numbercuteftp

[1]UsingHTMLandFTP:KeepingThingsSimplewithSimpleTools(MedicalEducationWebPageSeries–Part2)HTMListheacronymforHyperTextMarkuplan-guage.
Essentially,HTMLfilesare"hyped-up"textfiles,withtheadditionof"tags"toallowformatting,hyperlinks,images,sound,andmore.
EachHTMLdocumentusesthesetagstotellthebrowserhowtodisplaythematerial.
Some(standard)tagsaremorewidelyusedthanotherswhilesomeproprietarytagsonlyworkwithcertainbrowsersanddonotfollowpublishedinternationalstandards.
AgoodplacetolearnmoreaboutHTMListheNCSAHTMLPrimerathttp://www.
ncsa.
uiuc.
edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.
htmlToexaminetheHTMLbehindanywebpage,sim-plyselectthe"viewsource"optioninyourwebbrowser,locatedintheviewmenu.
You'llthenbeabletoinspecttheHTMLcodemakingupthedocument,butitmaynotmakemuchsensetoyouwithoutalit-tleworklearningHTMLspecificssincethesourceotherwiselookslikeabunchofrubbish,withlotsof's(denotingvarious"tags"orcommands),interspersedwithsectionsofwriting.
Forinstance,eachHTMLdocumenthasthefollow-ingtagtypes:,,,and,andeachofthesetagtypeshasanopeningandaclosingcomponent(althoughnotalltagtypesdo).
Forexample,toobtainaboldtypeface,usethe(forbold)command.
Foritalics,use.
Toturnoffeffectslikeboldoritalicssimplyusethecorre-spondingclosingtag:and.
(Asyoucansee,thepresenceofa'/'characterbeforeanycommandinHTML,asin,denotesaclosingorendtag,whileitsabsencedenotesanopenorstarttag,aswehaveseenwith).
Tagscanalsobeusedtoformatmaterials.
Forexample,thetagcanbeusedtojustifytext,butonemustspecifytheformofalignmentorjustifi-cation(left,center,orright).
Tocentersomeboldtext,forexample,onemightwrite:Hello,World,howareyouandtheresultdisplayedwouldbe:Hello,World,howareyouFinally,notethatinHTMLtagsarenotcasesensi-tive;thatis,onecanuseanycombinationofuppercaseorlowercasecharactersintheirconstruction.
Considernextasimpleexercisetoillustratehoweasyitcanbetoconstructarealwebpage.
UsingtheWindowsnotepadtexteditor(oranywordprocessor)typeinthetextinFigure1,andwhenfinished,saveyourworkasatext(.
txt)file.
Thenrenamethefilefromthe.
txtextensiontoan.
htmextension.
Nowyouhavejustcreatedasimplewebpagethatcanbeviewedbyloadingthefileintoyourbrowser.
Notethatbecausethefileatthisstageislocaltothemachineandnotresidingonaserverontheinternet,itdoesnothaveanaddressorURLbutrather,thefileisaccessedusingthe"file,open,browse"featureofMicrosoftinternetexplorer(withasimilarmethodforotherbrowsers).
MyfirstmedicaleducationpageFirstparagraphgoeshere.
.
.
Secondparagraphgoeshere.
.
.
Thirdparagraphgoeshere.
.
.
Forthparagraphgoeshere.
.
.
Fifthparagraphgoeshere.
.
.
Figure1:AsimplewebpagetemplateAsyoucansee,thetemplateprovidedinFigure1canbeusedtomakeallmannerofpuretextwebpages,eveniftheymightbeabitboringinstyleandlayout.
Ofcourse,arealwebpageusuallycontainsadditionalelements,suchashyperlinksorimages.
210CANJANESTH2002/49:2/pp210–213NewMediaNEWMEDIA211OnemeansofaugmentingabasicwebpagelikethatinFigure1istoaddHTMLsnippets"stolen"fromotherwebpages(usingthe"viewsource"optiontoexaminetheHTMLcodefromthepageinques-tion).
Onecanthenusethe"cutandpaste"featureofWindowsandaddtherequiredsnippettothenewpage.
