Update on the STS Website

Abstract

http://www.sts.org experienced more than 10,000 “hits” over the first 4 weeks since it was opened (but not promoted). At the recent meeting of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery in San Diego, more than 200 surgeons took advantage of the opportunity to experience a live Internet connection to the World Wide Web at the STS Website booth in the Exhibitors’ area. STS President Robert Replogle and members of the Internet Committee hosted an estimated 150 persons at two separate orientation and display meetings. The reactions of those who attended were uniformly positive, and the international interest was particularly impressive. STS Website Discussion Groups are already up and running, but separate areas will soon be created for specific topics of importance. Lung volume reduction surgery developments outpace the ability of written media to interpret and report them. The STS Website will post relevant materials immediately, offering surgeons the best possible window on this important topic. Position papers, opinion polls, documents outlining government and third-party reimbursement policies, and other materials will be available with unprecedented speed and variety. A focus on minimally invasive coronary artery bypass surgery is evolving rapidly as well. In a similar fashion, progress from the Database Subcommittee will soon be apparent. The open forum discussion of the website will continue. Unique educational content will soon be appearing as a result of initiation of the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) project. Recognized authorities in adult cardiac, congenital cardiac, and general thoracic surgery will identify fundamental and provocative questions and develop response discussions to them. The relationship beween the STS Website and The Annals of Thoracic Surgery will continue to mature as a cooperative relationship with its publisher, Elsevier Science Inc. The list of interesting and valuable links to other sources of learning materials of interest to cardiothoracic surgeons will continue to grow. The site will also offer links to general information on computer literacy, the World Wide Web, and how to author content. Netscape Navigator 2.0 is the recommended browser because of the rich feature set, wide and free availability (including links from the STS Website), support for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, and additional features through supplemental “Plugin” applications. Wide-ranging support for Netscape exists throughout the industry, and collaborative arrangements already exist with most companies providing Internet access. Computer users with current subscriptions to some of the proprietary internet providers such as America Online, Prodigy, and Compuserve will likely soon be able to use Netscape Navigator to take full advantage of the Internet in general and the STS Website in particular. Now that the website is a reality, Peter Greene and Dan Jacobsen have focused on its organization and function for the next few weeks. In contrast to the rather simple structure of hypertext documents and links that characterize most websites, the STS site has at its core a relational database structure. The materials that are resident on the STS server are themselves rather simple in comparison with most other sites, but the function of the database architecture is quite elegant and its advantages are considerable. The “look and feel” issues of pages and presentations can be standardized because the displays are actually marked up from database elements when requested. The HTML encoding is done “on the fly” from database field information. This means that a variety of submissions will have standard, structured submission forms and that the data will remain highly organized with a requirement for minimal maintenance. Posting news or information and submitting educational content will require less individual effort than word processing. There are clear security advantages, and there are particular benefits to STS members who are involved in this project as coordinators and contributors. Contact the STS Office for your membership number, log in, and update your personal information file. Once again, the STS Website is a resource for all cardiothoracic surgeons, and all are encouraged to gain Internet access, to take advantage of the unique advantages of this premiere initiative, and to join in making the project a success.