The HSS Web site began in the summer of 1995 as a collaborative effort between the HSS Executive Office at the University of Washington and graduate students at the University of Minnesota. In addition to general information on HSS, the site featured the Society's first on-line program for the HSS Annual Meeting, held in Minneapolis. Between 1995 and 2001, the University of Washington provided server space for the main site. Web historians and others are welcome to view this older site at http://depts.washington.edu/hssexec/index2.html.

In the summer of 2001 the Executive Office initiated a major redesign of the site. The reorganized, easier to navigate site was launched on 7 December, 2001, at www.hssonline.org. Hssonline.org gives the Society an appealing electronic face, while utilizing more sophisticated techniques of data-presentation and -management. In addition to frame architecture, in 2001 hssonline.org incorporated Filemaker Pro databases and LDML capabilities to search and present abstracts of papers read at the annual meeting. The Executive Office also used direct output from Filemaker to maintain the "Jobs and Fellowships" and "News from the Profession" pages.

In October of 2002, this site introduced the online edition of the Guide to the History of Science. The Guide allows users to search institutions, journals, organizations, and people involved with the history of science, technology and medicine. Using Filemaker and Lasso, the Guide can be updated online.

Upgrades to the site have focused upon increasing searchability and ease of use. On December 9th, 2002, a site-specific search engine, using Google, was added to Hssonline. In mid-January, 2003, the Executive Office implemented a significant upgrade to the most heavily trafficked portions of the site. All the information under the "Profession" heading--including job searches and grant listings, news items, and conference announcements--was integrated into the Guide. Using Filemaker relational databases and Lasso, these professional "events" can now be searched, sorted, and updated online. Events can also be associated with specific records in the Guide. For instance, a person can now read about the University of Wisconsin's graduate program, and then follow dynamic links to recent conferences held in Madison, or read a current recruitment announcement for a faculty position there.

The hssonline.org domain is hosted by digital.forest, of Bothell, Washington.

WWW Editorial Policy

The following are rough guidelines for a few of the pages.

Guide to the History of Science:
The Guide covers institutions, organizations, serial publications, and people involved with the history of science. We define the history of science broadly, including the history, philosophy, and social studies of science, technology, and medicine, as well as environmental history. If you or your organization wish to be included, please read the guidelines for submitting data to the Guide.

Sources of Finanacial Support: Jobs, Fellowships, Internships, Grants and Prizes:
All job, fellowship, and prize postings should be e-mailed to the HSS Executive Office. Please put your announcement in the body of an e-mail message sent to info@hssonline.org. The Executive Office will decide whether the information is appropriate to HSS and edit as necessary.

Resources for Teaching and Research:
Links must meet the following criteria: they must serve a useful function for the Society's members; they should be scholarly resources; and they should not be ephemeral. We give preference to centers of information on the web for a specific topic or field. The HSS site does not aspire to be an exhaustive directory for all science and history of science resources; rather, we aim to point users towards appropriate indexes.

Contributions and suggestions can be made by submitting links, information, and pages to the Web Editor or Executive Office. Postings are limited to material of scholarly interest and do not imply endorsement by the History of Science Society.
Please e-mail us at info@hssonline.org.

This page last modified: 26 July, 2006