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Research History 1990 – A Methodology for the
Objective Evaluation of Hypermedia Environments(Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Southwestern Louisiana)
1991 – Release of World Wide Web (T. Berners-Lee, CERN)
1993 – Release of NCSA Mosaic(Mark Andreesen, UIUC)
1994 – CBI/TAMUCC sets up web site One of first web sites to exist
Informal Research Questions (1994)
Given a language as limited as HTML, how effective can it (and the WWW) be for publishing scientific research results?
How quickly will knowledge of a web page spread throughout the Internet?
Test Methodology Publish a "paper" in HTML to investigate
these questions Topic should be relevant to wide
audience yet have some scientific basis for publication Computer Science?
Too technical Environmental Studies?
Too specialized HTML/WWW?
Too new
Fortunately…
[Barry 1993] identified an important research area of a hazardous food product that remained largely unregulated, underinvestigated, and despite its hazards remained freely available on supermarket shelves…
Research topic
Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches In August 1994 I performed some
follow-up research to [Barry 1993] and published the results on the web. The resulting publication is available at
http://www.sci.tamucc.edu/~pmichaud/toast/
Observations Although HTML was a fairly primitive
language in 1994, it was effective in communicating results In [Partridge 1995], the author solicited user
opinions of SPTBT and other contemporary web sites.
Participants rated SPTBT site as "best organized," "easiest to understand," and "best use of graphics"
Interestingly, participants also rated site as "least useful"
Observations Even though the site was not
widely advertised, it was linked rapidly into the web and public media
020000400006000080000
100000120000140000160000180000
Number of hits to /~pmichaud/toast/
Ultimate research validation
Ultimate research validation
Retrieved on 23 Mar 2005
Conclusion 1 I had accidentally stumbled onto a topic
of significant national importance Technical press coverage:
Internet World (1995) Computer Life (1995) Ziff-Davis Publishing (1995) PC Magazine (1995) .net Magazine (1995) Personal Computer World (1995) Cybersurfer Magazine (1995) ComputerLife Magazine (1995) PC Computing (1995)
News coverage Houston Chronicle
(1995) SF Chronicle (1995) London Student (1995) San Jose Mercury
News (1995) Atlanta Journal
Constitution (1995) Boston Herald (1995) Orange County
Register (1996)
USA Today (1997) The Wall Street
Journal (1997) ABC News (1998)
Magazines and Books CHEMTECH
(1995) POWDER (1995) Forbes (1997) Currents (1996)
Research Critiques Response #1 – falsification of
results
Response #2 – Improper safety procedures
Response #3 – Inadequate controls
International Journals
Legal Issues
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:10:32 -0400From: Name WithheldTo: [email protected]: Pop-tart / toaster fires
Dear Mr. Michaud,I am an attorney in Seattle Washington. I saw the May 30, 1995 issue of P.C.Magazine which showed a demostration of a Pop-tart/toaster fire. I aminvolved in a couple of suits over this same problem and I know of at least 8similar fires. One woman I represent lost her house and most of its contentsin a fire caused by a pop-tart in her toaster. Any information you have onthis problem would be greatly appreciated. Please contact me by calling206-xxx-xxxx collect or E-mail me back with a phone number where I can reachyou to discuss this.
Thank you very much for your time.
Related Articles Fun with Grapes
http://www.sci.tamucc.edu/~pmichaud/grape
The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project
Conclusions Always attend toaster while
heating Pop-Tarts
Andy Warhol was right
HTML is a useful language for publishing articles and research
