About this Website


Objective
I designed this website as an experiment to assess the value of a searchable notes database in the field of organizational research. The HTML language and the Excite-based search routines on the Stanford Web server offer some interesting features:
* multi-platform and multi-location accessibility
* the power of "linkages" between key organizational theories and research
* a powerful search engine
* long-term upgradability (the World Wide Web will be around for a while...)

I've been considering and using various storage technologies to store all my notes (MS Word, Endnotes, Filemaker Pro, etc.) but have decided that the WWW has the best functionality and useability at this moment.

And I figure why not expand access of these notes to others -- maybe somebody else will find them useful.

Target Users
The initial user is me. I initially created the database to help me prepare for my PhD qualifying exams and as a place to store all my literature reviews and notes for various research projects. I'm particularily impressed with the search capabilities built into the Stanford web server.

I suspect that another potential consumer would be other first and second-year PhD students in OB who are likely to end up reading the same "classic" articles in sociology and social psychology that I did. Sometimes another person's notes on the article can be useful.

Anyone taking Soc 160/260: Formal Organizations at Stanford may find the condensed, hyper-text version of Dick Scott's Organizations book useful.

I'd be curious if other students find this useful as well, and will welcome any thoughts, suggestions, or contributions.

Database Creation
I've primarily used Adobe's PageMill to help set up all the web pages (I don't do HTML code). I also manage all my bibliographic data using Endnotes.

Contributions and Suggestions Are Welcome!
If others find this useful, I'd be willing to expand the database to add more functionality and more material. If you'd like to make some note contributions, please send them to krollag@leland.stanford.edu