This,ofcourse,requiressomeknowledgeofHTMLsyntax,butnotmuch,andcanbeonewayofexperimentingwithwebpageconstruction.
However,userswhowishtoconstructwebpagesofevenmodestcomplexitywilllikelyprefertousemoresophisticatedmethods,suchasemployingsoftwarepackagesforadvancedwebpageconstructionsuchasAdobeGoLive,MicrosoftFrontPageorMacromediaDreamweaver.
Onceyourwebpageiscompletedandtestedlocal-ly,itistimeto"upload"thefiletotheserver.
Thisisusuallydoneusingafiletransferprotocol(FTP)pro-gramsuchasWS_FTP,acommercialsharewarepro-gram,anditsfreeware"limitededition"versionWS_FTPLE,bothavailablefordownloadathttp://www.
ipswitch.
com.
OtherpopularFTPpro-gramsareCuteFTPandCuteFTPPro,availableathttp://www.
cuteftp.
cominbothfreetrialandcom-mercialversions.
IhavefoundthatthefreeWS_FTPLEprogramsuitsmyneedsratherwellandhavenotseenaneedtouseamorepowerfulsharewareversion(wherebyoneisobligatedtopaymoneytousetheproductbeyondaspecifiedtrialperiod).
Finally,notethatFTPprogramscanalsobeusedforotherapplicationssuchasmaintainingashareddataarchive.
Forinstance,anumberofcollaboratorscansharedatafiles(experimentaldata,spreadsheets,reports,images,etc.
)fromaremoteinternetsitesim-plybyuploadingnewfilestoasharedserverandlet-tingeveryoneknowaboutthenewmaterialbye-mail.
Alternately,journalsmaysomedayoffera"datarepos-itoryservice"wherebyqualifiedinvestigatorscanuseFTPmethodstodownloadrawexperimentaldatabelongingtoalreadypublishedreports,perhapswithaviewtoconductingsecondaryresearchstudiesbyusingnewerormoresophisticatedanalyticalmethods.
Iwouldliketoclosethisarticlebyidentifyingsomeadditionalresourcesthatmayinterestindividualsinterestedinproducingwebpagesformedicaleduca-tion.
ThesearelistedintheTable.
TABLEMoreresourcesforbuildingwebpages[1]ABCsofbuildingawebsitehttp://www.
webde-velopersjournal.
com/columns/abcs_of_building_web_sites.
html"Awebdesigntutorialforrankbeginners".
[2]WritingHTMLhttp://www.
mcli.
dist.
maricopa.
edu/tut/lessons.
htmlAcomprehensivetutorialforcreatingwebpages,pre-sentedin29sections.
[3]BigNoseBirdhttp://www.
bignosebird.
com/"Everythingyouneedtobuildgreatwebsites".
[4]ReallyBighttp://reallybig.
com/Ahugeresourceforallwebdevelopers,includingnumeroussubjectguides.
D.
JohnDoyleMDPhDFRCPCToronto,Ontario[2]TheUncertainFutureofPaperinScientificPublicationAlthoughthecurrentsystemforpublishingscientificstudiesthroughpaperjournalshasbeeninusesincethelate1600's,inrecentyearstheskyrocketingcostofmanyprintjournalshaslimitedtheabilityofmanyuniversityandresearchlibrariestooffera"complete"selection.
1–4Thisfact,coupledbythecomingofageoftheinternet,hasleadmanyacademicstoenvisionasystemthatwillleadtotheendofprintjournalsasaprimarymeansofdisseminatingandarchivingresearchinformation.
Inthisbravenewvision,scien-tificlibrarieswouldbeentirelyvirtual,butavailableanywhereintheworldwherethereiswebaccess.
(Justimagine:abasecampphysician-scientistworkingonMountEverestusingasatelliteweblinktolearnmoreaboutthemanagementofhigh-altitudepulmonaryedemainanafflictedclimber).
Thetimerequiredforpublicationintheprintlitera-turehaschangedlittleinthelast200years,whereassci-entificdiscoverycontinuestoproceedatadizzyingpace.
TheresultiswhatRobertson5calls"agrowingdisjunc-tionbetweentheefficiencyofscienceandtheinefficien-cyofscientificreporting".
