1997 Conference on Scientific and Technical Data Exchange and Integration

The exchange of scientific and technical (S&T) data among different computing environments and across diverse scientific and engineering disciplines presents major problems that hinder full exploitation of computer-based modeling, the Internet, modern scientific databases, and new computer technology. The U.S. National Committee for CODATA sponsored the first major interdisciplinary conference on this subject on December 15-17, 1997, in Bethesda, Maryland. The conference had three main objectives:

• To identify areas, with special emphasis on interdisciplinary needs, in which data exchange and integration are important;
• To highlight major S&T data exchange and integration efforts already underway or in planning; and
• To foster serious and significant cooperation in these kinds of activities among scientific and engineering disciplines, and governmental and non-governmental organizations.