Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cica!iuvax!silver!gilbertd
From: gilbertd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Don Gilbert)
Newsgroups: bionet.general
Subject: Re: What/who is bionet
Message-ID: <58698@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 14 Sep 90 21:39:37 GMT
References: <26EF7F5C.17114@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Sender: news@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
Organization: Biology, Indiana University - Bloomington
Lines: 21

In my view, _this_ is bionet, an electronic medium of
newsgroups for information exchange for research biologists.  
There is no physical organization in a building somewhere (although
many people and computers around the world are involved).  

Usenet, originally a news network of and for Unix users, is the main 
electronic "organization" in which bionet news exists.  Dave Kristofferson
of Intelligenetics has been the main force behind organizing and maintaining
these bionet groups, with help from others such as Rob Harper, in the 
2 years that I've been reading the groups.

There was an goverment-sponsored computing resource called Bionet
which included these newsgroups, a central computer with molecular
biology computing resources, and other services, which was
run by Intelligenetics.  This larger resource reorganized about 1 year 
ago; now the bionet newsgroups have achieved an independent life 
inside of Usenet and world-wide internet of electronic news.

-- Don
Don.Gilbert@Iubio.Bio.Indiana.Edu
biocomputing office, indiana univ., bloomington, in 47405, usa