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International Earth Science Information




Here is a project that many indigenous peoples worldwide can contribute to, 
and also benefit from; to help protect Mother Earth.

Glenn
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What is the CIESIN Kiosk?

CIESIN's Human Dimensions Kiosk provides electronic access to 
unpublished scholarly papers and less accessible reports on 
the human dimensions of global environmental change research. 
The CIESIN Kiosk is currently accessible on four platforms.  
They are anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) at 
ftp.ciesin.org/kiosk; electronic mail, Gopher. at 
gopher.ciesin.org/Kiosk; and from the WorldWideWeb (WWW) by 
typing the URL address: http://WWW.ciesin.org/kiosk/home.html

What is CIESIN?

The Consortium for International Earth Science Information 
Network (CIESIN, pronounced as season ) is a private, non-
profit corporation created that serves scientific, policy-
making, educational, and public access data and information 
needs.  It addresses urgent international concerns, 
including:  1) global environmental change and sustainable 
development issues and 2) the need to promote more efficient 
access, dissemination, and use of scientific data and 
information. 

CIESIN's mission is to provide access to and enhance the use 
of information worldwide, advancing understanding of human 
interactions in the environment and serving the needs of 
science and public and private decisionmaking.  To achieve 
this mission, CIESIN is developing an international alliance 
of academic, governmental, multilateral, public, and private 
organizations interested in understanding global, regional, 
and local environmental change.  In accordance with its 
mission, CIESIN archives and disseminates data relevant to 
understanding human interactions with the environment.  
CIESIN services support interdisciplinary research and 
applications in key areas including global environmental 
change and sustainable development.  

CIESIN is implementing infrastructure and data development 
programs with the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA), the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the 
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program 
(SERDP), the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the 
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Sustainable 
Development Network (SDN).  CIESIN developed and is operating 
the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), as 
part of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information 
System (EOSDIS), and operates the U.S. Global Change Research 
Information Office (GCRIO) for the Executive Office of the 
President.  In addition, CIESIN has organized and maintains 
access to an expanding Information Cooperative, a distributed 
global network of data centers and other institutions to 
provide its users access to relevant data located worldwide.  


What is SEDAC?

Operating as a major component of CIESIN, the Socioeconomic 
Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) is one of nine data 
centers in the Earth Observing System Data and Information 
System (EOSDIS) that supports NASA's Mission to Planet Earth 
program. While the other eight EOSDIS data centers are 
responsible for archiving natural science data, SEDAC's focus 
is on human dimensions of global environmental change.

With the aim of translating scientific data and information 
into tangible benefits to the American people, SEDAC will 
serve as a two-way information gateway between the 
socioeconomic and Earth science data and information domains.  
This will be accomplished in two ways: through the 
development of new policy-oriented information products that 
synthesize Earth science and socioeconomic data; and by 
providing the resulting operational data and information 
services to the public.

More about CIESIN's Data

CIESIN is developing global-scale, time-series, and baseline 
data and information on the human dimensions of global 
environmental change. Data identification and acquisition 
efforts are focused in these areas:  land and fresh water 
resources; industry and energy; agriculture and food 
security; population dynamics; economic activity; human 
attitudes, preferences, and behavior; policy and 
institutions; human and environmental Health; other 
supporting data sets and regional data collections 

More about the CIESIN Kiosk

The CIESIN Kiosk is an interactive electronic forum to 
facilitate information sharing on the human dimensions of 
global environmental change. The Kiosk encompasses two types 
of materials: 1) unpublished scholarly papers; and (2) an 
electronic bookshelf. The acceleration of research in the 
field of human interactions in global environmental change, 
the growing number of less accessible working papers, the 
relatively slow pace of peer review, constraints in 
publication and dissemination can result in a significant 
time lag before these materials are available to others doing 
similar work. The CIESIN Kiosk addresses these issues head-
on. It is intended to promote the timely exchange of current 
information on human dimensions of global change among 
researchers and policy makers, both within and across 
disciplinary boundaries. CIESIN's role, in short, is to 
provide the infrastructure for sharing materials that 
otherwise might be difficult to locate and access.

Unpublished Scholarly Papers

To better understand human interactions in global 
environmental change, both researchers and policy makers need 
a faster means to circulate scholarly papers and reports and 
to promote interdisciplinary interaction and discussion.  
Using the model of on-line dissemination of research papers 
developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory for the physics 
community (http://www.chem.brown.edu/chem-ph.html), the 
CIESIN Kiosk provides a service for rapid dissemination of 
research.  The unpublished scholarly papers section of the 
Kiosk, encompasses three types of materials:
*%     Unpublished scholarly papers for which feedback or
      comment from scientific 
%*     colleagues is desirable;
%*    Preliminary working papers;
%*    Background information or data.

Through the Kiosk, researchers can make their unpublished 
research materials available to others in the community.  
Copyright holders retain copyright.

Electronic Bookshelf

The CIESIN Electronic Bookshelf provides a unique set of 
information resources to the human dimensions community not 
readily available through other means. The electronic 
bookshelf provides access to reports, working papers, and 
other background information from the Human Dimensions of 
Global Environmental Change Programme (HDP) of the 
International Social Science Council, the SysTem for 
Analysis, Research, and Training (START), United Nations 
Environmental Program (UNEP), International Institute for 
Environment and Development (IIED), and the Canadian Global 
Change Program (CGCP). The CIESIN Kiosk provides the 
infrastructure for sharing these materials that might 
otherwise be difficult to locate and access.

