From time to time people ask if I know other websites like iMechanica but focusing on different branches of engineering.  This morning I saw a recently compiled list of Top Engineering Blogs, and was delighted that iMechanica was ranked close to the top.  I'm aware of the widespread cynicisms among iMechanicians about rankings of all kinds.  But, heck, ranking is good if you are ranked high.  As Freeman Dyson would say, being consistent is a weakness of mind. 

Early this week the number of registered users passed 6000.  Our growth rate remains nearly a constant, about 10 new users per day. In January Teng plotted some basic statistics of iMechanica. 

The Website CreateChange has recently done a Q&A with me.  Here is the transcript.

The number of registered users of iMechanica exceeded 3000 today, three months after iMechanica welcomed its 2000th user.  The number of posts has exceeded 1700, and the number of comments, 3800. The growth of iMechanica has been stable and amazing, leading to a natural question: why do people register at iMechanica? iMechanica is open:  evevryone can read everything without registration.  You can post anything of interest to mechanicians once you register for a free account. 

On Wednesday morning, I received an email from Anastassia Paskaleva. She was unable to create an account on iMechanica, because CAPTCHA kept telling her that she typed the letters wrong. Lesley Lam, iMechanicia user number 1, has just fixed the problem. Now new users can register once more. We apologize for the inconvenience that this problem might have caused you, and thank Anastassia for letting us know the problem.

iMechanica was lunched on 9 September 2006. It took about five months for iMechanica to see its 1000th registered user. Today we are welcoming the 2000th registered user after only another two and half months.

In this blog entry, I'll maintain a list of books, essays and websites that have influenced me in developing iMechanica. I'll also list my notes on them whenever available. Because iMechanica shares many common problems with other online communities, it is natural that we find solutions discovered by other online communities helpful. At the same time, iMechanica is unique in some respects, and has its own unique problems, so that we cannot adopt any methods or viewpoints without adjustment.

You are most welcome to add more helpful references in the comment section of this post. Thank you.

Books and essays

A comment consists of two fields, labeled as "Subject" and "Comment". After you submit the comment, the Subject will appear on the right side of iMechanica, under "Recent comments", a most popular feature of iMechanica. You want to make sure that the Subject line accurately reflects the content of your comment, capturing reader's attention yet not being sensational.

iMechanica has just passed the milestone of 1000 registered users, and showed no sign of slowing down. Despite all the enthusiasms among a growing number of active users, you might have noticed that iMechanica is missing a powerful community: the community of fluid mechanicians.

Watching my colleagues Howard Stone, Michael Brenner and L. Mahadevan, I find the field of fluid mechanics just as exciting as the field of solid mechanics. The exploration of flow in small devices, as well as in cells and tissues, has just opened new opportunities. There are plenty of other challenges in fluid mechanics at all size scales.

The number of registered iMechanicians has just passed 1000 today. iMechanica went "officially" online on 9 September 2006. See other numbers of iMechanica recorded today, and our evolving history.

A reader finds a post by a combination of browse, subscription and search... They are all free.

Browse

Here is a post that you can email to a colleague to help publicize iMechanica.

Dear Colleague:

I'd like to tell you about iMechanica (http://www.imechanica.org), and hope to get you involved. Please register for a free account. It will only take you 18 seconds. You will receive a password in an email, and you are on your way to be an iMechanician. (Your email address will not be visible to other users.)

• 30 March 2007. At a suggestion of Henry Tan, an RSS feed for comments is added as a button"comment at a glance" on the right side of iMechanica.
• 29 March 2007. An aggregator, "Random readings", is added to the rightside of iMechanica.
• 7 March 2007. Michelle Oyen posted an entry "Making iMechanica a better global forum".
  
  

• The number of registered users is 6037
• The number of posts is 2896 (You can see the current number by clicking the newest post).
• The number of comments is 6943 (You can see the current number by clicking the newest comment.)

Last updated on 19 March 2008

Related post: Some dates of iMechanica

You share the vision of iMechanica. How can you help? The best way to help iMechanica is to make iMechanica help you. Let software and the collective behavior of users take care of the community. This principle is illustrated in the following examples.

Everyone can register for a free account on iMechanica and post anything of interest to mechanicians.  Posting a blog entry is like sending an email:

Your photo and your full name (if you use your full name as your user name) will appear every time you post an entry in iMechanica. On clicking your photo or your name, a fellow mechanician will land on your profile.

Unlike most online communities, iMechanica complements a vibrant community already existing offline: the international community of mechanics. Many iMechanicians know each other personally or would love to. Some become life-long friends.

Most people can recognize a face quickly. Thus, your photo will help promote your work, and will make an online dialogue a step closer to a face-to-face dialogue in a hallway, which we all cherish.

To add your photo to your profile, follow these steps:

Registration

• Why should I use my full name as my user name?
• What do I need to register for an account?
• I enjoy reading iMechanica, but am not ready to post anything, should I register?
• Lost password? You can request a new password.

Maintain your account

• Why should I add my photo to my profile and how?
• Can I change my user name?
• How can I update my profile?
• How do I accept emails from other users?

Blogs

Now that you know why you should post in iMechanica, you want to know how.

Register for a free account. To post in iMechanica, you must become an Authenticated User by registering for a free account. To register, you will need a user name and an email account. Your user name will appear every time you post. Consequently, you may want to use your full name, case sensitive and with spacing. For example, you may prefer a user name like Jane W. Smith to a strange looking user name like janewsmith. iMechanica will never abuse your email address, so by all means use your regular email address. After you register, you will receive a password in your email.

hi everyone,

I'm a student at Harvard University working with Professur Zhigang Suo to develop iMechanica. I hope to add features to this website that will keep your research and ideas protected while encouraging the flow of communication and great ideas among the brightest minds in the sciences. If you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions please let me know. We hope you enjoy iMechanica.

In iMechanica, every item (a post or a comment) has a unique URL. Click the title of a post or a comment, the URL will be displayed in the navigation bar in your browser.

For people using PC and Firefox, sending an email of a post or a comment becomes very simple. Point the cursor to the title of the item, and then make the following 3 clicks:

1. Right click the mouse. A small window will pop up.
   
   

Writers write, readers read. But the world is not that simple: it has e-walls between writers and readers. We have all helped to build the walls, so we should not complain. One day we might come to our senses to tear down these walls. Before that happens, we'll just have to cope.

1. iMechanica is free for all to use. iMechanica is hosted on a server at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, of Harvard University, and is managed by a team of volunteers -- mechanicians just like you. You pay nothing to post, and readers pay nothing to read. The limit of each upload file is 50MB, and each user is given 1GB server space.

Display a picture of yourself. iMechanica displays your own picture every time you post an entry. You only need to upload a picture once, following these steps: