Annex V

Project Information in the ProClim- InfoSystem

The Project information used in this study is contained in the ProClim- InfoSystem, which is based on the replies of project leaders to the ProClim- questionnaire. It is a snap shot, since it uses the information available for a specific time period. On the other hand, the information is actualized whenever we hear about changes, and at least once a year. It also contains substantially more project related details than can be reproduced in the report. The ProClim-Information System on Climate and Global Change is thus a useful complementary tool to this report.

Project information is accessible under the address: http://www.proclim.ch

You may view project information by clicking on the corresponding pie element on the ProClim- WWW home page (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. ProClim- home page (http://www.proclim.ch). The ProClim- InfoSystem provides an overview of Swiss research activities in the field of Climate and Global/Regional Environmental Change and gives basic information on national and international programs. Clicking on the pie slice "projects" allows access to information on individual research projects (and links to other relevant material).

By clicking on "projects", you move to the window reproduced in Figure 2, where you have a number of options to search for projects by:

• using a simple form that allows you to type in various search criteria (principle investigator, project title, project ID number), if you have the exact information available;
• selecting a specific research area from a list of choices (e.g., "impacts of climate and global change", "variability") by clicking on the desired research area (this search would produce a list of all projects relevant to the given research area);
• searching for projects associated with a user-specified research program or sub-program (e.g., International Human Dimension Program, Swiss Priority Program Environment);
• searching for projects associated with a specified person (the person can be specified by last name, first name or by other information - such as the country or name of the institution at which the person is located - if the name is not known)
• performing a full text search (preprogrammed to search in the project title, abstract, etc.) for a word of your choice (e.g., "critical level").

Figure 2. The window "Project View" is accessed by clicking on the pie segment "projects" in the home page (Fig. 1). From the "project view" window, you can perform searches for specific projects according to different criteria (e.g., Project Leader (= "persons")).

Detailed information on the individual projects can be accessed via the project detail view:

Figure 3. The window "project detail view" can be accessed by clicking on the button "projects" following any of the searches described in the text. This window displays the detailed information available about the selected project, such as the project leader, an abstract and leading questions. Other information related to the given project can be located by clicking the buttons "related persons" (co-project leaders, co-workers) or "link to programs".

 

 

A gread deal of additional information can be accessed by clicking on other pie elements of the ProClim- home page (see Figure 1). The interface is intuitive and you require no training to access the information.