Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Informatics: Policy and Implementation, Science versus Citizen Science, to be held in Portland, Oregon, July 16, 2002

生物科学是十大社会潮流之一，二十一世纪被定义为“生物时代”。这个时代的中心主题之一是生物多样性。生物多样性是生命的丰富性，包括一个物种内通过环境中所有生命的复杂相互联系而产生的各种基因。有必要记录和了解世界自然遗产。与这一努力相关的多种信息的管理就是生物多样性信息学。世界各地正在开展许多努力，以数字收藏的形式收集和分发这些信息。其中一些努力是相辅相成的；一些是冲突的，一些只是独立的。为了提高这些信息的效用，需要对其进行整合。这些信息有许多不同类型的用户，包括公众和政府机构。本次公开论坛召集的小组成员将从不同的目标和用途角度，讨论对全球生物多样性数字图书馆建设的不同视角。

Biological science is one of the top ten social trends, with the twenty-first century defined as the "Age of Biology". One of the central themes of this age is biodiversity. Biodiversity is the richness of life, including the variety of genes within one species through the complex interconnection of all life within an environment. It is necessary to document and understand the world's natural heritage. The management of the many kinds of information associated with this endeavor is biodiversity informatics. There are many efforts developing worldwide to collect and distribute this information in digital collections. Some of these efforts are complementary; some are in conflict, some are just independent. To enhance the utility of this information, it needs to be integrated. There are a number of different kinds of users of the information, including the public and government agencies. The panelists convened for this public forum will discuss different perspective on the construction of global biodiversity digital libraries from the perspective of different goals and uses.