The impact of the internet on researchers' training

Abstract

The paper explores the reasons that have made the Internet even more important for the training of researchers, both for pure statisticians and scientists who use statistics for analysing experimental data. The author discusses various aspects of the role of the Internet and focuses on those contributions that populate the network with valuable tools and services (electronic journals, electronic books, virtual labs, data archives and examples of data analysis, etc.). An extensive bibliography has been provided to guide new users, through the millions of sites of the chaotic World Wide Web, towards the most interesting places for people involved in statistics.

Distance learning: new frontiers for solving old problems

“…The new WWW facilities enabled the establishment of many different environments to support teachers or just to allow interested people (students as well as teachers not yet skilled on statistics) to better understand, or to deepen, some topics. On-line course material, electronic books, virtual labs, applets with simulated examples, animations, have quickly populated the Web, as well as lot of data sets (Galmacci, 2001). At the same time, technology made possible video-conferences using private lines or large band network connections, with low cost software and hardware.…”

Design of an internet course for training medical researchers in Bayesian statistical methods

“…There are many interactive simulation demonstrations (see Galmacci, 2001), but rather few that focus on strong case-style applications. Many sites are overwhelming in detail, making the reader want to turn and run and most are beginning bits and pieces rather than a complete work.…”

How to think about statistical consultation? Learning from data

“…So far the WWW is a very efficient tool for presenting statistical information in new ways that contribute to attracting the interest of ordinary people: The classic social facts (economy, demography, etc) are often presented by exploiting the "technological appeal" as much as possible (Galmacci, 2001). From Galmacci's paper we can realise how many kinds of powerful statistical resources are spread in the WWW, at different web sites in each corner of the world.…”