IUFOG
Internet Unidentified Flying Object Group


Table of Contents

What is ...?
Who is...?
Can I play...?


What is IUFOG?

IUFOG is NOT a formal UFO investigative organization but rather, an informal set of standards. In order to distribute the work load of publishing UFO literature on the Internet, IUFOG was set up to organize World Wide Web authors into a cohesive movement. The goal of IUFOG is to make finding UFO sources on the Net easier for everyone. Specific pages hold specific information. The casual and power users alike can get to the latest information quickly and easily.

IUFOG relies on a distributed network scheme similar to many other WWW meta sources. A single home page is designed and then pointers are used to direct users to pages elsewhere on the Net. Since all IUFOG authors and contributing editors conform to the same document layout scheme, the user notices no difference between sites. A single-cohesive-meta-site.

Q: OK...so how does it work?

IUFOG works by allowing people to do what they do best. An aspiring author notifies us and states their willingness to publish material within the spectrum of IUFOG. The aspiring author is then pointed to pick a specific topic and/or category (one may have to be created). Then a link is established to the new author regarding their topic. Any overlap is worked out between the authors.

Example: Many people have worked on the Lazar story and a multitude of documents circulate the Net. Because there are numerous people working on the same topic, a central 'Lazar page' is defined and a page leader (A democratic vote may be needed) takes the responsibility of creating an index of documents. Now several viewpoints can be found from one page.

Q:What if I already got my own UFO page?

Even better!. IUFOG is a popular site. Have you got a link in our HYPERLINKS page? For those of you who have a WWW UFO page, inclusion in IUFOG means you can distribute the work load to others who have specific interests. It doesn't represent a change in your material, just a change in the format you present the reader with.


Who is IUFOG

Currently IUFOG consists of three people.

  1. Zac Elston The man with the plan

  2. Dean Phillip Kanipe The psychotic insomniac

  3. Dave Schmitz Mr. Popularity Himself

Can I Play ?

SURE!
Give us a ping and let us know what you would like to do. If you're not sure...we'll tell you what to do :) Seriously, IUFOG needs many talented individuals to remain operational. You can pick your own topic and work at your own pace. Because IUFOG is a meta site, you control all aspects of your pages. If you can't publish via WWW, you can still help out by submitting news feeds, articles, and interesting material you find to us. We try to reference all contributors. We do have a few people we can't mention by name though :) National Security...you understand. Here are a few things you can do to help the IUFOG Project without loosing you social life

*(just one is fine, but feel free to use up all your spare time..we do) The basic idea of IUFOG is modeled after the Internet itself; People all around the globe sharing information in one place. IUFOG tries not to become involved in the actual research but rather simply to document the phenomenon known as UFOs and allow people to come to their own conclusions. As such, your personal theories won't be published by us. If you want to write an article on a specific subject, try to be as unbiased as possible and just document the fact as presented. Sources are a must. For examples, take a look at the spotlight page.

  1. Look in your phone book under 'UFO'. Yes, most researchers will advertise or publish their name in the phone book. Call them up and tell them about the IUFOG project and our Sightings page. We only require basic information for the sightings contact database such as name/location/number/field. Take a look at the sightings page to familiarize yourself with the format. If you can provide this information, we're one step closer to our goal. Send researcher contact info to dpk@acpub.duke.edu.

  2. Read a book. We would like to begin a book database but with over 400 books on the subject of UFOs..we simply don't have the time to read them all. So we will begin a 'Reader's Book Review Page' Write a brief article on the book and we'll include your review. Be warned, attacking the beliefs of others can result in flames. Try to be nice when shooting down someone's theories. Send reviews to IUFOG@aol.com

  3. Read the newspaper, watch your local news and keep an ear tuned to the radio. IUFOG maintains the largest online news archive of UFO and related stories. It is made up entirely of reader contributions. A full article is great, but summaries will be fine. If you don't have access to a scanner with OCR, just send us a brief summary with a citation for the material. Send clippings to smitty@schmitzware.com

  4. Take a look at all of IUFOG's pages. If you have something to contribute in a specific area, please let us know. There is no such thing as a complete page or finalized knowledge. Your contributions, comments and suggestions are more then welcome.

    Bigger and Better

    Becoming a web page publisher for the IUFOG project is a special task. The three original members haven't asked anyone else because it is very time consuming. But if you want to give it a try we won't hold you back. Let us know what part of the IUFOG project you would like to help publish on the web (content/admin/graphics/programming) and we'll talk one on one. If you can provide any special abilities to the IUFOG project, all the better.


    IUFOG
    Zac Elston ZElston@aol.com