For
all those of you who are visiting the Star Trek Dimension for the first time and have
questions which haven't been dealt with in the introduction,
I have compiled this FAQ (frequently asked questions) about the Dimension. It contains
basic information, but also the rules regarding the use of material
and copyright issues, facts and supplemental figures about this website worth to know,
and is therefore also interesting for all who want to learn more about the Star Trek
Dimension. To make the search for specific questions easier, the FAQ has been divided into
the following sections:
The
Star Trek Dimension
When was the Star Trek
Dimension created?
The Star Trek Dimension is
available in German since summer 1999, and this
international version, (now at www.stdimension.org/int)
since August 2000. However, work on the various information files and the first projects -
the LCARS database, the Subspace Manual and the VOY and DS9 guide - was already started
many months earlier. In fact, the first files for the Dimension were already created in
autumn 1997; within two years the database was developed and many of its content written,
so that this website had quite a lot of information to offer when it was put online on
August 2nd, 1999. This is why the general copyright note on the main page, and the ones in
the older projects, refer to "1997-2002" although the site has actually been
online for a shorter time.
 Learn more about the history of the
Dimension design in the extensive Making of  .
How large is the Dimension
anyway?
When it was officially launched,
the Dimension already consisted of hundreds of HTML files and had a size of about 25 MB.
Until 2002, the project has considerably grown thanks to many new projects, the addition
of this English language version and especially the massive amount of picture files and
multimedia material, some of which are stored on other servers due to the limited space on
the main domain. The archival edition now contains more than 4500 pictures, 1500 HTML
files and 250 audio files, creating a total data volume of more than 180 megabytes.
How many people have
created this web project?
Some think it's unbelievable but in
fact I have created all pictures and texts alone in hundreds of hours of work, and I also
administrated and organized this website on my own. However, I would lie if I didn't
mention the persons who have helped me with their ideas, suggestions, information and
other stuff in the last years, especially the web masters of my partner sites.
Therefore, I'd like to thank
Bernd Schneider of Ex Astris Scientia, Timo S. Saloniemi, Masao Okazaki, Lance
M. Nutter of The Trekker, Sebastian Lorenz, Heribert Ke�ler, Andreas K�mpel of Mc-Kinley-Station and Michael Seither of The Daily Trekker.
What does the Star Trek
Dimension cost?
Of course, the visitor has to pay
nothing. Even if I had the technical means - I despise the thought of a "pay
internet". To my mind this would nix the very idea of the net as means to bring
together people and cultures on a different than the usual level. I see it as a place
there information can be exchanged freely, you can get information and material on
virtually everything, and everyone contributes a little in return, no matter if by
offering an own website, attending useful discussions in bulletin boards or other
activities.
Yet, I have to pay money for keeping the Star Trek Dimension up and running.
It used to be about 150
€ p.a. for the domains and the webspace, formerly provided by the German company Strato. As a little thank you for all the
costs and efforts, you can help me pay the running costs by doing your usual purchases at
Amazon.com using the link on the main page (it'll cost you nothing!).
How did this international
version came into being?
As mentioned at the beginning, the
Star Trek Dimension was originally created as a German website only. However, already
since late August 1999 I've worked on the translation of this website and the creation of
a English language version. This international version which is independent from the
German one (at least for the user), is available at www.stdimension.org/int.
In this archival edition, almost all projects are available in English. Even
for the LCARS Database, about 170 files are available in English. The episode guides for
Deep Space Nine and Voyager are not completely translated to English, however at least the
series and season overviews are available in an international version.
Now what does the
supplemental "Archival Edition" mean?
This project has been concluded in
autumn 2002. It has been transformed into a complete compendium about the science fiction
saga from Star Trek to Star Trek: Voyager, keeping all information and projects in a
reworked, finished version for your pleasure. It is therefore called "The Archival
Edition".
Where did you get all the
information, facts and pictures?
I took pure facts as well as
un-retouched "raw" pictures and diagrams directly from television (via TV card),
official books and CD ROMs as well as various internet sources, while I tried to maintain
the copyrights by giving appropriate credits (directly where I used the
information/material or on the sources page).
At the same time I want to state that I never take texts, no matter if complete or in
excerpts, one to one from other websites or books. All pages have been created, the texts
were written by me, and most often I have created, reworked or enhanced even the pictures
and diagrams in hard work.
As visiting the Star Trek Dimension is completely free, my principal benefit is that I can
- just as other the other Trekkers - take delight in my website.
Do you use only official
information or also facts from novels and computer games?
Just as many other Star Trek sites,
I had basically decided to use the actual series, movies and some official technical
documentations (with Jeri Taylor's "Mosaic" as only exception) as "supreme
instance" - however, with the understanding that these depictions of the Trek
universe are fallible as well, and the books themselves often contain conjectural
information.
That means: if the book contradicts
with the episode, the episode is right. An example is the construction date of Deep Space
Nine, which was built in 2351 according to all books (before the ST:DS9 TM), but which did
exist already in 2346 according to season 6 episodes.
Furthermore this means that I as well did use assumptions and conclusions; especially if
the official information were contradictive or flawed themselves (however, not if they
were sketchy or incomplete). Other than the authors of the Star Trek Encyclopedia I was
not happy with noticing that it's "odd" that the Ktarians of Voyager seem to be
a completely different culture than in TNG, but I drew the self-evident conclusion that
these are two different species. Therefore, the LCARS Database
isn't a mere reproduction of the Trek universe as mentioned book, but always also tries to
include an interpretation and examination of the gathered facts & figures. The
science fiction saga should be logical, comprehensible and coherent (this is the reason
why projects like Investigating Trek or the Star Trek Cartography exist). This site does often
present my own view of the topics dealt with anyway.
