A review of the Daystrom Institute Technical Library, a useful resource for the online simmer. Available at http://www.ditl.org Review by: Commander Rhys Bejain
Ask just about any online trekker where they go to quickly check facts about this class or that species, and the reply will almost invariably be the same: the Daystrom Institute Technical Library; ditl.org.
The 24th century Daystrom Institute was (or will be) one of the preeminent research organizations of the Federation. Named after
Doctor Richard Daystrom, it has produced several outstanding scientist including Commander Bruce Maddox (TNG: The Measure of a Man) and Dr Leah Brahms. The Daystrom Institute is also home to genetically
enhanced individuals who cannot be introduced into the Federation population. (DS9: Statistical Probabilities)
Our Daystrom Institute Technical Library (hereafter known as ditl) is run by Graham Kennedy, a thirty-something British high school teacher. He runs ditl entirely as a non profit organization dedicated to
quantifying and providing information about Star Trek. Naturally, this means being embroiled in the canon/non-canon dispute that has been running for many years. Basically, Kennedy’s attitude to canon is to sensibly treat movies and filmed episodes (disallowing the animated series) as canon and treating all others on a case-by-case basis. Realizing, of course, that some people may not agree with his choice of canon, he signifies canon information in yellow text, non-canon in green and his own `guesstimations’ in white.
Information is divided up into 24th century and 20th century areas, or, respectively, trek itself, and information about trek. The 20th century includes articles about trek, series guides and so forth. There are some extremely detailed articles, discussing such matters as the size of the federation, warp speed anomalies, and the Defiant.
The 24th century material, the larger of the two areas, covers starships, both Starfleet and other, weapons, different species, trek
science (something I’ve found particularly useful over the years), a timeline, political discussions and more. This is probably the most useful area of the site for a simmer, as it provides a lot of the background in which our characters live. Don’t know how many
disruptors that Klingon warship has? Want to know how long it takes to get from planet A to planet B? This is the place to come.
Kennedy’s monthly hits have steadily risen from 2,531 hits in November 1998 to 69,046 hits in May 2005. He’s obviously doing something right. The information contained in this website is both encompassing and detailed. This has been a work of love for many years for Graham Kennedy, and the trek community is rightly admiring.
Website name: The Daystrom Institute Technical Library
url: www.ditl.org
