| Abstract Detail
Integrating Plant Systematics Murrell, Zack E. [1], Poindexter, Derick B. [1]. The role of networks in a cyberinfrastructure. The World Wide Web (WWW) has changed science and, in turn, how systematic, conservation and biogeographic studies are conducted. The Semantic Web will further revolutionize science by building a mesh of information that will allow scientists to gather and analyze data in a more thorough fashion, while providing opportunities for information retrieval by the general public in complex and automated systems. These innovations can be utilized by development of “virtual communities” of scientists. This is modeled in SERNEC, the SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections. This network of herbarium curators provides an electronic database of herbarium specimen labels and images. As this database is built, it will be reviewed by the collective taxonomic expertise of this virtual community, which will result in an increasingly accurate portrayal of the biogeography of the region. The SERNEC virtual community includes information scientists, social scientists, educators, and artists, as well as taxonomic expertise of the region’s curators. In the information age of the semantic web, real power comes in the development of “high quality” information. The high quality database developed by SERNEC will attract the attention of the public, government decision-makers, corporations and educators, increasing the value of curatorial expertise. As collaborations among taxonomists, educators and information scientists grow, and as innovations such as interactive keys and complex mapping of biotic and abiotic components of the landscape develop within this virtual community, we will provide complex information in intuitively understandable fashion to various user groups, and therefore stimulate interest in plant systematics, conservation and biogeography.
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1 - Appalachian State University, Biology, 572 Rivers Street, Boone, North Carolina, 28608, USA
Keywords:
Networks
Cyberinfrastructure
Sematic Web
SERNEC
Virtual community.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: C03
Location: Boulevard C/Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
Time: 3:00 PM
Number: C03006
Abstract ID:2226 |
