Cynthia ParrSpecies Pages GroupSmithsonian Institution

EOL Rubenstein FellowsOrientation Workshop18-19 March 2009

AimsHow EOL came to beGoals of EOLWhat EOL isWhat EOL is notThemes and Regional EOLSRole of Fellows and Mentors

Imagine an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth.

-Edward O. Wilson

Collaborative Tree of Life distributed semantic Biodiversity Heritage Library ever evolving TED all information Synthesis Center INCLUSIVE SpeciesBase ClassificationBank Education and Outreach index MacArthur Foundation taxonomic intelligence modular software communal ownership user defined AvenueA | Razorfish any audience free visualization images WorkBench sounds phylogeny web 2.0 names-based infrastructure Atlas of Living Australia February 2008 Google Marine Biological Laboratory all species Smithsonian FISHBASE Harvard Field Museum Tree of Life E. O. Wilson aggregation / mashup EDIT ScratchPad widgets Missouri Botanical Gardens Sloan Foundation GBIF global identification service oriented keys matrix locally relevant union NameBank videos National Geographic any classification Global Names Architecture species centric open TDWG/BIS front pages dynamic pages Microsoft Species2000 ITIS Catalog of Life January 2009 WikiPedia

4

EOL’sGuiding Principles

• Freely accessible: open access, open source

• Available from a single portal in a common format

• Quality• Always growing as new

species are discovered and new knowledge is generated

Goals• Unprecedented global collaboration of novices and experts• Combining scientific credibility with public enthusiasm

• Topics that influence our world• More than just a scientific project—a new social

phenomenon• Provide value for several audiences

• Scientists• Educators• Policymakers

• Citizens

Typical species page

Objects can come from many partnersObjects are sorted by topicEach partner gets credit

Overview Introduction

Description Physical Description Molecular BarcodeLife History Identification Original Description Physiology

Evolution and Systematics Classification Paleontology PhylogenyNomenclatural history

Ecology and Distribution Geographic Distribution Habitat Niche Ecosystem Role

Conservation Relevance ToxicityEthnobotany How to Grow

Example of detailed table of contents

Maps from global museum and observation data

Links to digital literature

Links to external pages

Catalogue of Life

IUCN

GBIF

Biodiversity Heritage Library

Content providersDatabasesLifeDesksPublic contribution

CURATORS

COMMENTERSTAGGERS

Direct AmphibiaWeb traffic increased when they partnered with EOL

EOL

Statistics

• 1.9 million pages• Over 60 content partners providing 1.3 million

data objects on ~ 300,000 taxon pages• 213,000 pages with vetted objects• 350 curators• Almost 675,000 pages with links to literature

Not Catalogue of Life

Not GBIF

Not Wikipedia

Not Wikispecies

Marine Theme

90% of 230,000 marine species by 2013Education activitiesBioSynC workshopsPartnerships pendingMarine theme coordinator

Regional EOLs

China

Australia

Dutch

South Africa

Central America

North America Pan-Arab

Norway

Regional

Global

Basic toolsRelevant data

Shares pagesTranslations

Serving regional needs in regional language

Serving international needsAll species

Other region

Other region

EOL Fellows programCurrent

• Support ~15 early career scientists each year• Share content related to their research• Engage other scientists• Help us do a better job

Future (need funding)• Regional EOL Fellows• Distinguished Fellows

EOL Content trajectory

Species pages

Year

Cornerstone Institutions• The Biodiversity Heritage

Library• The Field Museum of

Natural History• The Missouri Botanical

Garden• The Marine Biological

Laboratory • Harvard University• The Smithsonian

Institution

• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

• Cornerstone Institutions• Grants• Private Donors

Invaluable support