Math-Net Page Help: About the Math-Net Page: The Structure and Content of the MNP

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Math-Net Page Help Files

About the Math-Net Page (MNP)
	The Aim of the MNP
	Structure and Content of the MNP
	Standard and Alternative MNP
	How to use the MNP Maker
		A Short Guide to Create a MNP
		A Detailed Guide to Create a MNP
		Character Encoding
		Language Versioning
		Embedding of Local Search Engines
		Re-editing of an Extisting MNP
		Liability
	Installation of the MNP
	Math-Net:A short Overview
	You Can Help
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The Structure and the Content of the Math-Net Page

The Structure of the Math-Net Page

The Math-Net Page consists of two major blocks:

$Math-Net Homepage$

Block II.1

(Name of the Department and the University, Logo)

Block I

(Math-Net Services)

Block II.2

(Local Contact, Local Search Engine, Homepages of the Department and the University)

Block II.3

(Groups and Subgroups
of the Math-Net Page)

global and regional (optionally) information (Block I on the left hand side)
local information (Block II on the right hand side)

Block I is automatically generated whenever a Math-Net Page is set up. The global Math-Net Services are listed here. Each Math-Net Member Association can refer to further services, the regional services, here (e.g., look at the table "Services of Math-Net.de" on the Math-Net Page of the University of Cologne). The design and contents of Block I should not be modified by the participating mathematical institution.

Block II provides local information. Every participating department needs to actively fill in the details. The Math-Net Page Maker (ref. section 5) is designed to make this task easy.
The local information starts in Block II.1 with the name of the department or research institute, the name of the university, and a logo (if available). Below, in Block II.2, links to the local information coordinator (local contact), to the primary homepage of the institute, and to the homepage of the university are made available by means of buttons. Access to a local search engine can optionally be setup.
Block II.3 is the most important part of the Math-Net Page. It provides the core of the available departmental information in a standardized fashion, structured by groups (in the blue rows) and, for each group, by subgroups (in the grey rows). Block II.3 consists of six groups, providing a rough classification of departmental information. The contents of each group is subdivided into several subgroups yielding a refined classification as follows:

General

About us

Organization of the Department / Institute

Information for Prospective Students

Community Outreach

Information for Visitors

People

Faculty / Staff

Students

Long-term Visitors / Associates

News

Schedule of Events

Information for Dep. Members / Members of the Institute

Positions Available

Research

Research Groups

Preprints / Publications

Projects

Software Development

Teaching

Academic Programs / Curricula

Class Schedules

Course Informations and Materials

Information Services

Computing Services

Libraries

Journals

Bibliographic Search

Precise definitions of the groups and subgroups are given below. Please note for some subgroups a department may not have or offer local information. In this case, subgroups are omitted on the Math-Net Page. E.g., the subgroups "Long-term Visitors / Associates" or "Software Development" are not present on the Cologne Math-Net Page.
Moreover, there is the possibility to extend each group with "More Topics" when the given subgroups do not cover the available local information.

Definition of the Groups and Subgroups of the Math-Net Page

Each group and each subgroup has a "standard label" (or generic name). The information that is expected to be made available under this group or subgroup is described below. In case a department is not satisfied with a proposed standard label, it may modify the label as described in Standard and Alternative Labels.

Standard Labels of Groups	Standard Labels of Subgroups	`Description`	`Examples`	`valid for`
General		This group contains links to the general information of the institution. Most of the general information can be associated with one of the following subgroups. The remaining general information can be included in a subgroup "More Topics". For a compact design the subgroup "More Topics" will be presented in the same row as "General" on the Math-Net Page.		MD, RI
	About us	Link to general information about the institution	a mission statement, the main focus and the profile of the institution, the history and development of the institution, sponsors, see *)	MD, RI
	Organization of the Department / Institute	Link to information describing the organizational structure of the institution	postal address of the institution and student associations, the head of the institution (dean), substructures like chairs, institutes (if existing), working groups, see *)	MD, RI
	Information for Prospective Students	Link to introductory information about the mathematical studies at the department. The target audience are beginners and high school students interested in mathematics.	description of study programs, infos for new students, syllabusses, contact persons, see *)	MD
	Community Outreach	Link to the activities concerning the cooperation between the institution and schools (high schools, elementary schools, etc.), public authorities, further institutions, ....	hints for high school students and teachers interested in mathematics, special events such as summer schools for high school students, information days, public lectures, ..., see *)	MD, RI
	Information for Visitors	Link to information which is relevant for visitors	a map of the campus, travel advice (road map, public transport and traffic information, ...), see *)	MD, RI

People		This group contains links to information about the members of the institution and also of students or student associations. Most of the information about people can be associated with one of the following subgroups. The remaining information about people can be included in a subgroup "More Topics". For a compact design the subgroup "More Topics" will be presented in the same row as "People" on the Math-Net Page.		MD, RI
	Faculty / Staff	Link to information about researchers, professors, lecturers and other employees	list(s) of scientific staff and employees, professional homepages of members, former members of the faculty / staff, see *)	MD, RI
	Students	Link to information provided by student associations	information about student associations, representatives, alumni, see *)	MD
	Long-term Visitors/Associates	Link to information about long-term visitors and associates at the department/research institute	guest lecturers and researchers, see *)	MD, RI

