Sakia.org eNews - Issue No. 002 (Historic)
Historic reference
- This page is maintained for documentation and historic reference purposes.
- Content published largely as originally issued, with only minor typographic and link adjustments (where possible) for better readability.
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Issue No. 002 - 20 November 2006
Sakia.org eNews
Issue No.: 002 - 20 November 2006
Sakia.org is a free information and communication initiative in the area of ’land and water’, fostering open and free access to knowledge in support of the international professional ’land and water’ community. This newsletter is mainly to inform the Sakia.org community about the latest issues related to professional services and knowledge provided through the Sakia.org Group. Other news from within the ’land and water’ community may be included at discretion if related to the technical scope of Sakia.org.
This newsletter is free of charge and is issued at irregular intervals. It is only distributed to members of the Sakia.org community who have requested to receive this newsletter when creating the free member account online or to others who have requested to receive updates related to Sakia.org. I apologise if this newsletter was delivered wrongfully in which case I would kindly ask you to reply to this email and request your removal. These eNews are a service of: https://www.sakia.org/
CONTENT
- Welcome and introduction
- Sakia.org - an overview and links to the major services
- New IRRISOFT site released at Sakia.org
- IRRISOFT - a first set of software description/reviews released online
- Sakia.org funding issues
- Sakia.org eNews - online
- From the Editor
Welcome and introduction
I would like to welcome all new members who have subscribed to Sakia.org since the release of our first issue of the Sakia.org eNews on the 1st May 2006. All newsletters have an identical online version which give an overview on latest developments related to the various services provided through Sakia.org. Links to the Sakia.org news section as well as to the previous issue of this newsletter are found under the “Sakia.org eNews - online” header of this newsletter.
Sakia.org - an overview and links to the major services
Sakia.org comprises of the following major services and modules:
- Sakia.org - The framework and concept and access to all the services below
https://www.sakia.org/ - IRRIGATION-L - professional email discussions and online archives
https://www.irrigation-l.org/ - VL Irrigation & Hydrology - quality information online in full text (e.g. reprints)
https://www.vl-irrigation.org/ - e-Journal of Land and Water - professional open access and peer-reviewed publishing online
https://www.sakia.org/ejlw/ () - IRRISOFT - quality software information and online applications (just released !)
https://www.irrisoft.org/
New IRRISOFT site released at Sakia.org
IRRISOFT Database and online Applications in Irrigation, Drainage & Hydrology.
I am glad to announce that the new IRRISOFT site has just been released at Sakia.org. The main objective of the new IRRISOFT service is to provide freely accessible quality controlled software descriptions as well as online versions of applications in the wider field of irrigation, drainage and hydrology. It is a service predominantly for software packages which are available free of charge to the end user or where the price is limited to contributions towards expenses.
As many of you recall, IRRISOFT services date back as far as 1995. Due to urgently needed updates and server changes they had to be taken down for a complete overhaul and revision. The overhaul and re-launch however proved to be a major challenge as hardly anything could be used from the previous content and system, and thus everything had to be rewritten from scratch. The structure of the old ‘standard IRRISOFT software description page’ had proven to be quite effective and hence was used as the basis for the new one. It was modified to allow for even better software descriptions/reviews moulding it more into an article type of online paper without losing the clear structure and details of the old SDP. In this form it becomes a small stand alone publication which may be cited properly (individual shortcut URL) and which contains enough content, details and references to give a clear picture on what the software package can do for whom and under what conditions. It is a fairly moderate start for this site but I hope that more can be added subsequently over time.
If you have worked extensively with or have programmed a freely accessible software package and would like to write a description / review please visit the IRRISOFT submission section for further details and the online submission form. Alternatively you may download and use a template from the link below and return it to me.
