In 1995, ODP began publishing the Proceedings volumes on CD-ROM. In the fall of 1997, the first WWW versions of Initial Reports volumes (Leg 166) and Scientific Results volumes (Leg 154) were produced. In 1999, beginning with Leg 176, Initial Reports volumes will be published in CD-ROM and WWW formats only. By 2001, beginning with Leg 169, all Scientific Results volumes will be published in these formats.

Initially, our staff developed the CD-ROM and WWW products based on the structure and style of the traditional Proceedings book format. Beginning with the Leg 176 Initial Reports volume, the format of the Proceedings volumes will evolve. This will naturally occur as you, the users, get accustomed with using publications electronically and provide us with feedback on your likes and dislikes, and as we incorporate new technological advances to improve our product.

I encourage you to visit Orientation to learn more about the electronic formats of the Proceedings volumes.

This is a new and bold initiative for the Ocean Drilling Program and the scientific community, and we look forward to receiving your feedback as we travel down this exciting road.

Each volume has a table of contents file (HTML) that leads to the volume material and contains links to other sites.

Maps: A site map for each leg and comprehensive ODP maps showing sites and repository locations are viewable in HTML.

Indexes: A keyword list linked to chapter number is available in HTML format, and the index of the volume is available as an Acrobat PDF file.

Preliminary Pages: This Acrobat PDF file contains the frontispiece, title page, and other information from the front of the printed volume, including shipboard participants (with e-mail links) and member nations of the Ocean Drilling Program.

Volume Table of Contents:

Chapters-Chapters are presented as Acrobat PDF files that can be viewed on the WWW by configuring a browser such as Netscape to access the Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

Chapter Abstracts-In the Scientific Results volumes, chapter abstracts are available in HTML format.

Data Tables-ASCII tables from the volume that are cited in the text but do not appear in the printed volume.

Core Images-In the Initial Reports volumes, the core description forms are presented as individual PDF files (by site). For easier (and speedier) access, the files are linked to individual PDF core images. The reader must click on the figure box to see the PDF file containing the photo. The core images are reduced to 300 dpi. These large files are presented in color. Without an optimal system, they will be slow to open. Images scanned at 1200 dpi with no compression (50 MB/per images) are available from ODP in TIF format. (Contact the ODP Data Librarian.)

Core Data-The following core data collected on the JOIDES Resolution are available in ASCII format, if they were collected on a given leg: GRAPE (gamma-ray attenuation porosity evaluator), index properties, magnetic susceptibility, reflectance P-wave, and natural-gamma data.

The Adobe Acrobat format was chosen as the main viewing platform for the Proceedings volumes because it is cross-platform compatible, which is important to the wide constituency of the Ocean Drilling Program. It also offers excellent quality for images, and can be printed easily. Each volume chapter is saved as an individual PDF file. To access the files, you will need a copy of Adobe Reader. The Adobe Reader is available for free on all recent ODP Proceedings volume CD-ROMs, via ODP Publication Services' WWW site, and from Adobe's WWW site. For information on how to use PDF files see below.