III: Workshop: Broadening Collaboration and Mobilizing Resources in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Informatics Communities

2011年7月，总统科学技术顾问委员会（PCAST）发布了一份关于维持环境资本的有影响力的报告（PCAST 2011），建议采取一系列行动，包括制定一项基于生态信息学的开放资源和机器可及性（EcoINFORMA）倡议。联邦政府的反应是设计和实施一项动员和整合联邦数据的重大努力的第一阶段（见：生态系统.data.gov）。目前发布的产品包括一个通用的地理空间查看器和一个集成的元数据资源，以及三个主题中心。这三个网站分别是生物多样性信息服务网站（bison.usgs.ornl.gov）、生态系统服务网站EnviroAtlas （EnviroAtlas .epa.gov）和土地覆盖动态的多分辨率土地特征联盟（www.mrlc.gov）。在他们的报告中，PCAST指出：“EcoINFORMA应该与国际生物多样性和生态系统信息系统进行互动，以制定全球公认的生物多样性和生态系统信息标准，并且应该寻求并鼓励与私营和学术部门建立伙伴关系，以开发用于数据集成、分析、可视化和决策的创新工具。”作为EcoINFORMA的一部分，最近在联邦系统中动员了非常大的数据集，为学术和商业创新创造了前所未有的机会，联邦、学术和商业部门的成员聚集在一起研究可能性的时机已经成熟。举办研讨会和后续活动，将联邦环境数据提供者和消费者与非联邦环境数据提供者和消费者聚集在一起，促进旨在维持国家的协同项目？2015年9月，美国将在华盛顿特区举行“环境资本和整体科学发展大会”。该小组将召集广泛代表生物多样性信息学和生态信息学社区的联邦和非联邦成员，包括来自不同组织群体的学者和非政府组织。讲习班将使人们更广泛地了解和利用现有的EcoInforma中心，并向这些中心的管理者提供有关用户社区需求和兴趣的重要反馈。

In July 2011, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued an influential report on sustaining environmental capital (PCAST 2011) recommending a series of actions, including the development of an Ecoinformatics-based Open Resources and Machine Accessibility (EcoINFORMA) initiative. The Federal response has been to design and implement the first phase of a major effort to mobilize and integrate Federal data (see: ecosystems.data.gov). Currently released products include a universal geospatial viewer and an integrated metadata resource, as well as three thematic hubs. These are Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (bison.usgs.ornl.gov) for biodiversity, EnviroAtlas (enviroatlas.epa.gov) for ecosystem services, and the Multi-resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (www.mrlc.gov) for landcover dynamics. In their report, the PCAST stated: "EcoINFORMA should interact with international biodiversity and ecosystem information systems in the development of globally accepted biodiversity and ecosystem information standards, and should seek out and encourage partnerships with the private and academic sectors to develop innovative tools for data integration, analysis, visualization, and decision-making." Recent mobilization of very large data sets in the Federal system as a part of EcoINFORMA has produced unprecedented opportunities for academic and commercial innovation, and the time is ripe for members of the Federal, academic, and commercial sectors to come together and examine the possibilities. A workshop and follow-up activities to bring together Federal environmental data providers and consumers with non-Federal environmental data providers and consumers to foster synergistic projects aimed at sustaining the country?s environmental capital and advancing science as a whole will take place in Washington, DC, in September 2015. The team will convene a broad representation of federal and nonfederal members of the biodiversity informatics and ecoinformatics communities, including academics and NGOs from a diverse group of organizations. The workshop will lead to much broader understanding and utilization of the existing EcoInforma hubs, as well as important feedback to the curators of those hubs about user community needs and interests.