The Biomateria Web-site – Progress and developments
With 18 months of the Network project still to run, and Issues 3-6 of the Newsletter to
appear during this period, the Biomateria site increases in importance as the source of
current information. We urge people to begin to use the site more often, since we plan to
add information to it on at least a monthly basis, and there will often be additions to
What’s New or Stop Press! Sections, especially concerning conferences and
developments in the Fifth Framework Programme.
Web-Searching
The Biomateria site has now been visited by Excite, Alta Vista, Hotbot and Lycos search
engines and crawlers. We have requested Webcrawler, Infoseek and Yahoo to add the site to
their systems. Please take a little time to test these search engines using various key
words including Biomateria, biomaterials and so on. We have added many index words to the
html script lying behind the front and home pages of the Biomateria site. These words
include biomaterials and medical devices terms (for example - polymer, prosthesis,
orthopaedics, biocompatible) and names of companies, Universities and Institutes that are
collaborating in the projects that are part of the European Biomaterials Network. Please
test the system for these and let us know at biomateria@biobridge.co.uk,
copied to admin@bioportfolio.com whether the
Biomateria site appears in the top 10. This will allow us to refine the key words for the
site so it becomes one of the premier sites when searching. Also, please let us know which
other search engines you find useful, with which we should be registered.
Hot Links
New hot links have been established between the Bioportfolio site and Biomateria, and
from the ESPRIT-IiM site (www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/ima42.htm)
to Biomateria. See the Hot Links section on the Biomateria web-site for additions.
Public-service links will be added to the site at no charge. For connection to commercial
sites, a blazon or promotional button can be added to the Biomateria site for a small fee
(please contact biomateria@biobridge.co.uk
for details). We would be very pleased to receive your suggestions of suitable sites that
are relevant to biomaterials, medical devices, healthcare and costs, tissue engineering
and bionics.
Viewing statistics
According to the old saying, there are ‘lies, damn lies, and then
statistics’. However, we have been able to derive some statistics, on what readers of
the Biomateria Newsletter find interesting and want more of (see item elsewhere on the
Biomateria site and in Biomateria Newsletter Issue 3), and on visits to the Biomateria
Web-site since it was properly established in May/June 1998.
The Biomateria Web-site has been visited by an increasing number of people since its
inception. The following table is based on the number of unique hosts visiting the site,
and the pages viewed during their visits.
This is pleasing progress and we believe we will see the number continue to rise,
testifying to the usefulness of the site. Please also remember that, as each Issue of the
Biomateria Newsletter is published, it is added to the Biomateria site, so that an archive
is developing. This is available for free on the site.
We are always happy to have feedback about the site so we can improve its appearance,
content or efficiency – please take a few moments to comment!
And please register on-line – this will allow us to
notify you by E-mail when there are changes on the Biomateria site.
L P M Lloyd-Evans, Admin Co-ordinator European Biomaterials Network.