News		This group contains links to recent (and possibly not long-term) information of the institution. Most of the actual information can be associated with one of the following subgroups. All information in this group which is not covered by one of these subgroups can be included in a subgroup "More Topics". For a compact design the subgroup "More Topics" will be presented in the same row as "News" on the Math-Net Page.		MD, RI
	Schedule of Events	Link to a calendar or announcement of local events	seminar talks at the institution, local workshops and conferences, other events, see *)	MD, RI
	Information for Dep. Members / Members of the Institute	Link to up-to-date information of the institution	announcements (of the institution, the university, and possibly further local institutions), discussion forums, an electronic "blackboard", see *)	MD, RI
	Positions Available	Link to advertisements of positions and jobs	vacant (local) positions and jobs, see *)	MD, RI

Research		This group contains links to the research activities of the institution. Most of the information about Research can be associated with one of the following subgroups. The remaining information about Research can be included in a subgroup "More Topics". For a compact design the subgroup "More Topics" will be presented in the same row as "Research" on the Math-Net Page.		MD, RI
	Research Groups	Link to information about local research and working groups	aims of the working groups, activities and projects of the working groups, participants, see *)	MD, RI
	Preprints / Publications	Link to information about preprints and publications	preprints, theses, dissertations, journal articles and monographs and further publications, access to related abstracts, see *)	MD, RI
	Projects	Link to information about research and other projects	description, participants and results of projects, reports on the projects, project partners, funding, see *)	MD, RI
	Software Development	Link to information about mathematical software, test data for mathematical programming problems, databases about mathematical structures, ...	source files and documentation about mathematical software and test data which were developed at the department/institute, see *)	MD, RI

Teaching		This group (particularly for mathematical departments) contains links to local teaching materials and organizational information about studying. Most of the information about Teaching can be associated with one of the following subgroups. The remaining information about Teaching can be included in a subgroup "More Topics". For a compact design the subgroup "More Topics" will be presented in the same row as "Teaching" on the Math-Net Page.		MD
	Academic Programs/Curricula	Link to organizational information about studies	study programs, degree courses, exam regulations, see *)	MD
	Class Schedules	Link to the schedule of lectures, typically of the current (and some previous) term or semesters	schedule of lectures, see *)	MD
	Course Information and Materials	Detailed Information about courses and full-text materials for teaching, links to further information	lecture notes and manuscripts, exercises and solutions, see *)	MD

Information Services		This group describes information services which are provided by local information providers or are accessible locally. Most mathematical Information Services which are accessible at the department are associated with one of the following subgroups. The remaining Information Services can be included in a subgroup "More Topics". For a compact design the subgroup "More Topics" will be presented in the same row as "Information Services" on the Math-Net Page.		MD, RI
	Computing Services	Link to information about mathematical software and computing services available locally	software and software libraries (access and usage), for information of the computing center see *)	MD, RI
	Libraries	Link to the information provided by local libraries	OPAC, CD ROM databases, lending and document delivery services, see *)	MD, RI
	Journals	Link to information about electronic journals which are available locally	electronic journals, see *)	MD, RI
	Bibliographic Search	Access to locally available bibliographic databases related to mathematics	MathSciNet, Zentralblatt Math, INSPEC, CompuScience, Science Citation Index, ..., see *)	MD, RI

Table 1: groups, subgroups, standard labels and description
*) links to documents or directories or search engines
In the table
MD stands for a mathematical department
RI stands for a research institute.

Table 1 above shows an attempt to describe and strucure the "information universe" of a mathematical department or a research institute in a few words. The list is neither complete, nor are the groups and subgroups disjoint. It may in fact be wise to link certain information to various subgroups simultaneously. It is better to find some information twice than not at all. The short definition of the groups and their subgroups may not suffice to provide a clear picture of the whole idea. We recommend that those installing a Math-Net Page for the first time consult some existing Math-Net Pages, to see what content has been displayed and what decisions have been made by other departments. Please have a look at the examples: Math-Net Page of the Mathematical Institute of the University of Cologne, Math-Net Page of the Department of Mathematics of the Duke University. More examples can be found at the Math-Net Navigator.

Remark for the reader familiar with metadata, especially with RDF:
The table above defines a type and subject scheme, called Math-Net Type Scheme and Math-Net Subject Scheme. The groups (such as Teaching) and subgroups (such as Preprints/Publications) each form a type with a well-defined subject (given by the corresponding description displayed in column three of the table). The metadata "in the background" are extremely useful for collecting high-quality information by search engines.

Each subgroup shown on the Math-Net Page constitutes a hyperlink to the corresponding local information. The destination of the hyperlink may be a single document, a directory, or a search engine. If a department has additional information that does not fit into the subgroup classification and that it wants to make accessible via the Math-Net Page we propose directing a hyperlink to a page/directory "More Topics" summarizing this additional information.