IMPACT Information Service now on ECHO
The IMPACT Information Service is now accessible online via ECHO, the European Commission Host Organization. The new database is designed to offer information related to all aspects of IMPACT, the Community programme for the establishment of an internal information services market. It can be accessed free of charge. The database contains the following categories of information: - IMPACT In Brief (an introduction to the IMPACT programme for those unfamiliar with its action lines and general orientation); - IMPACT News (recent news items, updated regularly); - IMPACT Contact Points (a listing of useful contacts, e.g. DG XIII/E, IMPACT Programme Committee Members, IMPACT Central Office, IMO Secretariat and report distributers, National Awareness Partners, National Focal Points, Central Support Team - for the NAPs and TEXIS Support Team -for strategic information initiatives); - IMPACT Documentation (the full text of major documents, such as COMdocuments and IMPACT work programmes, which can be browsed on line or searched for specific items); - IMPACT Document List and Ordering Service (a document ordering service, which provides a summary of the documents available in categories corresponding to the various action areas of the programme, followed by an ordering facility offering a choice of languages in which documents are available); - IMPACT Electronic Mailbox Facility (users may enter messages or questions to be answered by the IMPACT Central Office). The objectives of the IMPACT Information Service are to disseminate information relating to the programme and its activities as widely as possible to online users, to offer those interested a rapid overview of IMPACT-related documentation, and to provide a simple means of ordering material of interest. In addition, the Information Service gives new online users the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the principles of database access and simple searching.