Australia to Create Online Encyclopedia of Life

A former IBM software developer has been appointed to lead a project aimed at creating an Internet-based encyclopedia of all native Australian plants and animals, according to news from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

Donald Hobern, currently deputy director for informatics at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility in Copenhagen, was named as CSIRO's first director of the Atlas of Living Australia.

The atlas will compile information about Australian creatures and plants based on more than 60 collections in museums, state departments, universities and other facilities across the country. All the information will be gathered together in an online format designed to help guide future decisions by scientists, resource managers and other officials throughout Australia.

"This single portal access to biological information will support decision making on issues such as biosecurity, global change management and conservation, and underpin research in these areas," said Joanne Daly, who heads CSIRO's Atlas of Living Australia management committee.

Hobern added he is looking forward to helping create the online atlas for Australia.

"We now have the tools to build an interesting and flexible online encyclopedia of biodiversity and I believe that Australia is uniquely positioned to make this a reality and to benefit from the wealth of its past investment in this area," he said.

Hobern is expected to begin his work on the project early next year. A software developer at IBM for 16 years, Hobern is currently in charge of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility's software architecture, data sharing and portal development. He has also been active in other projects aimed at preserving global biodiversity and will soon come on as chairman of the executive committee of the Biodiversity Information Standards group, an international effort to set guidelines for sharing information about lifeforms on Earth.

Worldwide, there are at least 574 different biodiversity information projects under way, according to Biodiversity Information Standards. They range from a checklist of more than 12,000 different species of mosses and a database covering the nearly 10,000 known species of ants to the ALL Species Foundation, an initiative aimed at compiling a complete online encyclopedia of all life on Earth within the next 25 years.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, "Building an Online Encyclopedia of Aussie Life." URL: (http://www.csiro.au/news/OnlineEncyclopaediaOfAussieLife.html)