A question sometimes put to us is whether the StarPages are related to AstroWeb and/or which resource is best. Well, things are not that simple as it all depends on what you are looking for.
The master files for the StarPages largely predate and offer much more, and more diversified, information (admittedly in a less visible way) than AstroWeb. The two resources are also structured and operated quite differently.
AstroWeb is basically (i.e. nothing more than) a list of commented URLs: about 3,000, to be compared with the more than 12,000 URLs offered by the StarPages through the resources StarWorlds (for astronomy-related organizations, institutions, associations, companies, and so on) and StarHeads (for professional astronomers and related scientists). But these latter resources are more than just lists of URLs. StarWorlds for instance is a directory with full information systematically compiled, authentified and verified.
The fact that, in AstroWeb, the material is presented in long lists gives not only a feeling of plenty, but allows a direct visible search through it. In the StarPages, the full master files are not made accessible as a protective measure for the individuals listed and against excessive download of material, but also to allow usage of more flexible search engines.
In StarWorlds, the material retrieved is presented in an homogeneous way, with all practical information available on the various organizations matching the search (postal address, phone/fax numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, together with details on history, size, activities, publications, observing sites, and so on). This is the result of daily maintenance, updating campaigns, and inclusion of validated information from signed and documented questionnaires.
In AstroWeb, and because of the basically spontaneous on-line submission of URLs by third parties, the level is definitely heterogeneous, not exhaustive, and sometimes questionable. Since they are submitted by the entries themselves, the corresponding presentations are basically self-promoting and thus, in some instances, lack the objectivity desired in a scientific resource. Several of the institutions still mentioned in the AstroWeb consortium are de facto not contributing to the database maintenance anymore.
AstroWeb contains however some URLs (essentially of specific experiments or projects) that cannot naturally fit within the StarPages. On the other hand, StarWorlds includes full data on a significant amount of entries still without Internet presence and/or web sites.
Historically, the StarPages date back to directories of organizations published (on paper, of course) already in the seventies, and thus benefit of about 30 years of experience in this kind of activities (see also the Star*s Family's outstanding features).
The masters files of the StarPages were already put on line by ESA (European Space Agency) and ESO (European Southern Observatory) well before the advent of the WWW and even of the Internet as such. AstroWeb was born with the WWW since it is exclusively web-oriented. A number of URLs from the StarPages were downloaded into AstroWeb to help it taking off. The undersigned also co-authored a number of articles presenting AstroWeb in professional journals for the astronomy community at large.
It is finally adequate to emphasize that
- the StarPages are maintained daily with validated
and authenticated information;
- the StarPages include also a unique resource:
StarBits, a dictionary of abbreviations, acronyms,
contractions, symbols, and so on (about 200,000 entries);
- the homogeneity, completeness and maturity of data in
StarWorlds have permitted a number of
sociological studies of astronomy-related organizations.
Note that, since 2001, the directory StarGuides (paper equivalent of the database StarWorlds) and the dictionary StarBriefs (paper equivalent of the database StarBits) are published by Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Go to the Star*s Family
of Astronomy and Related Resources main page.
Go to the StarWorlds page.
Go to the StarHeads page.
Go to the StarBits page.