The following research plan was submitted by a COM 333 student during the Spring 2000 semester, in preparation for researching and writing the student's final paper, which was about Nitrox scuba diving.
I already evaluated ten websites (submitted to you on Thursday, 2 March 2000); several of these sites had a large number of links to other sites with information about Nitrox, so I plan to look at many of these other sites (as time permits). Two of the sites that I evaluated had the text of complete articles about Nitrox, and I will read these articles in detail. In fact, it will be difficult not to plagiarize from these articles, since they are so relevant to my topic.
In finding web-based resources on Nitrox, my strategy was use various individual search engines, including AltaVista, Infoseek, and Lycos, as well as meta search engines, including Dogpile and Metacrawler. I encountered two problems with this approach. First, most of the sites on the web with information about Nitrox are from dive shops or charter boats that offer Nitrox tanks instead of air tanks – literally thousands of such commercial sites. Second, since there are courses that one needs to take to get certified to use Nitrox, information about Nitrox diving is not readily available online to the general public.
After an extensive search, however, I did find a number of online sources with scientific and medical information and with information about certification, as well as sources that discuss both the positive and negative features of Nitrox diving. I found that it was best to use terms such as “Scuba Diving Nitrox Medical” and “Scuba Diving Nitrox Scientific”.
I located a “Diving Medicine” bulletin board at http://www.2scubadive.com. This bulletin board is moderated by Ernest S. Campbell, MD, FACS, who goes by the nickname DiveDoctor (his e-mail address is: scubadoc@gulftel.com). I started a new thread on the subject of Nitrox (see attached gif image). My postings led to several exchanges about this subject with other scuba divers, as well as a reply from DiveDoctor himself. Here is what he posted to the bulletin board in response to my initial query:
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posted February 13, 2000 12:19 PM
Hello Burks!
Here are some links for you to peruse:
A general overview http://www.gulftel.com/~scubadoc/nitrox.htm
Links about nitrox http://www.gulftel.com/~scubadoc/nitroxlnks.html
The real danger of using nitrox http://www.gulftel.com/~scubadoc/oxtox.html
Appreciate your visit!
Ern Campbell, MD
Diving Medicine Online http://www.gulftel.com/~scubadoc
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I also joined a listserv that DiveDoctor distributes, called Diving Medicine Online. This listserv “is especially structured for the non-medical diver and the non-diving medical professional, and is a helpful reference resource for the diving medical specialist.” I will review the past postings for information about Nitrox.
Finally, based on what I learned in Lecture Six, I plan to use First Search (logon is 100-109-454 and password is mxg.stxff) at:
http://firstsearch.oclc.org/html/fs_pswd.htm
I will try to see if there are any full-text articles about Nitrox. I will probably look at Wilson Select and World Cat first, since I am familiar with them from our homework assignment in Lecture Six. But there are other databases available at First Search, including Article1st and Contents1st.
My research paper will integrate all the online information I obtain into a thorough review of Nitrox scuba diving.
