The document provides an overview of the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) including its goals, typical content, statistics, and role of fellows. EOL aims to create a page for every known species combining scientific information with public enthusiasm. It currently has over 1.9 million pages from 60 partners and seeks to grow further as new species are discovered. The EOL Fellows program supports early career scientists to engage with the project and help improve content.

1. Cynthia Parr Species Pages Group Smithsonian Institution EOL Rubenstein Fellows Orientation Workshop 18-19 March 2009

2. Aims How EOL came to be Goals of EOL What EOL is What EOL is not Themes and Regional EOLS Role of Fellows and Mentors

3. Imagine an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth. -Edward O. Wilson

4. CollaborativeTree of LifedistributedsemanticBiodiversity Heritage Libraryever evolvingTEDall informationSynthesis CenterINCLUSIVESpeciesBase ClassificationBankEducation and OutreachindexMacArthur Foundationtaxonomic intelligencemodular software communal ownership user definedAvenueA | Razorfishany audiencefreevisualizationimagesWorkBenchsoundsphylogeny web 2.0names-based infrastructureAtlas of Living Australia February 2008GoogleMarine Biological Laboratoryall speciesSmithsonianFISHBASEHarvardField MuseumTree of Life E. O. Wilsonaggregation / mashupEDIT ScratchPadwidgetsMissouri Botanical GardensSloan FoundationGBIFglobal identification service oriented keysmatrixlocally relevantunionNameBankvideosNational Geographic any classificationGlobal Names Architecturespecies centricopenTDWG/BISfront pagesdynamic pagesMicrosoftSpecies2000 ITIS Catalog of LifeJanuary 2009 WikiPedia 4

6. Available from a single portal in a common format

7. Quality

9. Combining scientific credibility with public enthusiasm

10. Topics that influence our world

11. More than just a scientific project—a new social phenomenon

12. Provide value for several audiences

13. Scientists

14. Educators

15. Policymakers

17. Objects can come from many partners Objects are sorted by topic Each partner gets credit

19. Example of detailed table of contents Overview Introduction Description Physical Description Molecular Barcode Life History Identification Original Description Physiology Evolution and Systematics Classification Paleontology Phylogeny Nomenclatural history Ecology and Distribution Geographic Distribution Habitat Niche Ecosystem Role Conservation Relevance Toxicity Ethnobotany How to Grow

20. Maps from global museum and observation data

21. Links to digital literature

23. Links to external pages

24. Catalogue of Life IUCN Content providers Databases LifeDesks Public contribution CURATORS COMMENTERS TAGGERS GBIF Biodiversity Heritage Library

25. Direct AmphibiaWeb traffic increased when they partnered with EOL EOL

27. Over 60 content partners providing 1.3 million data objects on ~ 300,000 taxon pages

28. 213,000 pages with vetted objects

29. 350 curators

31. Not GBIF

32. Not Wikipedia

33. Not Wikispecies

34. Marine Theme 90% of 230,000 marine species by 2013 Education activities BioSynC workshops Partnerships pending Marine theme coordinator

35. Regional EOLs Norway Dutch North America China Pan-Arab Central America Australia South Africa

36. Regional Serving regional needs in regional language Basic tools Relevant data Shares pages Translations Global Other region Serving international needs All species Other region

38. Share content related to their research

39. Engage other scientists

43. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

44. Cornerstone Institutions

45. Grants

46. Private Donors

47. The Biodiversity Heritage Library

48. The Field Museum of Natural History

49. The Missouri Botanical Garden

50. The Marine Biological Laboratory

51. Harvard University

52. The Smithsonian Institution