Software and Related Research Tools

Software and Related Research Tools

Research and health related software applications:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (FTP) site. This site contains latest versions of public domain software including EPIINFO, EPIMAP and other statistical and data handling programs.
Software (MSDOS) and information relating to professional and non-professional medical education is available from the University of California, Irvine. This site contains programs related to computer courses on epidemiology, statistical programs, and others.
The Public Domain Software for Public Health Professionals is a good source to keep up with the latest software available for the public health community
Shareware file search engine
Injury Tracker - Sports injury managment software is a sports medicine database software for documentation, charting and tracking of all aspects of athlete health and sports injuries.
Vitalnet Software & Services, makers of MedTrend Software for PC and Web based morbidity and mortality data access

Internet software directories:

New to the net? Microsoft offers a nice introduction to Internet basics and one for the next level--creating your own Web presence.

For you hard core surfers who want to know how to find out about all this neat stuff as soon as it comes out, I suggest you point your browser to one of the following:
Stroud's Consummate Winsock Apps List for all the latest and greatest in Internet software.
Tucows Winsock Software, Tools and Utilities.

Web browsers and publishers:

Are you using NETSCAPE as your WWW browser? If not, this is one of the best with many advanced and time saving features...and its free for educational users.
Internet Assistant. An add-in to Microsoft Word for Windows that makes writing HTML for WEB pages a snap.

Web accessories:

The latest computer platform specific versions of Acrobat, needed to read .PDF documents, (for example the Acrobat formatted NCHS Advance Data can be gotten from the Adobe FTP server for DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX computers.
An important source of up-to-date Web enhancement software is the Netscape inline plug-in site. Many of the above programs can be smoothly integrated right into the Netscape browser.
Realaudio, from Progressive Networks, helps bring audio to Web browsers over modem links without the annoying wait for full file transfer. Audiotranscripts of meetings and conferences becomes practical with this tool. VocalTec's (the Iphone company) Internet Wave offers the same concept but with (claimed) higher quality audio.
Guestbook server, offers free "guestbook" capabilities to any Web site.

NetMeeting - Internet conferencing tools

Want an Internet phone with multi-user application sharing and whiteboard features? Get Microsoft NetMeeting. Your PC will need multimedia capabilities and a high speed modem or faster connection to the net. While there are several such tools available, ICRIN plans on standardizing and integrating Microsoft's software for the following reasons:

1. It's free,
2. It's from Microsoft,
3. It supports multipoint application sharing,
4. It supports file transfer, multipoint whiteboard, and text based multi-user chat,
5. It supports open standards (other software is more likely to work with it).

According to Microsoft: "Microsoft® NetMeeting™ is an Internet phone voice communications client that includes support for international conferencing standards and provides multi-user application-sharing and data conferencing capabilities. The built-in Internet phone support makes it easy for you to call family and friends around the world over the Internet. Multi-user data conferencing support allows two or more users to work together and collaborate in real-time over the Internet or corporate intranet using application sharing, whiteboard, and chat functionality. Some possible scenarios in which NetMeeting can be used to improve the effectiveness in which two or more people communicate include Internet phone calls, virtual meetings, document collaboration, telecommuting, distance learning, and technical support."

Microsoft NetMeeting supports meetings of up to 32 people. Only the first two people connected with audio can participate in an audio call, and only three people can share applications from their computers at any one time. The total number of people that can successfully participate in a meeting will vary based upon available network bandwidth and the speed of the participant's computers. Check out how to Learn to use NetMeeting for fostering streamlined international collaboration in injury control. Collaboration will take place across town or across continents and virtual research and educational sites will become a reality.

What are the system requirements for NetMeeting?
In order to download and install NetMeeting, your system must meet the following system requirements:

Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. For Windows 95 systems, minimally a 486/66 processor with 16 MB RAM (Pentium processor with at least 12 MB RAM recommended). For Windows NT systems, a 486/66 processor with 16 MB RAM (Pentium with at least 16 MB RAM recommended). 14,400 bps modem or LAN (NetMeeting works best with a fast Internet connection). To use the real-time audio features of NetMeeting, you also need: Sound card, speakers, and microphone.

How do I connect to the active ICRIN NetMeeting?
If you have downloaded, installed, and have NetMeeting successfully running you can join the ICRIN NetMeeting to chat or meet with persons who are currently online in the ICRIN NetMeeting as described below. Due to incompatibilities, the automated JavaScript-based connect feature currently works only with Microsoft Internet Explorer as your browser. Netscape users will receive a Java script error.

You will first see a Conference Manager Security Information dialog box that asks if you want the "script" to access the "conference control". Select the bottom option: "Use Conference Manager with no warning" button. You'll then see a box listing all the people currently in the ICRIN conference. If you want to join for text chatting (or audio if only two people or fewer are listed) press the JOIN button and your NetMeeting application will be sent the proper address of the ICRIN conference. Caution, privacy cannot be assured.

Remember, only the first two people connected can use the audio feature. In essence, if no one else is online when you join the ICRIN NetMeeting, it is like making a personal telephone call to Hank Weiss since the NetMeeting is running on his workstation. The location of the host computer will be shifted to a non-personal machine if experimental use proves popular.

If you are ready to connect to the ICRIN NetMeeting and have met all the above requirements, press:

OnLive! Technologies Home Page offers voice conferencing software.

Internet telephony:

Communications clients are beginning to take the Internet by storm. For a fairly complete list and description of such clients, look at Strouds communications clients list. For example, the IPhone (TM) is a commercial Windows program that provides telephone-like voice communication over Internet. It works even with modem connections as slow as 14.4K. You can download a free evaluation copy of Internet Phone from the IPhone home page. A fine competitor is from the Internet Telephone Company (ITEL), developer of WebPhone. Check out the latest and greatest way to use the Web to make "free" voice calls across the world. However, these companies use different technology so Iphone users cannot talk to WebPhone users or NetMeeting users (not yet anyway). Should injury control practitioners standardize on a product to enhance global communication?

ICRIN development information:

A stand-alone 8 minute (2 MB) Windows based ICRIN demo using Lotus ScreenCAM is available for download.It allows viewers to see what an actual Windows Internet browsing session looks like using Netscape. Since it is portable, it may also be shown at sites that do not have Internet connections to demonstrate what the Internet is all about. Simply download the program by clicking the above highlighted text, and run the program ICRINDMO.EXE under Windows. You will need the shareware utility pkunzip to uncompress the zip file.Note: The compressed (zipped) file is fairly large (900k) and may not be suitable for slow modem download.

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Last updated: 12/26/01 - http://www.injurycontrol.com/icrin/software.htm

ICRIN is sponsored by the:
Center for Injury Research and Control (CIRCL)
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

Author: Hank Weiss MS, MPH, PhD Visiting Research Professor
Co-WebMaster: Gerald McGwin Jr. MS, PhD
URL: http://injurycontrol.com/icrin
Initial posting:1/1/95, Acknowledgments