The space physics community and the NASA organization have created the SPDS as a realization of the desire to facilitate archiving and accessibility of space physics data. Its objective is to ensure that useful space physics data are not lost, and are as conveniently accessible to the entire community as possible. NASA has provided some funding and a management structure, but the effort is basically a volunteer effort, user driven. Data are provided primarily by means of the World Wide Web (WWW) from a number of nodes at institutions familiar with the data.
This poster paper and the associated workshop are intended to familiarize the scientists in the Cosmic and Heliospheric (C&H) discipline with the SPDS organization, the C&H data in the various existing nodes and planned additions to the SPDS ; to instruct scientists in the use of SPDS and WWW; to summarize our other activities and solicit feedback on all our activities and plans; and to advertise the availability of limited funding for data restoration and accessibility activities. The SPDS is a growing and dynamic structure and this material will become obsolete very rapidly. The best sources of information about the SPDS, the WWW, and the SPDS management are the SPDS Web pages themselves. The list of contacts in this paper will serve as a starting point for the technically uninitiated who have no simple access to the WWW.