By Lorraine Swift
Abbott, RiskWorld editor,
E-mail to: abbott@tec-com.com.
December 17, 1996 -- RiskWorld, the World Wide Web publication you are now reading, was launched on November 11, 1995, by Tec-Com Inc., a small publishing company located in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States.
When those of us on the Tec-Com staff were first introduced to the World Wide Web during the Christmas holidays of 1994, we immediately knew that it was a medium we wanted to work in. We could publish information in a timely manner, we would have unlimited space, and we would have the option of correcting or updating our on-line articles at any time.
We also knew what subject matter we wanted to cover in our first electronic publication. It would be information on events and activities leading to the analysis and management of risks. The particular risks we would focus on, at least initially, would be those currently receiving the attention of the risk professionals. In our reporting, we would also include those tangent areas supporting risk analysis--that is, methods development, data collection, and other requisite tools. And, finally, we would report on the risk professionals themselves, as individuals or groups, along with the various agencies and organizations sponsoring their work.
For those of you familiar with Tec-Com, this choice of subject matter was not surprising. You probably knew us through our long-time association with the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). I personally worked with some of the individuals who organized SRA in 1980 and soon became involved in the production of the society’s newsletter. When I "retired" in 1986 from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and founded Tec-Com, my work with SRA continued through contractual arrangements between SRA and Tec-Com.
It is important to note, however, that RiskWorld is not sponsored by SRA. Rather, it is an independent publication of Tec-Com Inc., which is solely responsible for its contents. On the other hand, SRA is frequently referred to in RiskWorld. That is because we sought and received permission from the society to reprint within RiskWorld certain SRA articles and abstracts that had already been published in the print media. The intent was threefold: (1) to publicize the activities of SRA, whose goals we support, (2) to make available to all interested readers a significant amount of risk-related information that is not generally available elsewhere, and (3) to illustrate what can be done within a World Wide Web publication such as ours.
For example, our News department usually includes reprints of general-interest articles from RISK newsletter, the society’s quarterly newsletter. In addition, SRA is listed in our Organizations department, and from that listing are numerous hypertext links to other SRA newsletter reprints, as well as to reprints of abstracts of the papers presented at SRA’s 1994 and 1995 annual meetings. Most recently, we have added the abstracts/summaries of papers presented at the 1996 annual meeting of the European Section of SRA.
But RiskWorld’s contents include much more than news stories and abstracts, as will be deduced by anyone browsing through our various departments. During the year in which we have been in operation and have been in contact with visitors from around the world, we have developed a clearer vision of our mission. What we really hope to become is a doorway through which all parties interested in risk matters can find the information they are seeking. The information may not be in RiskWorld itself, but hopefully we can provide the pathway to it through our links to other sites.
We know this is a lofty goal, especially for a project that to date has been largely unfunded. While our Tec-Com staff had originally intended to seek sponsors for RiskWorld immediately after the publication was launched, we soon realized that more development was necessary. We now know that RiskWorld's development will continue as long as the publication exists, but we do believe that we now have a product that we and sponsors who join us can be proud of.
So now we are actively seeking funding from sponsors. Each category 1 sponsor will be given a prominent display on our departments page and also will be listed on the first page of each of our departments. Each location will link to additional information about the sponsor, either at the sponsor’s own web site or on a "home page" created within RiskWorld.
Category 2 sponsors will have a display (or ad) that appears on the first page of a single department, their displays appearing on the first page of the department with which they are affiliated.
Finally, we will create home pages within RiskWorld for risk-related groups that do not have the resources or time to develop their own home pages. An example is the home page we have developed for the Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, for which a display is also included on RiskWorld’s department page.
We invite you to join us. Together, we can provide risk community web users with a convenient tool for finding the latest information in the world of risk. For more information send an inquiry to me at abbott@tec-com.com.
Story posted December 17, 1996.
Copyright © 1996 by Tec-Com Inc.