful
and others will not--I ask KAS members to be patient as we carry out these pilot projects.
Eventually most KAS communication will take place via
Internet. I and other council members welcome your comments and ideas. Help
us prepare the Kansas Academy of Science to enter the 21st century!
James S. Aber, KAS President, e-mail: aberjame@esumail.emporia.edu
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