'Delta' links universities to the globe

With the electronic communication world growing more each day Cal State Long Beach as well as other universities have pulled their resources together to develop a cooperative data base that links them at a moments notice.

The data base, Delta Project, can be found on the World Wide Web computer service.

First started by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State San Jose, Cal State Chico and CSULB, the Delta Project has been operating since January.

Networking specialist, Alison Bomar at academic computing services, said it was a way for all universities to pull their resources.

The data base offers information complied from any of those participating universities and organizations at no cost to members of the campus community.

"The one conditional is that it is for educational and non-profit use," Bomar said.

Using a graphical user interface to Internet, the existing data base, the Delta Projects lets users click on the icon that represents the topic and then sub topics are brought up on the screen. Currently the project has a complete biology folder. Bomar said that soon other topics such as fine arts, anthropology and business will be available.

Aside from accessing information students and faculty are also encouraged to submit works, studies and projects to the Delta Project. If students wish to do so Bomar said they need a faculty advisor.

"(The measure) is to ensure that (the information) doesn't belong to some one else," said Bomar. "Ensure it's accurate."

Faculty and students are also required to sign a release form stating the same. Originally intended for the CSU system, Bomar said a number of other universities have expressed interest in the project, including the University of Michigan, Trinity and New Media Center, a non profit organization.

To access the Delta Project students use a universal resource locator (URL) by typing: http://www.csulb.edu/vc/ at a terminal.