DANJ@jhuhyg.bitnet (DAN) (10/22/90)
----------------------------Original message---------------------------- ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Hi, My adviser recently questioned the value of my being invoved in such things as the BIONET. Somewhat stunned I stammered something about the value of being in contact with hundreds (thousands?) of other bio-scientists and the help theref ore available. Since then I've thought of a few better arguments but his initi al reaction was to say the least - unimpressed. This brings me to my question to all my fellow netters out there - What do we say to those who are unitiated in the world of electronic communication and lack the grand vision (ie BIO-MATR IX type stuff) that many netters seem to have? How do we impress upon those ho stile elements of bio-society that computer nets have value and that the time s pent learning how to use them is indeed time well spent? I'm sure there are others out there who have had experiences similar to mine. I'm pretty new to this whole business so I have much to learn about BIONET, BIT NET etc..., however if this becomes a confrontational issue with my adviser I will have to withdraw somewhat from my use of the networks. What I suppose is most disturbing about this is that my adviser is quite young so that he has th e capability to discourage many, many students from net use. TO all students and faculty members who have had or know of similar incidents or are concerned net-users - PLEASE comment - maybe with an eclectic collection of arguments I may be able to convince said adviser to support my use of the net. I am sending this out to a number of bboards and realize that I may be stepping across traditional boundaries in doing so, however I will gladly accept the sh ift of this discussion to the appropriate board (as may be advised by the *powe rs* that be...David?). I also realize that this may be an old fight for many o f you however if graduate students are being quashed by new faculty the future of the net is not a bright one. Hoping for advice. Sincerely, Dan Jacobson Johns Hopkins University DANJ@JHUHYG Disclaimer: I have no financial interests in anything associated with the netw orks, or more appropriately (being a student) I have no finances.
chacko@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (George W. Chacko) (10/22/90)
In article <9010211852.AA21803@genbank.bio.net> DANJ@jhuhyg.bitnet (DAN) writes: >Hi, >My adviser recently questioned the value of my being invoved in such things as >the BIONET. Somewhat stunned I stammered something about the value .... stuff deleted. You're probably right in assuming that some of us hav had similar problems with our advisers. My adviser certainly doesn't approve of the time I spend at the terminal but part of the agreement we made when I joined the lab was that I had a certain amount of freedom and fortunately for both of us this agreement is working pretty much to our mutual satisfaction. From time to time I do point out the utility of the net as when I had a problem with getting my Tn5 mutagenesis to work and I received a large number of very helpful messages. I've also downloaded most of the free Mac software from EMBl on the lab Mac and pointedly remind people where it came from. On the other hand there are only two netters in the lab and that's rather useful as there isn't ever a run on the modem equipped terminals. Sounds like you have a pretty aggressive adviser there and that's a problem that not everyone is faced with. Sometimes a confrontation does result in meaningful dialog, other times.....:-( :-( :-( Best of luck! george ***************************************************************************** George W. Chacko 244 Rightmire Hall 1060 Carmack Road Columbus OH 43201 Ph: 614-292-3349 *****************************************************************************
dadler@milton.u.washington.edu (David Adler) (10/31/90)
Dan Jacobson writes:
My adviser recently questioned the value of my being invoved in such
things as the BIONET. Somewhat stunned I stammered something about
the value of being in contact with hundreds (thousands?) of other
bio-scientists and the help therefore available. ...
I was just about to write a thank you to bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts
readers/participants when I read this message, so I will role my
thank you and comments into one.
About a week and half ago I ran out of the restriction enzyme, MaeII, that
I needed to complete an important series of experiments. The enzyme is very
expensive and only available from Boehringer. Being conservative I had only
ordered what I thought would be enough and thus got caught short by 100 or so
units. The day after I ordered it I was told that this enzyme was now on
indefinite backorder. I called everyone I knew at BM but was told there was
none available. A bit frantic, and I must say skeptical, I posted a message to
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts relaying my desperate need and asking for
assistance. Within 8 hours I received two replies, the first was a phone
call from someone at the Univ. of Chicago who thought they had some in their
freezer, but turned out not the case. The second was e-mail from Nigel Brown,
at the Univ. of Birmingham, U.K., who did not have any but gave me the name
and phone number of the person in Germany who originally determined the
enzyme's specificity. In addition Nigel educated me on the concept of
exclusive production licenses. I then called Rudi Schmitt, Nigel's lead,
at the Univ of Regensberg and asked about the MaeII supply situation. He
explained that now he also gets his supply from Boehringer and that the
enzyme is very dificult to purify thus the high price and possible
production problems. He said that he would call the BM labs in Penzberg
and see if he could russle up some enzyme. Two days later I received a FAX
from B. Frey of BM-Penzberg that they have a small amount in the freezer and
would supply me with what I needed to complete my current experiments. The
enzyme is now being shipped.
I wanted to thank, Nigel Smith, Rudi Shmitt, and B. Frey at BM-Penzberg and
most important the network without which I either would never have gotten the
enzyme or spent a lot more time and money tracking it down. This single network
success easily has justified the time I spend on the network not to mention all
the various pertinent information exchange that goes on daily.
I also believe that this computer network is still in its infancy and it is only
through broadening participation that it will fulfill the potential of rapid and
efficient exchange of scientific information. Prejudice and fear is often the result
of ignorance and so education is likely what is needed to respond to Dan's situation.
As an aside it is most curious that this situation is at Johns Hopkins, home of major
genetic databases, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man and the new Genome Data Base.
Maybe Dan's mentor needs to have a conversation with Victor McKusick, he may be
just down the hall.