About the Biosphere Project

This project is a prototype for a collaboration-intensive portal for environmental informatics. We hope that this resource may in time spark the evolution of a full-blown, distributed digital library for the field, facilitating the more integrated use of a wide variety of resources -- software tools, datasets, techniques for developing web resources, and other collaboration systems -- developed around the world.

 

Mission Statement

Hundreds of projects in different parts of the world are working to share and integrate environmental information online, often contending with substantial technical and institutional barriers. The Biosphere Data Project, a portal website for environmental informatics work, grows out of the perception that these projects need more support for collaboration, dialogue, and exchange. Many complementary initiatives are listed in our resources pages.

We offer a preliminary definition of Environmental Informatics: "an emerging field centering on the development of standards and protocols, both technical and institutional, for sharing and integrating environmental data and information." More about environmental informatics...

The goals of this portal are to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, lower the entry barriers that have limited contributions to the field of environmental informatics, and improve the breadth and quality of environmental information available online.

Specific project goals:

Full-time team members:

Kathryn Kada
Steve Lussier

 

Acknowledgements

This site would not exist without the inspiration of the biodiversity informatics work of Stan Blum (see for example the Taxonomic Authority Files workshop he organized), as well as the advice and support of the faculty, staff, and fellow students of the UC Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems.