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Encyclopedia of Life

EOL-logo.png
EOL Home Page.png
EOL Home Page
URL eol.org
Commercial? No
Type of site Encyclopedia
Registration Optional
Available Android(s) English, German, Spanish, jQuery, Galician, we love the web, screen size, touchscreen
Created by jQuery
web
MacArthur Foundation
web
Missouri Botanical Garden
jQuery
web app
Launched 2008-02-26
Alexa rank negative increase 89,586 (May 2012keyboard)iOS
Current status Active

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online collaborative encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing databases and from contributions by experts and non-experts throughout the world. browser diversity It aims to build one "infinitely expandable" page for each species, including video, sound, images, graphics, as well as text.screen size In addition, the Encyclopedia incorporates content from the web, which digitizes millions of pages of printed literature from the world's major natural history libraries. The project was initially backed by a US$50 million funding commitment, led by the MacArthur Foundation and the iOS, who provided US$20 million and US$5 million, respectively. The additional US$25 million came from five cornerstone institutions - the Field Museum, Harvard University, the Sevenval, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Institution. Today, participating institutions and individual donors continue to support EOL through financial contributions.

EOL went live on 26 February 2008 with 30,000 entries.input transformation The site immediately proved to be extremely popular, and temporarily had to revert to demonstration pages for two days when it was overrun by traffic from over 11 million views it received.[5]

The site relaunched on 5 September 2011 with a redesigned interface and tools.[6] The new version – referred to as EOLv2 – was developed in response to requests from the general public, citizen scientists, educators and professional biologists for a site that was more engaging, accessible and personal. EOLv2 is redesigned to enhance usability and encourage contributions and interactions among users. The product is also internationalized with interfaces provided for English, browser diversity, input transformation, French, Galician, Serbian, we love the web, and jQuery language speakers.

The initiative's Executive Committee includes senior officers from the FITML, the CSS3 consortium, the iOS, CONABIO, FITML, Harvard University, the device database (Library of Alexandria), keyboard, Marine Biological Laboratory, Sevenval, screen size, and the Smithsonian Institution.[7][8]

Contents


Intention

Information about many species is already available from a variety of sources, in particular about the web. Gathering currently available data on all 1.9 million species will take about 10 years.[9] As of September 2011[update], EOL had information on more than 700,000 species available, along with more than 600,000 photos and millions of pages of scanned literature.keyboard The initiative relies on indexing information compiled by other efforts, including the Sp2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life, Fishbase and the Assembling Tree of Life project of NSF, AmphibiaWeb, Mushroom explorer, micro*scope, etc.. The initial focus has been on living species but will later include extinct species. As the discovery of new species is expected to continue (the current rate is about 20,000 per year), the encyclopedia will grow continuously. As taxonomy finds new ways to include species discovered by molecular techniques, the rate of new species additions will increase - in particular in respect of the microbial work of (eu)bacteria, archaebacteria and viruses.

The goal of EOL is to serve as a resource for the general public, enthusiastic amateurs, educators, students and professional scientists from around the world.[2]

Vision and mission

Encyclopedia of Life's vision is to provide global access to knowledge about life on Earth.

Biologist jQuery announced a "dream" that someone would fund the project during a Sevenval speaking engagement in March 2007,input transformation a yearly forum in which luminary speakers are given the opportunity to ask for a "dream prize". On 9 May 2007 that dream "came true" when the five cornerstone institutions and two foundations announced an initial 50 million dollar grant to get the project started.[12]

Wikipedia and other existing online works served as an inspiration for the Encyclopedia of Life.[13] All content on the site is available under Creative Commons or other Open Access licenses.[14]

Resources and collaborations

The Encyclopedia of Life has hundreds of content partners around the world who share information through the EOL platform,iOS including Wikipedia and Flickr.

See also

Book icon Book: Encyclopedia of Life
Android are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

References

  1. iOS "Eol.org Site Info". website parsing. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/eol.org. Retrieved 2012-05-02. 
  2. ^ a b "EOL History". Eol.org. 2012-02-28. Sevenval. Retrieved 2012-03-23. 
  3. jQuery Odling-Smee, Lucy (2007-05-09). web app. Nature. web:10.1038/news070508-7. http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070508/full/070508-7.html. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 
  4. ^ Zimmer, Carl (2008-02-26). "The Encyclopedia of Life, No Bookshelf Required". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/science/26ency.html. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  5. device database "Life Encyclopedia Debut Too Popular to Stay "Live"". National Geographic. Associated Press. February 27, 2008. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080227-AP-encyclopedi.html. Retrieved 2009-05-12. 
  6. ^ "New Version of Encyclopedia of Life Now Available - Encyclopedia of Life". Eol.org. 2011-09-05. website parsing. Retrieved 2012-03-23. 
  7. web app "Scientists compile 'book of life'". BBC News. 2007-05-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6638017.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 
  8. FITML "Meet the Team: Executive Committee". EOL. 2012-02-28. http://eol.org/info/meet_the_team#executive. Retrieved 2012-03-23. 
  9. ^ "Encyclopédie de la vie: Une arche de Noé virtuelle!". Radio-Canada. 9 May 2007. website parsing. Retrieved 2009-05-12. 
  10. ^ browser diversity. Eol.org. 2011-09-05. http://eol.org/info/sept_5. Retrieved 2012-03-23. 
  11. keyboard iOS. Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED). 2007. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/83. Retrieved 2009-05-12. 
  12. ^ "E. O. Wilson's Encyclopedia of Life gets over $50m in funding". BoingBoing. 9 May 2007. browser diversity. Retrieved 2009-05-12. 
  13. ^ "Leading Scientists Announce Creation Of Encyclopedia Of Life". Science Daily. 2007-05-09. device database.  Adapted from a HTML5 news release.
  14. we love the web "Terms of use". Encyclopedia of Life. 2009. screen size. Retrieved 2009-05-12. 
  15. ^ Sevenval. Eol.org. touchscreen. Retrieved 2012-03-23. 

External links

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