Kiosk Features

%   Since the inception of the CIESIN Kiosk in Spring 1994, 
twenty unpublished scholarly papers have been made available 
electronically. These papers are not easily available through 
any other means, and they provide recent data and information 
on human dimensions of global environmental change.

% * The unpublished scholarly papers were collected from 
researchers and policy makers representing a broad spectrum 
of social science disciplines, including anthropology, 
economics, geography, political science, and sociology as 
well as agriculture and food security, economics, human 
health, population, land use, political and social 
institutions.

% *  The unpublished scholarly papers are based on 
environmental research conducted in various countries such as 
Brazil, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, The Netherlands, 
Nigeria, Rwanda, United Kingdom, and United States.

% *  The unpublished papers can be searched via general index, 
subject index, and also by entering keywords.

% *  The comments section of the Kiosk enables readers to 
provide input and comments to the authors. 

%   The CIESIN Kiosk is currently accessible through four 
platforms.  They are FTP (File Transfer Protocol), electronic 
mail, gopher, and WorldWideWeb.

%   The electronic bookshelf, another component of the Kiosk, 
is a collection of less accessible global change documents 
and these documents could be accessed through a global change 
program index. The currently available global change program 
indexes are HDP, USGCP, CGCP, START, IIED, UNCED, and UNEP.

%   Efforts are taken on a continuous basis to solicit high 
quality papers from human dimensions researchers from all 
over the world.

%   This unique service for information sharing on human 
dimensions of global environmental change is also publicized 
through relevant newsletters and Internet resources.

Accessing the Kiosk

The CIESIN Kiosk materials, which are primarily textual in 
nature, can be accessed via the Internet through File 
Transfer Protocol (FTP), gopher and the WorldWideWeb.  
Electronic mail access will be available to users of services 
such as Omnet, Compuserve, FidoNet, and Bitnet.

WorldWideWeb: 
(1) After entering into WorldWideWeb, open URL and type the 
URL address as: 
      http://WWW.ciesin.org/kiosk/home.html
(2)  To view the papers, click on the General Index and 
Subject Index 
(3) The papers can be viewed by clicking the corresponding 
code numbers.
(4) To view the document in the electronic bookshelf, click 
on the Organizational Index

FTP:
The specific commands used are the same for FTP and 
electronic mail. FTP commands are entered interactively, and 
mail commands are sent in the body of a message.  Step-by-
step instructions are included here along with an example for 
both methods of connection. 
If your computer has FTP:
(1) FTP to ftp.ciesin.org
(2) When prompted for a login, enter: anonymous
(3) When prompted for a password, enter your e-mail address, 
such as: 
      foobar@ciesin.org
(4) Change directories to access the CIESIN Kiosk using the 
command: 
      cd kiosk
(5)  Type: get kiosk-FAQ.txt  |more for instructions 
regarding accessing,
       copyrights, and submissions
(6)  The papers can be found in the publications sub-
directory. In order to get 
       the kiosk index file:
               (a) change directory by typing cd 
/kiosk/publications
               (b) type get index.txt
(7)  To retrieve a particular paper, type get <file name>
       For example, to view the paper number one, type get 
94-0001.txt  |more
(8)  If you are done, type quit.

E-mail:
If your computer does not have FTP:
(1) Send an e-mail message to: mailftp@ciesin.org
(2) In the body of the message, include the following 
commands:
      reply to <your e-mail address>
      open ftp.ciesin.org
      cd kiosk
(3) To retrieve a particular paper, type get <file name>
      For example, to view the paper number one, type get 94-
0001.txt  |more
(4) Type get kiosk-FAQ.txt for further instructions regarding 
accessing, 
      copyrights, and submissions.
(5)  Type quit after the last command

Gopher:
(1) Access the CIESIN Gopher at:  gopher.ciesin.org
(2) Select Kiosk
(3) To view the kiosk papers, select the title
(4) The papers can also be searched using keywords under the 
menu Kiosk
      keyword search. Select the Kiosk keyword search menu 
and enter any
      keyword.

Submitting Papers

Submissions to the CIESIN Kiosk can be made either by FTPing 
files into the Kiosk 
submissions subdirectory or by mailing a disk with the files 
on it to the CIESIN Kiosk Coordinator. 
FTP Instructions:
(1)  FTP to ftp.ciesin.org
(2)  When prompted, enter anonymous for user name
(3)  When prompted, enter your e-mail address for password
(4)  Change directory by typing:  cd /kiosk/submissions
(5)  Copy file to CIESIN Kiosk using the command:  put 
<filename>
(6)  Send an e-mail message to kiosk@ciesin.org with a 
completed copy of the form 
       RcontributorsU information.S

Postal Instructions:
Send either a 3.5" or 5.25" Macintosh or DOS formatted floppy 
disk with a completed copy of the form Rcontributors 
information:S

CIESIN Kiosk Coordinator
CIESIN
2250 Pierce Rd.
University Center, MI 48710
USA

If you have questions about the CIESIN Kiosk, please send e-
mail to kiosk@ciesin.org or contact CIESIN User Services 
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time at:

CIESIN User Services and Training
Phone:  (517) 797-2727
FAX:  (517) 797-2622
E-mail Address:  ciesin.info@ciesin.org

CIESIN User Services will answer your questions about CIESIN.

                                                                                
                      
August 9, 1994

Source: NETHAPP - Net Happenings List