ELECTRONIC DATA SERVICE GROUP
MINUTES OF THE MEETING NOVEMBER 7, 2001


Present:	Cooper, Jack			Pinnell, Richard
		Moskal, Susan (Chair)	Rahman, Shabiran
		McTaggart, Judy (Recorder)


1.	Minutes of the Meeting of September 26, 2001:  accepted.


2.	Business Arising:

Item 2, Adding a subject line to each UWEDS mailto link:  Susan discussed the issue with Marina Wan.  It was suggested a link be put on each page we have ownership of.  Action: Susan will ask Marina to create a form using CGI script.  It was also noted the EDS website needs to be reviewed.  This will be an agenda item for a future EDS meeting.

	Item 4, Beyond 20/20 Browser Upgrade:  Richard has not yet posted a message to 
	LibEDS email discussion group about the recent upgrades noting we first need to 
	get clarification on the listservs we have established.  Action:  Susan will consult 
	with Charles Woods to determine what we have.
  
  	Item 5, Faculty Advisory Committee:  Susan investigated the Co-Data site and 
	did not find a list of data sets.  She noted she has received only a couple of replies 	re the next Faculty Advisory Committee meeting.
	 
	Richard reported he spoke with Amos Lakos about the possibility of broadening 
	the license for Datastream beyond Accountancy.  Amos' response was that the 
Accountancy Department pays for this and broadening the license would not be 
appropriate.  Richard suggested, in the future, we might want to consider 
joining with other consortia that offer access to data for a fee.

Item 6, ICPSR OR Meeting:  Richard noted he is now Waterloo's Official 
Representative to ICPSR and is on the CANICPSR listserv.  He also reported he 
attended the ICPSR conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan and provided feedback 
to the group on the sessions he attended.
 	
	Item 7, ICPSR Direct:  Susan is holding off speaking to Charles Woods until she 
	has more details.  She noted we might have to reconsider when we look at ICPSR 
	Direct. 
	
	
 	

Item 10, TDR Administrative Page:  Richard reported a link to the administrative page can be put on the TUG staff web page. 

Item 11, EDS Web Page:  Susan has not yet spoken with Marina Wan about adding a link on the EDS web page to the excel file of CD-ROM databases currently held by UW Library.


3.	TDR Data Categorization (Susan)

The subject categories on the TDR page were examined.  The group consensus was that geographic notation is critical.  It was suggested that 1) topic headings could be enriched to include geographic location, and 2) drop-down menus could be added listing geographic location and sub-categories of topic.

The following headings were proposed:

Agriculture
Census
Communication
Crime and Justice
Education
Elections
Environment and Energy (includes Meteorology and Natural Resources)
Finance, Business, Trade
General (to include yearbooks, demographic data, etc.)
Health
Labour (drop Income from the label)
Social Surveys
Travel

Action:  Susan will post a summary of the group's proposal to the webboard.


4.	Online Registration Forms (Richard)

The online registration forms that allow for the data collection about TDR users were examined.  There are 2 forms - first time users must register their email address; subsequent logins require only the second form to be completed.  Minor grammar corrections to the text and the addition of a "comments" box were suggested.  Shabiran expressed concern about the email address requirement and suggested the forms should be approved by the Office of Research.  Action:  Shabiran will follow up on this.


5.	ICPSR Dircet

Item deferred to next meeting.


    Next Meeting:  November 21, 2001;  Porter 224a;  1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.