Abstract Detail

Teaching Section

Schulz, Katja [1].

Encyclopedia of Life Version 2: A Preview of New Features and a Vision for a Global Collaborative Project.

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL, eol.org) is an unprecedented partnership between the scientific community and the public. Our goal is to build a freely accessible, reusable online collection of descriptive information about all species known to science. In its early phase, the project has focused on aggregating and indexing large amounts of materials from data partners ranging from natural history museums and international research consortia to members of popular sites like Flickr and Wikipedia. Growing and transforming this rich and diverse compilation into a comprehensive, coherent, and authoritative resource for research, teaching, and learning is a monumental task that can only be accomplished through the participation of many volunteer contributors, reviewers, and editors. To foster this community, we will launch EOL version 2 in late summer/early fall 2011. Along with a more user-friendly site design, the new EOL will introduce tools and interactive technologies to facilitate collaborative knowledge discovery, content creation, and data management. In order to fulfill EOL's promise as a global project, we will also greatly improve our support for content and user interfaces in many different languages. To this end, we are working with organizations and institutions on five continents to establish global EOL partner sites focusing on content development for the flora and fauna of their particular region.

Broader Impacts:

Related Links:
Encyclopedia of Life

1 - National Museum of Natural History, Encyclopedia of Life, 10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20560, USA

Keywords:
Biodiversity
informatics
internet
Outreach
citizen science
instructional tools.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 37
Location: Waterman Room/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Time: 4:05 PM
Number: 37011
Abstract ID:427