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About MOSAIC Online
by Ben Patrusky
Overall site design, including database and its implementation, by Fred Herzog and Seth J Hersh.
Both the impetus and the technical know-how required to launch this
site came from Fred Herzog, a New York-based IT consultant, computer
whiz, and self-styled, life-long science buff (who also happens to be
married to a top-flight public school science teacher). Fred’s
interest in creating Mosaicsciencemagazine.org grew from extended
conversations with neighbor and friend Ben Patrusky, executive
director of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing who was
a frequent contributor to Mosaic. It was Ben’s contention that the
complete Mosaic archive, were it Web-accessible, would prove
invaluable to a wide range of readers in search of a fuller
understanding of the intellectual ferment and historical research
strides that undergird many of today’s (and tomorrow’s) dazzling
scientific advances and, indeed, many societal issues we face today.
Fred offered his talents pro bono – something he does on a regular
basis to help friends and a host of small non-profit institutions deal
with computer glitches and master the might of the Internet. The
next, crucial step was to get Warren Kornberg, Mosaic’s editor for most
of its 22-year existence, to sign on to the effort.
Warren had been, since its demise in 1992, the deeply devoted keeper
of the Mosaic flame. Until recently, he had maintained
an Internet presence on Mosaic’s behalf by way of a complete index of
published articles. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of a Mosaic
article had merely to contact Warren, who would Xerox the article and
supply a copy. Not surprisingly then, Warren, once approached by Ben and Fred, was quick to endorse and lend his unequivocal support to the project.
With Warren on board, Fred registered the domain name and proceeded
to enlist the services of friend and colleague, Seth Hersh, another IT
maven. Together they shaped the site’s format to make it eminently
searchable and went on to put it through a series of trials using a
few sample issues and Warren’s index in a test of its feasibility and
utility.
That done, the time came for Warren to make a huge sacrifice. Readying
Mosaic for online posting would oblige him, as he knew it would, to
eviscerate his much-treasured set of bound Mosaic volumes (the source
for story-request fulfillment and perhaps the only complete set available
anywhere). Warren did not waver. He took it upon himself to cut
those precious volumes apart to separate out individual issues, 611
in all. These he then packed and shipped to New York where, aided by
an industrial-strength paper cutter, Fred sundered the issues to yield
the individual pages required for feeding to the high-speed digital
scanner that was made available to him gratis by one of his clients.
What you have in Mosaicsciencemagazine.org, then, is the product of that
all-volunteer labor of love. |
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