NSS News article index

[Leitmotiv]

I am interested in researching past articles in the NSS News, but I don't know what the past issues contain! I stumbled across the Marble Mountains issue in July 1999. And the Kazumura issue in November 1995. But I'd be interested to see if there are other issues on both areas, let alone other caves I'm interested in reading about. How do I go about doing this?

[Phil Winkler]

Matt, unlike our Journal I don't believe anyone has every created an index for the News. So, find someone with all the back issues (NSS Library has them) and start scanning.

[Wm Shrewsbury]

No need Phil. Our partnership with KIP is already scanning all the News from issue 1 until 5 years ago, per our agreement. They will be searchable PDFs.

Here is a link to their current progress: http://www.karstportal.org/public/index.cfm?Pg=nssnews

Enjoy!

Wm Shrewsbury
NSS-OVP

[Leitmotiv]

yeah I found those pdfs of the NSS News, and a ton more they haven't uploaded yet. It's hard to scan through 568 issues of the news... that's why an index would be nice.

[Leitmotiv]

No need Phil. Our partnership with KIP is already scanning all the News from issue 1 until 5 years ago, per our agreement. They will be searchable PDFs.

Here is a link to their current progress: http://www.karstportal.org/public/index.cfm?Pg=nssnews

Enjoy!

Wm Shrewsbury
NSS-OVP

So having these NSS News up on the internet for all to see and download is not a violation of the copyright? And the NSS has agreed to this? Is there any sensitive cave information in the NSS News that should not be up on the web for everyone?

[Wm Shrewsbury]

There is a search feature at the to that should help. Also, there is an index to the major articles in each issue.

Part of our agreement with KIP is that we have the ability to redact anything we don't want up there. They can even just put a black block over that article or section of an article. All the EVP has to do is tell them what we want covered on what page. Since the News has a policy of not printing cave locations we should be ok. As for copyrights, we are covered since the PDFs are of the News, not printing them in another publication. The EVP and several BOG members have researched this with a copyright lawyer and we are alright.

Wm Shrewsbury
NSS-OVP

[Leitmotiv]

Interesting. So KIP is for us? Or is it focused for some other entity?

[Wm Shrewsbury]

KIP (Karst Information Portal) is designed as resource for karst knowledge. We have placed our Journal in KIP for quite a while, and are now bringing the News online via the same delivery system. Take a look at their home page: http://www.karstportal.org/public/index.cfm

As knowledge delivery systems mature into the digital age, so did we. Previous OVP Cheryl Jones and current EVP Lee Florea were very instrumental in making this happen. I should also mention that NSS member Todd Chavez is over the KIP project and was recently elected as the NSS KIP liaison under the current NSS President, Gordon Birkhimer.

Thus, KIP is for us and other karst researchers. They gain our News and Journal, and we gain other publication's knowledge - a win-win for all of us.

Either Cheryl or Lee could give you thousands of electrons of the benefits of being part of this system. I have never spoken with anyone who thought this was a bad idea, and with literally dozens who think it is the best thing since self-cleaning cave gear (ok, so we're still waiting for for that to happen... )

It's just one of the many services the NSS is working on updating for our membership!

Wm Shrewsbury
NSS-OVP

[NZcaver]

It's just one of the many services the NSS is working on updating for our membership!

This one alone is worth my membership dues, in my ever-so-humble opinion. Electronic versions of the News are gold for me. It's rather awkward to drive and fly my entire collection of NSS News issues and other publications back and forth around the continent all the time (so I don't).

And frankly, if a person happily submits articles and photos to the NSS News but has a big hissy fit about the News being published on line... (Oops, can't finish this sentence without violating the TOS!)

Kudos to those all who worked on the KIP project!!

[Leitmotiv]

So it looks like the guidebooks and possibly the Speleo Digests will have restrictions in being uploaded to KIP, though there may be a workaround. I would also like to see the Journal of Karst and Cave Studies turned full into .pdf's rather than having a hodge podge of separated article files available like they are now on the NSS website.

Does anyone know what the queue looks like for the uploading of publications? It appears that the NSS News is being worked on right now, but what comes after that? The Bulletin of the NSS?

[Cheryl Jones]

I would also like to see the Journal of Karst and Cave Studies turned full into .pdf's rather than having a hodge podge of separated article files available like they are now on the NSS website.

That's the plan -- they (and the Bulletin) are in the queue to be loaded on the KIP as well. Everything will be searchable, and the search result will bring up the full issues that contain the word or phrase, which will be highlighted on the pages.

Cheryl

[Dave Bunnell]

I'm surprised no one contacted me about this. I have complete PDFs of the News from 2005 on, and scattered ones from earlier years. The ones made directly from the layout program yield considerably better results than the scanned stuff they are doing. All of these have been provided to the NSS office as well, but I'll bet those discs are sitting in a file cabinet somewhere in the office and no one considered using the PDFs from them for this project. It's a worthy project though. In years past some of the PDFs I made were available on the NSS library site, but then they disappeared and I haven't seen them accessible in some time.

[Wm Shrewsbury]

The ones made directly from the layout program yield considerably better results than the scanned stuff they are doing.

You are quite right, and I am aware that they are there I even offered them to Todd at a meeting in FL. However, the decision was made to post issues 5 years or older, so they don't fall within the time category. In 2011 we'll be ready for them. They also "degrade" the PDF scans for the web to help protect the photographer's images, as well as take up less space. They are still, in my opinion, very good for a web pub.

Currently KIP is scanning one of our books that we do not have the digital files for, and their scans will be more than sufficient to print from. The capabilities are there, and using your PDFs one day will help. We're just not quite ready for them yet...

Wm Shrewsbury
NSS-OVP

[Leitmotiv]

What book is that?

[Wm Shrewsbury]

On Station.

Wm