Electronicpublicationisoftenproposedasalogicalsolutiontothisproblem.
Thisvisiondoesnotexcludetheuseofpaperasamediumwhereitispreferred.
Paperiswidelyrecog-nizedatthepreferredstandardforeaseofreading,andthoseindividualswhoprefertoreadpaperdocumentswouldsimplybeabletoprintthemout,pageformat-tingfullyintact,usingaprinterattachedtotheircom-putertoproducea"deadtreeedition".
WiththeuseoftheAdobeAcrobatsoftwarepackage,6documentsindozensofnativeformatscanbeconvertedtoPDFfor-mat("PortableDataFormat")forpublicationontheweborelsewhere,withoptionsforscreen-friendlyandprinter-friendlyversionsasdesired.
Themainadvan-tagesofthispaperlessvisionareineliminatingthecostofprintingandmailing,inbringingtheinformationtotheworldmorequickly,andinallowingelectronicsearchingofthepublisheddocuments.
Anadditionalpracticalpointthatisoftenunrecognizedisthatittrans-fersthecostofanycolourprintingtotheenduserratherthancostingthepublisherortheauthor.
Thisisanimportantpointsincecolourprintinginpaperjour-nalscanbeexceedinglyexpensive,andfrequentlytheauthor-scientistisexpectedtocovertheadditionalcost,anamountoftenexceeding$1000.
However,notallpeopleexploringthisvisionlikewhattheysee.
Someindividualsfearadropinthequal-ityofscientificpublishingwiththeentryontotheaca-demicsceneofalargenumberofpoorlyrunelectronicjournalssporadicallypublishingminimallyacceptablematerialandfightingtomaintaintheirexistence.
Theyfearasystemwherepeer-reviewishaphazardorevenabsentandwhereanykookcanpublish.
7Yettheexistingjournalsystemitselfhasanuncer-tainfuture.
Morrissuccinctlysummarizesthematterthisway:8"Journalsprovidemuchthatisofimmensevaluetotheresearcherandpractitioner.
Yettheeco-nomicsofjournalsareunsustainable;theamountofpublishableresearchisincreasingmorerapidlythanthefundsavailabletobuyit.
Variousalternativemod-elsareemerging,noneofthemwithoutproblems.
Thewayforwardisnotclear,butchangeisinevitable.
"Solomonhasaddressedthesespecificconcernsinanoteworthyonlinejournalarticle.
1Hediscussessixconcernsaboutproblemsrelatedtomovingfromaclassical,paper-basedmeansofscholarlypublicationtoonebasedpurelyonelectronicmeans.
(Ofthesecon-cerns,manyhavebeenpreviouslydiscussedbyHarnard).
9Solomonliststheseconcernsasfollows:[i]"Withconstantlychangingdigitalformatsandtherapidproliferationanddemiseofelectronicjour-nals,importantscientificmaterialmightnotbepre-served.
"[ii]"Forreadingextendedamountsoftext,paperismuchmoreconvenientthancomputerscreens.
"[iii]"Itwillbedifficulttomaintaintherigorousqualitycontrolprovidedbypeer-reviewandlimitedacceptanceratesintheprestigioustraditionaljournals.
"[iv]"Thecredit,recognitionandadvancement(academiccredit)providedbypublishinginpresti-giousjournalswouldnotbeavailableinelectronicjournals.
"[v]"Electronicmediawillfacilitateandencourageplagiarism.
"[vi]"Peopleinremoteareasandindevelopingcoun-trieswillnothaveaccesstoelectronicpublication.
"Solomonveryeffectivelydebunkstheseconcernswithcarefullyreasonedarguments.
Heviewsthesepurportedproblemsmostlyaseithersolvableoras"nonissues".
Forinstance,thefirstconcern(thatsomedigitalmaterialsmightnotbepreservedshouldanelectronicjournalgooutofoperation)isdismissed(appropriate-ly,inmyview)asprimarilyatechnicalmatterandcouldeasilybeaddressedwiththedevelopmentofanationalsystemforarchivingelectronicmaterialsjustastheUSLibraryofCongresscurrentlymaintainsarchivalcopiesofallprintmaterialspublishedintheUS.
