Bryan Jordin University of Georgia Southern Regional Extension Forestry

The Issue The Team The Solution The Process The Problems The Conclusion

Amount of scientific research is quite large Traditionally use scientific journals and publications The great divide….

Mike Rauscher – USDAFS SRS Patricia Flebbe – USDAFS SRS Deborah Kennard, Cynthia Fowler – USDAFS SRS Bill Hubbard – SREF Bryan Jordin, William Milnor – SREF Authors from: USDAFS SRS, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, Clemson University, Auburn University, University of Florida, and others

Project Goals Organize research knowledge about natural resources and natural resource management Present scientific information on the Internet with a method that is accessible to a wide variety of users Provide scientific information in a form that is easy to apply to the daily work of forest managers, landowners, and researchers

The System Use an open source content management system (Zope) as the framework to ensure a solution that extendable and user friendly Authors can create ‘encyclopedia pages’ and supporting content thru the web All content must undergo a publishing cycle that includes a certified peer review system to establish credibility and encourage participation Peer review is facilitated thru the web

Anyone can be an author, just join! An encyclopedia page is a synthesis of current research knowledge on a clearly defined topic including supporting material Pages are organized in a parent-child hierarchy All supporting content resides in the page (images, citations, tables, etc.) Enough with the bullets…

Not too many (evaluation version ) Yet… Author testing earyly Spring 2004 Can we get anyone to write, edit, review? Maintenance Scaling and bandwidth Priorities (features, training, direction, video, spatial data, etc)

Author testing with 20 – 30 participants spring 2004 Currently peer reviewing in sections Features are continually being added Overall reaction has been tremendously in favor of the system Amazing possibilities to share information Public release summer 2004

Bryan Jordin University of Georgia Southern Regional Extension Forestry