ETJPE

[MRM]

Hi all.

BigH, a while back, you, VAD, SRE, McCoy, and others had discussed an electronic technical journal for practicing engineers (ETJPE). Are we still interested in doing that?

I've got two papers that I'm making some changes to and I'd like to submit them to the ETJPE. I think that many folks will find what I've done interesting.

Let me know where I can send 'em in! It may be another couple weeks before I complete the changes on both of them, but I wanted to get a head start.

By the way, for others unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, one of the original threads is:

thread1134-136597

I've formatted these papers after the "mock-up" paper created by Mccoy. I think that format looks great; very professional. I don't recall what was decided on, but I'd vote for that format.

 

[BigH]

I will be talking soon to VulcanHammer so we can "hammer" it out .

 

[MRM]

Thanks, SRE, for your comments. They were great. I've made some changes based on your comments, and a subsequent read-through myself. I'll let you and others tell me if I should send you a new PDF file or not; things could get confusing by having several different drafts out there, I suppose.

Mccoy, concerning possible formats for the papers, I played around a little with the heading (containing the journal name, date, etc.), and I've tried putting it at the bottom of the sheet as a footer. If you're interested in having a look, let me know and I'll send it over for you to see. I have no real objection to having it at the top of the 1st page, but at the bottom just struck me as more pleasing to the eye. Just some thoughts about that.

BigH, it looks like VulcanHammer.net would be a good spot for the ETJPE. Would it (the ETJPE) be a separate link within the VulcanHammer website? That is, VulcanHammer.net would act as the host, while the ETJPE would retain its own format for papers, notes, words of wisdom, etc., and be governed by the ETJPE board?

Let me know if any help is needed in getting things set up.

 

[vulcanhammer]

While waiting to "hammer things out" with BigH, let me throw out a few items in an attempt to move things forward, and especially to address MRM's last posting.

I have suggested to BigH to use a blog as a vehicle for this journal. For papers, all you have to do is to post the abstract as the text of the blog entry and link to the file of the paper itself (I'm assuming that we're using pdf files for the papers themselves, which is good.) Other blog posts could be used for more informal bloviating by one or more of the "board" that governed the blog. (Blogs also allow for easier multiple administration and posting as well.)

My biggest hesitation about putting such on vulcanhammer.net is that blogs, unless they're hosted by someone like blogspot.com or wordpress.com, need to be constantly updated for security updates, new features, and the like. I'm currently doing this for three blogs (one of my own and two others) and, although I've had no trouble with the updates, updating what amounts to an online computer program is always a "nail biter." That's the main reason I've never upgraded the news service vulcanhammer.net features on its front page. Adding one more to my update list is time consuming, especially if a hacker has discovered a serious security flaw and updating becomes time critical.

The simplest way out of this dilemma is to put the blog on wordpress.com. It's free, it's an excellent blog platform (that's what I use,) they do the updates and allow pdf uploads to their site (up to 50 MB, along with the images.) If the storage space isn't enough over time, it's no big deal for vulcanhammer.net to statically host the papers themselves (SRE could also do this if he is willing) and then link to them from the blog posting (this would be practically invisible to the users.)

Kick this around and see if we can make some progress.

 

[MRM]

Good thoughts, VulcanHammer.

I'm not very familiar with blogs, what they are, or what they do. As I understand it, for example, Eng Tips is a "forum" rather than a blog. Are blogs really appropriate for technical paper-type outlets?

The most important request I have for the ETJPE is that it be regarded as a professional outlet for the sharing of information, with a reputation for high quality. If a certain type of blog can achieve that, that will work.

By the way, should we begin getting our bios in order? In some way we'll need to demonstrate to others that what we publish on the ETJPE was well thought out as a professional would, and reviewed by good people. The reviewers could still remain anonymous however if that would help.

 

[Panars]

As a web developer myself, although on a much smaller scale than vulcanhammer, I think his suggestions are all good ones. A blog really describes a type of website on which one can easily create new postings. The term "blog" describes how the website works, but it doesn't limit how the website looks. It can look very professional, or it can look like a piece of crap. Also, with a blog you can create categories for posts, so an article about grain size can be filed under "soil properties", as one example.

Since none of us are getting paid for doing this, I think vulcanhammer's suggestion about using wordpress.com so that the behind-the-scenes software is kept up to date is a good one. No one likes getting their website hacked (I learned the hard way on this one.) You can have the the address geotechs4geotechs.com redirect to the wordpress site, such as geotechs4geotechs.wordpress.com.

 

[MRM]

Have we ever explored the possibility of having Eng Tips host a site like the one we're proposing?

 

[BigH]

MRM - given the breadth of Eng-Tips areas, I would hope that we can host the site ourselves - one of the reasons I started my site (anyone want to help me?).

Still, I have been in touch with Don (VulcanHammer) and we are hashing out the blog spots and will work on getting this up and running in the short term. Perhaps Peter and a few others will be willing to help in this too.

Cheers to all - I had a nice Indonesia Independence Day off in Makassar (17th Aug) - bought a leather EZ-boy wannabe for reading at home!

 

[vulcanhammer]

An update: the blog is up and running at

http://geotechs4geotechs.wordpress.com.

I've been in touch with
BigH and we're both administrators.

To join the blog, you need to register at wordpress.com. Once you've done that, contact either BigH or me and we can add you as an Author to the blog. That will also enable comments.