Indeed,theUSNationalInstituteofHealthisexploringexactlythisoption,withtheintendedgoalofpreservingcopiesofelectronicpublicationsinthehealthsciences,andaddingredundancybyemployingoneormoremirrorsites.
Solomondismissesthesecondconcern(thatpaperismoreconvenient)asa"non-issue",notingthat"itissimplyamatterofprintingoffthematerialonewantstoreadandonlythematerialonewantstoreadatthepointinthespace-timecontinuumthatonewantstoreadit".
Similarly,thethirdconcern(regardingqualitycon-trol)issaidtobe"spurious"inthat"peer-reviewandarigorousselectionprocessaremedia-independentandcanbeaseasilyimplementedinanelectronicaspaperform".
Solomonsimilarlydiscussestheremainingthreeconcernsfromthenaysayersandmakesthecasethattheseconcernsaregreatlyexaggerated.
Heattemptstoestablishthatthemainissueinthisdebateisapowerstrugglebetweenauthorsandpublishers,espe-ciallywithrespecttocopyrightownership.
Heenvi-sionsasystemofpublicationwherethecopyrightiskeptbytheauthorratherthanbeingtransferredtothepublisherastheusualconditionofpublication.
Solomon'spaperconcludeswithavisionofthefutureinvolvingtheconversionofwrittenmaterialfrompapertoelectronicmediainaprocessextendingoverseveraldecades.
Inthisprocesshepredictsthatcontrolofscientificpublicationwillshiftawayfromscientificpublisherstotheauthor-scientistwhowrotethematerialinthefirstplace.
Solomonadmitsthatthismayresultinanumberofpublicationsofmargin-alquality.
Inthewordsoftheauthor:1"Virtuallyanyonewhochoosestodosocanpublishelectronicallyandmaketheirmaterialavailabletotheworld.
Whilethishasthepotentialofdrowningusingarbage,itcertainlydoesnotmeanitisallgarbage.
212CANADIANJOURNALOFANESTHESIAPublisherscurrentlyhaveamonopolyonthemostpres-tigiousscientificjournalsbuttheydonothaveamonopolyonqualityscientificthought.
Intheoryallitwouldtakeisashiftinattitudesandconventionsamongthescientificcommunityforthecurrentpublisherstobecutcompletelyoutoftheequation.
Inaveryrealsensetheinternethasprovidedthescientificcommuni-tywiththeultimatetrumpcardindeterminingwhocontrolsscientificcommunication.
"Thedebatesurroundingelectronicpublicationwillcontinueforsometime.
Allwecanbesureofisthatchangeisinevitable,atleastforthetimebeing.
D.
JohnDoyleMDPhDFRCPCToronto,OntarioReferences1SolomonDJ.
IsittimetotakethepaperoutofserialpublicationMedEducOnline1999;4:7.
[Availablefromhttp://www.
Med-Ed-Online.
org]2WalkerTJ.
FreeInternetaccesstotraditionaljournals.
AmerSci1998;86.
Availablefromhttp://www.
amsci.
org/amsci/articles/98articles/walkerweb.
html3OdlyzkoAM.
Competitionandcooperation:librariesandpublishersinthetransitiontoelectronicscholarlyjournals.
JScholarlyPublishing1999;30:163–85.
Availablefromhttp://www.
research.
att.
com/~amo/doc/eworld.
html4BraninJJCaseM.
Reformingscholarlypublishinginthesciences:alibrarianperspective.
NoticesoftheAMSavailablefromhttp://www.
ams.
org/notices/199804/branin.
pdf5RobertsonD.
Electronicpublishingofscience:betterlatethannever.
AmJMed2001;110:370–2.
6http://www.
adobe.
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html7KassirerJP,AngellM.
TheInternetandthejournal.
NEnglJMed1995;332:1709–10.
8MorrisS.
Thefutureofjournals:wherewillelectronicpublishingtakeusHospMed2001;62:301–4.
9HarnadS.
On-linejournalsandfinancialfire-walls.
Nature1990;395:127–8.
Availablefromhttp://www.
princeton.
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