Update of JAFOV (Japanese Fossils of Vertebrate) and Improvement of its Service System

Abstract

We updated the database JAFOV by adding about 1, 200 records, and improved its service system adopting WWW system. JAFOV is a database of fossil specimens of vertebrates possessed by Universities, Museums, and so forth in Japan. By the end of March in 2001, about 12, 400 specimens are recorded in JAFOV. We report the present situation of JAFOV especially on the records added in 2000 fiscal year (from April 2000 to March 2001). JAFOV has been served by an information retrieval system based on command system (not GUI) through the computer network among the universities in Japan. The way of service is the last generation system, and it is rather difficult to use for researchers not so familiar with computers. WWW was considered the best way for JAFOV service of next generation, and we have examined how JAFOV could be served by WWW through Internet. Consequently, we have developed the way of WWW service for JAFOV in this study. We also report the mechanism and WWW version JAFOV service.