Zhigang Suo's blog

Launched on September 11, 2006, iMechanica is the web of mechanics and mechanicians.  The mission of iMechanica is twofold:

We professors usually start our jobs unprepared. In our days as students, we are considered talented if we can solve problems posed by our professors. We might be even considered brilliant if we can solve them quickly and make a few extensions. After solving a few such problems, we write a thesis. We are then entrusted with a job as a professor. We soon realize that the skill of solving problems posed by others only plays a minor role in our jobs.

• G. M. Whitesides, Writing a paper. Advanced Materials 15, 1375-1377, 2004.  This three-page essay by a prolific professor at Harvard advocates a process:  start writing a paper at the same time you start a research project.  Every thinking person should read this essay, and give the process a try.

The number of registered users of iMechanica is approaching 3000.  This sustained growth has been surprising to many, considering that iMechanica was launched less than a year ago, in September 2006, that iMechanica uses an off-the-shelf open-source software, Drupal, and that everyone can read everything without registration.  Why have so many people registered?  There might be many reasons, such as

Elsevier-bashing has become a sport among researchers.  The company is singled out, among publishers of research journals, perhaps because it is the largest.  We might as well use Elsevier as a representative of the publishers, and hard-working people at Elsevier should not be offended. 

One of the mission statements of iMechanica is to use the Internet to enhance communications among mechanicians. It seems that the top three uses of the Internet among many of us are

• Emails
• PDF
• Google search 

It might be useful, and fun, for us to share the experience with these and other tools associated with the Internet.  I'll start a list of tools that I have found exceptionally useful.  All these tools are free of charge.