Several significant events occurred in 1995 that will shape the way WISENET communicates and networks in the future.
Firstly, a survey of a small group of WISENET members showed people joined WISENET for the networking. This was also the main aspect of WISENET that these members wanted improved.
Secondly, a physicist visiting Sydney wanted to address a WISENET group. It was impracticable to notify all local WISENET members of the meeting at such short notice. Someone had the foresight to pass an e-mail message about the meeting onto an electronic bulletin board for physicists. This alerted a lot of people to the meeting, and half the women who attended did so because of one e-mail message.
Thirdly, a WISENET World Wide Web page was established. The cover page gives a list of other pages that include the Aims and Objectives of WISENET and the WISENET Contacts in each State. This makes WISENET information available to anyone in the world with Web access.
Each of these events indicates that WISENET can get a lot better by electronic networking.
Although we have taken the first steps, the move to electronic networking is not straightforward. There are concerns about protecting the interests of WISENET members who don't have Internet (or full Internet) access.
With so many facets to the Internet, it was not obvious what WISENET should be doing electronically.
Once the ethical and philosophical issues are sorted out, there are still technical and practical details of where the site (or sites) will be based and who will run them.
An Electronic Networking Committee is currently looking at some of the issues, and discussions have also been held by the Sydney WISENET Group. The main issues are summarised in the article on page 2.
We encourage you to contact me or any member of the Link Team, or write to the WISENET address, to express your opinions.
Sarah Miller, e-mail: s.miller@syd.dcet.csiro.au