We also need new deathless prose for the "About" and opening posting of the blog.

Although I think this forum is fine for the review process, we can change that too if we like.

Note to BigH: since you purchased your "leather EZ-boy wannabe" during your holiday, I hope it came with an antimacassar...

 

[MRM]

Cool. Thanks BigH and Vulcanhammer for your time and work in this. All I need to do is get "up to speed" on blogs now. I'm going to try and register right now.

 

[BigH]

I partake in at least 2 non-ritualistic ablutions per day so no real need! Interesting how the chair might have come with a antimacassar in Makassar!! mmmmm

 

[MRM]

Thanks to SRE and Mccoy's recent comments, I've made a couple of changes to my paper. Now if one wanted to, how would one go about posting a 2nd draft pdf paper to the ETJPE blog for review?

 

[MRM]

vulcanhammer,

Here's a shot at a possible introduction in the "About" section of the blog. I'm not sure of the "tone" we're going for yet, but as I read through it I found that it is a pretty accurate explanation of why I've personally been interested in this project of ours. Of course I understand my personal feelings about what's great about this project may not be right for the "About" section though!

We communicate in many ways. We can write letters, write e-mails, participate in discussion forums, and sometimes even speak directly to an individual or group.

Practicing engineers may communicate simply and anecdotally, as with a quick story related to a project. Sometimes we write technically simple reports about our observations on a site or a lab study; many times directed to a client. Other times, we may post our thoughts on an online forum for other practicing engineers with a moderate amount of technical information included. All the way at the other end of the spectrum, we can use any number of existing peer-reviewed technical journals so that we can provide more technical information and details.

While the established and well-known technical journals can do a good job of allowing us to include numerous details about a project or study, some of these journals can be inefficient to participate in for practicing engineers. After all, practicing engineers usually need to attend to the needs of our clients on a daily basis, because frankly, it’s usually not our jobs to write highly technical papers to other engineers and researchers.

But then how can practicing engineers share information with a relatively large amount of technical content? That is why the ETJPE was established.

It is our goal to allow practicing engineers an opportunity to share their case histories, personal studies, and words of wisdom in an environment that is a little more relaxed, yet still has the benefits of a consistent paper format. The consistent format of the papers makes them easier to read and locate information within, as well as to put a paper together and submit it so that others can benefit.

The submittal process is designed to be much easier to navigate than that of most other journals too. Think of it as participating in a discussion forum, but with the advantages of having a reasonably defined format, and the chance to include important technical information too.

While the papers submitted will be peer reviewed by a number of practicing engineers, it is our policy to gear the review toward providing constructive comments.

We hope that you find the ETJPE a useful means of communicating technical information with other engineers, and we invite you to share your wisdom and engineering interests.

 

[BigH]

Mark: I like it , but have a few points:

1. We might want to ratchet up a bit that we will have the submitted/published papers go through a review process - by our own group and, if necessary, by other wise geotech engineers (we all know some wise "old" men!!) and if necessary by industry/university experts if warranted. We can add this as a SOP for submitting/reviewing/etc.

2. Publication of papers on the site will be based on merit. We can set up two types of papers - one a more professional "paper" and the other a more story or anecdotal "Mmm, as I remember . . .".

3. Readers should understand that the site will not be like a thread in the Eng-Tips forums - if that is what they want - then post it there. We are trying to achieve a bit more elevation in our site and we want the site to become recognized as a truly legitimate site - one that those who do have papers published can get PDH for them.

I suggest that members of our group who want to add comments and slant to the above write to me with email addy and I will send out a copy of the above that (like with Word track changes) so that Mark can edit appropriately. Kudos to Mark on his points - well stated.
write me at [green]friesh at inco point com [/green] or [blue]bohica point fries at bigfoot point com [/blue].

 

[MRM]

Howard, Since there are so many potential ways to approach this project, I can't tell you how relieved your comments make me feel. The idea of the "site to be recognized as truly legitimate" is really what I'm really hoping we all want to achieve. I certainly don't want to water down the part about a thorough review process. Thanks for your comments. I'll go ahead and e-mail you the original Word file if that helps any. It will be about 1/2 hour.

 

[BigH]

McCoy - what is a Latin word (or phrase) for engineering with dirt? They must have one since the Romans were quite good road builders.

 

[Mccoy]

BigH,

your point-blank question takes me aback!

I've been studying Latin but it was almost 30 years ago now!

You are right in that ancient Romans were pretty good engineers.

Please gimme a little time and I'll see what I can come up with

 

[Mccoy]

BigH,

'engineering with dirt' could be literally translated by 'terra fabricandi ars'.
There might be a more technical term but that would require consultation of specifical treatises apparently not available on the web.
Found a sketch of old Roman roads. Striking similarity with the present structures, ganular subgrade, stone slabs instead of tar paving and culverts.
Even now in Italy main roads often follow the old routes and are called by Roman names.

 

[BigH]

As an update, MRM and I have been kicking about the "About" wording for introduction to what we wish to do. This has now been finalized on our end and we have sent off to VulcanHammer and SlideRuleEra for final look-see (p.s. change to ars rather than aris). If agreed, we can post it. I will be working on procedures for submittal, review and the like - VAD? You out there and wish to discuss?
If anyone has any short case histories, etc. that would be suitable, please put them together and let's see if we can't get some "Papers for Practice" and Tech notes on the site!