by Dr Hwang Wei Song

Species are going extinct at an unprecedented rate while a complete inventory of all species on Earth is still lacking. To address this biodiversity crisis, biologists are harnessing Information Technology tools to improve the sharing of biodiversity data, thereby spawning the field of Biodiversity Informatics. This course explores the what, where and how biodiversity information gets shared on the internet, with a focus on the role of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Sharing of biodiversity data online has its own challenges and we further examine the paradigm-shifting concept of Open Science and inherent issues involved.