-----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: Dr. Laura J. Little [mailto:littlea@marietta.edu] Verzonden: wo 5-6-2002 22:25 Aan: air-l@aoir.org CC: Onderwerp: Re: [Air-l] Science News Online: The Social Net I'll concur with Jenny. From what I understand, existing archives fall under the category of "existing data" and thus are subject to a less stringent overview. From a purely research perspective, these would seem to me to be more genuine, since they were produced spontaneously, and with no leading from the researcher. We try to remain neutral, but often time we do indeed have an interest (whether financial, professional, or personal) in the outcomes of research. It's just the nature of the beast. <snip> What is "existing data" when the moment I send this message, it is automatically archived by the list software and made accessible through a web interface? Is there a sensible time-frame before 'keeping a record' turns into an 'archive' containing 'existing data'? If you take "existing data" and "archive" literally, I can research any 'auto-archiving' online environment (aka online community) as real-time as I can participate in it, just because it keeps archives. Hmm, yeah. Frank.