The World Wide Web (WWW) is the fastest-growing segment of the electronic information field and allows data, including text, graphics and sounds, on any particular topic from many sites to be linked into a kind of electronic encyclopaedia. WWW documents are usually read with a browser, such as Mosaic or Netscape. Web documents can include "links" to information that resides at other sites, thus allowing information to be combined and presented in many different ways. It is an extremely powerful and versatile means of presentation. Each Web document is referenced by its URL or "Uniform Resource Locator", such as the one given below for the CAP WWW page. If you have not already had a chance to explore the Web, I urge you to do so. Mosaic Quick Tour for Windows: Accessing and Navigating the Internet's Word Wide Web (by Gareth Branwyn, Ventana Press, 1994) is a good introduction to the concepts and operation of the Web.

With the launch of its WWW page on March 8 1995, CAP became the first national palynological organization to take advantage of the new technology. In its first day of operation, the CAP Web page received 34 visitors. The CAP page has been accessed by visitors from sites worldwide, including USA, UK, Autralia, Sweden, Japan, Turkey, and Germany. To date (5/5/95), the page has been accessed at least 387 times, demonstrating its effectiveness and potential for the world-wide distribution of palynological information.

The CAP WWW presentation consists of a "home page" which contains a directory of information and links to various other components or subsiduary pages. Among other items, these subsiduary pages contain information on the Association, a membership form, announcements of upcoming conferences (including details and a registration form for the AASP meeting in Ottawa), a list of recent papers in palynology, a recent article on palynology from the CAP Newsletter archive, a guide to internet resources (including links to many other Web pages), news of Departments and Government Agencies with palynology programmes, and some information on laboratory equipment and supplies. These pages are being updated almost daily.

One item in this presentation comprises an on-line "Directory of Palynologists" all palynologists, including those who are not CAP members, are eligible for entry in this listing. The revised CAP Membership Form includes a new category for research interests and a request for permission to include information in the on-line Directory. However, no information will be included in the Directory unless permission is explicitly granted to do so.

A very recent addition to the presentation is A Dictionary of Quaternary Acronyms and Abbreviations which so far contains over 300 entries. It includes abbreviations for societies (e.g., CAP, GSA), projects (e.g., PAGES, PALE), Agencies (e.g., ARC, USGS), and laboratories (e.g., ETH, BGS). It also includes "terms in common use", such as time or climate-stratigraphic units (e.g., LIA, YD), dating methods (e.g., AMS, TL), and technical terms (e.g., VGP, PAR).

The CAP WWW page may be found at: http://www.scirpus.ca/cap/cap.shtml

The CAP WWW page forms a good starting point for an exploration of the Web because it contains links to many other earth science and botanical sites that may be of interest to palynologists. I welcome your comments on this presentation and your suggestions for additional information that should be included.

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  This article first appeared in CAP Newsletter 18(1):17-18, 1995. The web page address has been updated.