IRRISOFT online submission
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft_submission ()
Software description/review template (rtf)
https://www.sakia.org/sdr_template ()
IRRISOFT Website @ Sakia.org
https://www.irrisoft.org/
IRRISOFT - a first set of software description/reviews released online
The “IRRISOFT Database and online Applications in Irrigation, Drainage & Hydrology” provides access to structured software descriptions and reviews as well as online versions of applications. The first set could be released online consisting of:
- Cook, F.J., Fitch, P., Thorburn, P.J. and K.L Bristow, 2006:
WetUp: A software tool to estimate wetting patterns from drip emitters for better irrigation design.- IRRISOFT software descriptions and reviews at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/sdp/wetup ()
- Hess, T.M. and T.-M. Stein, 2005:
DailyET - A simple ‘calculator’ for estimating daily reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo).- IRRISOFT software descriptions and reviews at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/sdp/dailyet ()
- Raes, D. 2005:
BUDGET - A soil water and salt balance model.- IRRISOFT software descriptions and reviews at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/sdp/budget ()
- Raes,D. and P. De Proost. 2005:
UPFLOW - Upward water movement from a shallow water table.- IRRISOFT software descriptions and reviews at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/sdp/upflow ()
- Raes, D., Willems, P. and F. Gbaguidi, 2006:
RAINBOW - A software package to compute frequency analysis and perform testing of homogeneity on hydrometeorological data sets.- IRRISOFT software descriptions and reviews at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/sdp/rainbow ()
- Stein, T.-M., 2006:
IRRISOFT Siphon V. 1.0 @ Sakia.org - An online irrigation tool for computing the discharge of siphons.- IRRISOFT software online tools at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP/APP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/apps/siphon ()
- Wahl, T.L., 2005: WinFlume - Software for design and calibration of long-throated flumes and broad-crested weirs.- IRRISOFT software descriptions and reviews at Sakia.org.
IRRISOFT SDP:
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft/sdp/winflume ()
Please note that the authors of the software descriptions/reviews are not necessarily the programmers or authors of the software packages.
All IRRISOFT SDPs and APPs
https://www.irrisoft.org/irrisoft_sdp ()
Sakia.org funding issues
Sakia.org relies on fundraising for its operation. While all services are free to the end user they unfortunately do not come for free and significant costs evolve not only from server hard- and software, maintenance and access but to a great extent also from time involved in content acquisition, screening, reviewing, management, preparation of content and communications within and outside the community. Funding constraints have led to some setbacks forcing important and urgent works and projects to be put on the backburner rather than being speeded up in the way needed.
Sakia.org counts on support from members, individuals as well as groups or institutions. Please visit the support page for further information on the various support options.
https://www.sakia.org/support ()
Sakia.org eNews online
All versions of the Sakia.org eNews are accessible through the Sakia.org website. The current version will be added shortly and will be found in the Sakia.org news section under:
https://www.sakia.org/news/ ()
Previous and current issues
https://www.sakia.org/e-news_002/ () [20/11/2006]
https://www.sakia.org/e-news_001/ () [01/05/2006]
From the Editor
Dear Sakia.org Members and Supporters,
Sakia.org is a professional service of and for the community and hence relies on support and feedback from you as the community. The user access to the Sakia.org services already gives a clear indication on the demand which exists for freely accessible knowledge and services as provided through the Sakia.org group. However, I would also like to encourage more direct and constructive feedback to be passed back to me allowing to improve the services and look into future direction Sakia.org may take - any positive comments and encouragement may of course also help ;-)
The following short online feedback form may be used to send your comments to me, if you prefer anonymously. A login with your Sakia.org account is needed to access the page which was set up in this way only to secure the form from being misused externally as a spamming mechanism to flood my inbox with unsolicited emails. Your login details and the feedback form are of course not linked and hence the message will remain anonymous. https://www.sakia.org/feedback ()
Thank you for your support in maintaining this service.
Best regards,
Dr Thomas-M. Stein (Sakia.org)
https://www.sakia.org/tms/ ()
Editor-in-Chief: Dr Thomas-M. Stein
Send comments to: thomas-manuel.stein(at)sakia.org
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