National Biological Information Infrastructure
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Making Progress on Two Fronts
The key to providing the level of data and information our growing user base needs is, first, to forge partnerships as we, second, apply our technological expertise to a burgeoning array of new computing and communications capabilities.
Partnerships are essential since BRD-produced data and information constitute only a fraction of the total set of biological data and information in the world. Currently, BRD has technology and information partnership agreements with several Federal agencies; with more than 20 States; with private organizations, such as the Association of Systematics Collections, Champion Paper Corporation, and The Nature Conservancy; and with organizations in other countries, such as Mexico's National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) and Costa Rica's National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio).
Among our partnerships with Federal agencies is a recent agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to join forces in adding information on many existing biological and ecological databases to the NBII and NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). GCMD is an online directory and comprehensive source of information on earth science, the environment, climate, and global change data holdings available worldwide. BRD and NASA are also working together to develop new techniques that will streamline the information identification and retrieval process for each system's users.
As BRD moves forward, we continue to involve more partners in NBII planning, design, and implementation. At the same time, recent advances in communications capacity and networking technologies have made it easier than ever to access automated data and information. But, in many cases, we don't know the availability of different data sources. Or, the applicability of the data may not be known because of incomplete information about the data.
By cataloging and describing existing biological data and information, BRD is helping government agencies and non-government organizations avoid costly duplicative data collection. Other agencies and organizations interested in working with BRD are also helping to automate, describe, and serve their information, some of which may not be available in electronic format.
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