Purdue Cytometry CD-ROM, Vol. 2. and Data Analysis in Flow Cytometry, a Dynamic Approach
✍ Scribed by David Coder
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 19 KB
- Volume
- 29
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0196-4763
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
These two CD-ROMs, the first two ''multimedia'' publications in cytometry, provide examples of where new trends in publishing may take us. They are quite distinct, in their approaches, use of media, and execution.
Distributed free of charge at meetings (or for $20-$30 from the producers), the Purdue Cytometry CD-ROM is an assortment of images, Web pages, software, and miscellaneous flow and image cytometry information. Many things on the disk have been presented elsewhere, and much of the contents is comprised of gleanings from the Internet. One reason for producing the CD-ROM was to make the material available to those who have slow or no access to the Internet. The CD-ROM does succeed in this regardbut, of course, with the limitation that some its contents are months out of date, since information on the Internet changes constantly. Although the producers state that ''you don't have to use the Internet,'' the request for feedback is a hypertext link to the user's email program, which, of course, requires Internet access.
The unifying principle of the collection is to distribute any material related to cytometry that can be copied for free. The resulting mix is served up as received from contributors with external links provided by the collectors. The disk is divided among 17 sections, including tutorials and quizzes, presentation slides on cytometry, organizations and their activities, links to cytometry sites on the Internet, and the collected archives of the freeranging Purdue Cytometry Bulletin Board. Perhaps reflecting the collector's department (in the Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine), there are additional sections on cytometry in veterinary medicine and microbiology. The section on multimedia and Web-based learning is a bit of a curiosity. Although there is much promise in this area (and the spinning 3D beagle reconstructed from MRIs is spectacular), there is nothing in this section relating to cytometry and little related to Web-based learning. Perhaps in future versions, contributions in flow cytometry will be made. Among this sundry collection there are useful illustrations for those who teach introductory cytometry classes. Students will also find some instructive tutorials and further places to look for information on cytometry.