Networking

SCI2002: International Conference Challenges Ecoinformatics

The LTER Information Managment Executive committee met during the SCI 2002 conference in Orlando: (clockwise starting at 7:00) Barbara Benson (NTL), Karen Baker (PAL), Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV), James Brunt (NET), John Anderson (JRN), Tim Bergsma (KBS), Wade Sheldon (GCE), Emory Boose (HFR), Peter McCartney (CAP), and with her back to us is Susan Stafford.

The SCI2002 conference, attended by more than 1,000 scientists in a wide variety of disciplines with interests in systemics, cybernetics and informatics, was kicked off with a keynote plenary talk by John Porter and Susan Staffort (The Ecoinformatics Challenge: Meeting Ecological Information Needs for the Site, Network, and Community) delivered before an audience of more than 1000 conferees.

To stimulate the exchange of developments in information management and to promote cross-domain dialogue, LTER information managers participated in two Ecoinformatics Challenge sessions chaired by Karen Baker and John Porter at the SCI2002 meeting (http://www.iiis.org/sci2002) held July 14-18 in Orlando, Florida. Twelve LTER papers were published in the conference proceedings:

http://intranet.lternet.edu/committees/information_management/sci_2002/

Highlights of the conference included “Best Paper” distinctions awarded to the following LTER contributions: “The Future Of Ecoinformatics in Long Term Ecological Research” by James Brunt, Peter McCartney, Karen Baker, Susan Stafford; “Integrating Ecological Data: Tools and Techniques” by John Porter and Kenneth Ramsey; “Designing Web Database Applications for Ecological Research” by Dan Smith, Barbara Benson and David Balsiger.