Xref: utzoo bionet.molbio.genbank:67 news.software.nntp:447
Path: utzoo!utstat!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!phri!roy
From: roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.genbank,news.software.nntp
Subject: Distributing GenBank over the Internet
Message-ID: <1989Dec7.213027.8591@phri.nyu.edu>
Date: 7 Dec 89 21:30:27 GMT
Organization: Public Health Research Institute
Lines: 16


	Would it be possible to get rid of all this magtape and distribute
GenBank over the Internet?  One possibility is being able to ftp the tar
files.  Another more interesting possibility is using NNTP, or something
like it.  Make each locus into a netnews article.  Multiple links would
ensure connectivity in the case of some machine being down and NNTP's
IHAVE/SENDME processing would eliminate duplicates.  People could even
subscribe to just those parts of the database they are interested in by
just getting, for example, bionet.database.gb.bacterial.staph, or whatever.
Keep in mind that usenet has progressed from magtape to NNTP for data
transport, why shouldn't the genetic databases follow suit?
-- 
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu
"The connector is the network"