Permafrost

212
Facilitating International Scientific Exchange, the Development of
Effective Pre- and Post-Conference Websites
Gary Whitton
(Engineering and Environmental Internet Solutions, LLC)
Abstract: With the emergence of the Internet in the 1990's, the world was opened to a new and
broad reaching medium that allowed geographically dispersed groups of scientists to share
information, and collaborate like never before. The Internet, like the electronic document
revolution before it, also offered a mechanism to reduce the costs of developing, reviewing and
distributing information. These developments opened a door for universities, associations, and
conference organizers to fulfill their missions like never before.
However, along with its benefits, the Internet presents many challenges. The Internet is a
continuously changing medium, with many different user groups whose computing
environments, cultural backgrounds, and technical know-how vary greatly. To build an effective
conference website requires an understanding of the needs of its potential audience, so as to
avoid mistakes that may limit a site's effectiveness.
This presentation shall discuss the author's experience developing conference websites, and
electronic proceedings for the American Water Resources Association and the United States
Permafrost Association, as well as the numerous International standards, and techniques that
have been developed over time to maximize website usability and accessibility.
Frozen Ground Data Management for the International Polar Year and
Beyond
Mark A. Parsons
(World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder/IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee)
Abstract: Data and information on frozen ground collected over many decades and in the
future are critical for fundamental process understanding, environmental change detection and
impact assessment, model validation, and engineering application in seasonal frost and
permafrost regions. However, many of these data sets and information remain widely dispersed
and relatively unavailable to the national and international science and engineering community,
and some are in danger of being lost permanently.
The International Permafrost Association (IPA) has long recognized the inherent and
lasting value of data and information and has worked to prioritize and assess frozen ground data
requirements and to identify critical data sets for scientific and engineering purposes. In 1996, a
working group of the IPA established the Global Geocryological Data (GGD) system to
facilitate the availability of permafrost and related data. In 2002, the World Data Center (WDC)
for Glaciology, Boulder in collaboration with the International Arctic Research Center (IARC)
enhanced the GGD system by establishing the Frozen Ground Data Center (FGDC) to continue
the IPA strategy for data and information management and to meet the requirements by cold
regions science, engineering, and modeling community.