In most cases, of course, I limited
such "own initiatives" to the background sections (Investigating Trek and others) and to projects
clearly marked as "non-canon" (e.g. Utopia
Planitia). If there were important reasons, that there can be no alternative, however,
I did use such information "officially" as well (such as the Ktarians).
Moreover, I made the restriction
that my own conclusions, which have to be strictly based on safe information, should never
contradict any official material (up to the end of Star Trek: Voyager). For instance, all
maps of the Galactic Atlas are based on approximate position data and the more
imprecise official maps, and supplemental figures from the LCARS database chronology were calculated
using the stardate rules.
You will find a complete list of the used
books etc. on the sources page.
What
parts of the Star Trek Dimension can I use?
If we're talking about the
copyright situation, basically, the same legal statements apply to the internet and the
digital media in general as to the traditional (print) media. Therefore, I - as author and
webmaster - have set the following rules for the Star Trek Dimension:
- Star Trek and all related trademarks
are of course the property of Viacom/Paramount Pictures. The same applies to large parts
of the "raw material" used for the creation of this website.
- Nonetheless, the work of this
website, as far as it has been done by myself (and this applies to 99% of the texts and
pictures, no matter if marked with a copyright notice or not - see the database, for
example, where I've refrained from spoiling the authenticity with respective notes), is my
own, personal property. As author of this website, I've put hundreds of hours of work into
the various projects and therefore do not permit the use of my texts, or even the
publication of complete / partial pages and page structures without my agreement. In this
regard, an alteration of the the material of this website for the purpose of
"avoiding copyright infringements" is, of course, not permitted either.
- Prohibited as well is the use of
navigation elements, logos, background pictures, 2D diagrams, 3D views, retouched photos
and photo collages and all images belonging to the overall design of the Star Trek
Dimension created by me, unless I've given an explicit permission. I ask you to keep this
in mind, while as with the texts, an alteration or falsification of the pictures is not
permitted again.
- Limited quotation of the conclusions
of my work, or the use of numbers, facts etc. as part of your own work is permitted, while
you should not forget to include correct source information (www.stdimension.org) and send me a
notification mail.
- Photos scanned or grabbed by me
which are explicitly offered for download may be used with proper notes regarding their
source, but again for the further processing in your own work only and not to offer e.g.
the complete screenshot archives or map archives. The wallpapers created by me may be used
as background images for your desktop, but shall not be offered or published on the net.
- Of course, material originating from
the net that is offered in the same way here and is marked accordingly may be used freely.
- I apply special rules for the
Galactic Atlas of the Star Trek Cartography. If
you have a RPG and wish to use it for your games, please do contact me.
- For all other issues, please pay
attention to the usage notes given in the various sections, and contact me to clear up the situation. Especially
in the case of a planned use of material of the Star Trek Dimension in print media
(magazines, books etc.), for which exceptions from the rules given here might be
acceptable.
- Source notes concerning the
author/original website (lists of references) are always demanded, as already mentioned
with regard to single cases, especially if you quote my work.
- Please keep in mind that for all mail requests on the use of material / copyright
issues, only a clear response from me possibly means an approval. No answer does not equal
a "tacit agreement".
How did you create the
breathtaking design of the Dimension?
With lots of patience, admittedly
knowledge and skills obtained in many years, and powerful tools like Paintshop Pro, which
I prefer because of its diversity of functions, the sophisticated mask, selection and
layer techniques and its easy usage. Of course Microsoft Frontpage, which I used for the
creation of every single of the many HTML files, shouldn't remain unmentioned. Additional
2D graphics and many of the 3D renderings added in the last months have been created with
PhotoShop and the modeler/animator Soft F/X.
More on designing the Star Trek Dimension in
the Making of report
What prizes did the Star
Trek Dimension receive?
This web project has been decorated
not only with the private awards of other web sites. It was one of the five finalists of
the Millenial Trek Award in early 2000, has been a recommended site in the section movie,
cinema & culture in the German search engine Fireball and according sections of Lycos for some time, and was site of the day as well as site of the
week at Yahoo! Germany. It was also
mentioned in important German computer magazines like ComputerBild and Com!Online, and was
listed in the 2002/2003 issue of the book "The best German internet
adresses". By the way, even members of the Star Trek production staff have already
visited this site.
The
projects
LCARS Database: What
does this "LCARS" mean anyway?
"LCARS" is the
abbreviation for Library Computer Access and Retrieval System. It is a program that is
used by the whole Federation in the 24th century to search for, display and analyze
information. The LCARS Database project of the Star Trek Dimension tries to simulate the
LCARS interface as realistically as possible by using HTML, JavaScript and according
graphics, as the multimedia presentation of the data with high quality pictures and
diagrams is regarded as very important.
LCARS Database: Why are
most information listed in a "structured data sheet" format?
As mentioned, the database should
be mainly a perfect simulation of a LCARS interface, and I doubt that e.g. the personal
files of the Enterprise would contain trivial facts as the favorite food of the officers
in long sentences with nice remarks ([TNG] Episode ...). Of course the preference of the
one or the other style is a matter of taste, however, especially for technical files about
ships etc. the "data sheet" format is very advantageous to present a large
number of facts in a clear and easy-to-use way.
By the way, many pages contain more or less long prose passages to provide additional
information which could not be provided as keywords. For example, the class specifications
always contain a summarizing description of the class, and the files of the astronomical
and biographical databases are updated in a similar way soon.
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