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The number of registered users of iMechanica reaches 4000

Submitted by Zhigang Suo on

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

  1. To use the Internet to enhance communication among mechanicians.
  2. To pave a way to evolve all knowledge of mechanics online.

iMechanica is hosted on a server at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, of Harvard University, and is managed by volunteers. Everyone can read everything posted on iMechanica.  Everyone can post everything of interest to mechanicians.  You can read without registration.  To post anything, you have to register for a free account.  Registration takes 17 seconds.  Posting an entry is as easy as sending an email

The number of posts has reached 2123, and the number of comments, 5601.  The 40th most read post has been read 4480 times.  A Google search of iMechanica today returns about 54,900 entries, with iMechanica.org as the top entry.  Soon, iMechanica will become the largest mechanics organization outside China.  And surpassing that looks like just a matter of time.

With so many users joining, what should we do?  iMechanica runs as a common, like Boston Common or Central Park.  A common belongs to no one in particular, but belongs to whoever uses it.  Once again, I paraphrase a better known Bostonian.  And so, my fellow mechanicians: ask not what you can do for iMechanica - ask what iMechanica can do for you.