title: The Encyclopedia of Life v2: Providing Global Access to Knowledge About Life on Earth.
abstract: The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL, http://eol.org) aims to provide unprecedented global access to a broad range of information about life on Earth. It currently contains 3.5 million distinct pages for taxa and provides content for 1.3 million of those pages. The content is primarily contributed by EOL content partners (providers) that have a more limited geographic, taxonomic or topical scope. EOL aggregates these data and automatically integrates them based on associated scientific names and other classification information. EOL also provides interfaces for curation and direct content addition. All materials in EOL are either in the public domain or licensed under a Creative Commons license. In addition to the web interface, EOL is also accessible through an Application Programming Interface. In this paper, we review recent developments added for Version 2 of the web site and subsequent releases through Version 2.2, which have made EOL more engaging, personal, accessible and internationalizable. We outline the core features and technical architecture of the system. We summarize milestones achieved so far by EOL to present results of the current system implementation and establish benchmarks upon which to judge future improvements. We have shown that it is possible to successfully integrate large amounts of descriptive biodiversity data from diverse sources into a robust, standards-based, dynamic, and scalable infrastructure. Increasing global participation and the emergence of EOL-powered applications demonstrate that EOL is becoming a significant resource for anyone interested in biological diversity.
authors.affiliation: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cynthia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Parr
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leary
authors.affiliation: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.
authors.forename: Katja S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lans
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Walley
authors.affiliation: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hammock
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Studer
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeffrey T G
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Corrigan