# Encyclopedia of Life starts on Rails - seeking open source d **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [September 20, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131 "2007-09-20T21:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/peetucket)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131/1 "2007-09-20T21:51:34Z")
Hello all, I am a software developer at the Encyclopedia of Life project (http:// [www.eol.org](http://www.eol.org)), a recently announced effort funded by the MacArthur and Sloan Foundations to produce a web page for each of the 1.8 million known species on Earth. This will be a huge effort, and there are multiple academic institutions all acting together to make it happen. Our part at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, MA, is the informatics and technology component. The initial version of the site, which will aggregate lots of existing content from a diverse set of sources, will be launching in late February 2008 and will be built on top of Ruby on Rails (with a MySQL back-end and possibly some repository management via a project called Fedora Commons). Once it launches, all of the code will enter the open source domain and the community will be welcomed in to fix, tinker and improve. On a separate and related path is the contributory part of the website, of which the first component is a user observation form. The idea is for anyone (kids, adults, scientists, etc.) to add observational data about particular species so we can build up a large data set which can be used to study climate change, invasive species, etc., around the world in an unprecedented way. An initial version of this site has been developed by myself in Ruby on Rails using Google Maps plugins, geocoding, etc., with full source code now up at the URL below: [http://code.google.com/p/eol-ingestion-form/](http://code.google.com/p/eol-ingestion-form/) and the actual site running at: [http://ingestionform.eol.org](http://ingestionform.eol.org) I also created a google group for this project: [http://groups.google.com/group/eol-ingestion-form](http://groups.google.com/group/eol-ingestion-form) We know there are a lot of holes in the application and lots of room for improvement (I’ve already started a wish list on the wiki), but this application will become a very important component of the user contribution section of the Encyclopedia of Life. The programming resources here are tight and focused on the initial launch in February, and we are hoping to involve the programming community in the same way the biological community is invited to participate in content contributions. This is my second Ruby on Rails application, the first one for the group here in Woods Hole, and my first open source project, so we know there is need for more expertise in all areas. So if you are interested in contributing to a wonderful open source Ruby on Rails project with high visibility, drop on by and have a look at this first effort. If you are looking for a tech job and are willing to move to Woods Hole, there are a few open positions too, so check out the EOL employment page: [http://eol.org/employment.html](http://eol.org/employment.html) Thanks, Peter ---
**Author:** ![peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/peetucket)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131/2 "2007-09-20T22:46:49Z")
peetucket wrote: > I am a software developer at the Encyclopedia of Life project (http:// > [www.eol.org](http://www.eol.org)), a recently announced effort funded by the MacArthur and > Sloan Foundations to produce a web page for each of the 1.8 million > known species on Earth. This will be a huge effort, and there are > multiple academic institutions all acting together to make it happen. Why on Earth aren’t they simply writing a system that maintains all the Wikipedia pages on this topic? – Phlip ---
**Author:** ![peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/peetucket)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131/3 "2007-09-20T23:27:55Z")
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:46:05 -0700, Phlip wrote: > > I am a software developer at the Encyclopedia of Life project (http:// > > [www.eol.org](http://www.eol.org)), a recently announced effort funded by the MacArthur and > > Sloan Foundations to produce a web page for each of the 1.8 million > > known species on Earth. This will be a huge effort, and there are > > multiple academic institutions all acting together to make it happen. > > Why on Earth aren’t they simply writing a system that maintains all > the Wikipedia pages on this topic? Well, for one thing, some of the species don’t know how to use Wikipedia. – Jay L. | Boston, MA | My character doesn’t like it when they Faster: jay at jay dot fm | cry or shout or hit. [http://www.jay.fm](http://www.jay.fm) | - Kristoffer ---
**Author:** ![peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/peetucket)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131/4 "2007-09-20T23:34:56Z")
Jay L. wrote: > > Why on Earth aren’t they simply writing a system that maintains all > > the Wikipedia pages on this topic? > Well, for one thing, some of the species don’t know how to use Wikipedia. Hey!.. But… they… /can/ be trained to use Rails… Point! – Phlip ---
**Author:** ![peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/peetucket)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131/5 "2007-09-21T01:23:06Z")
On 9/20/07, Jay L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > Why on Earth aren’t they simply writing a system that maintains all > > the Wikipedia pages on this topic? > > Well, for one thing, some of the species don’t know how to use Wikipedia. And some that do have been known to, er, “embellish” descriptions of their characteristics… I don’t think we need to name names 🙂 – Hassan S. ------------------------ removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peetucket](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/peetucket)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/encyclopedia-of-life-starts-on-rails-seeking-open-source-d/115131/6 "2007-09-21T02:38:14Z")
That is a good question, but the EOL is quite different from Wikipedia in many ways. In fact, Wikimedia is represented on the Institutional Council to advise the EOL. Much of the content for EOL will come from authoritative sources - pages will not be fully editable like Wikipedia. If you are interested, you can read more on the site.