Report prepared for the Experts Meeting Towards the Implementation of a Global Invasive Species
Information Network (GISIN), 6-8 April, 2004. Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Page 6
8/30/2004
The Mission of the Global Invasive Species Information Network:
To provide a platform for sharing invasive species information at a global level, via
the Internet and other digital means.
To offer a central place for the reporting and tracking of new alien species sightings
via email listserv.
To develop and share electronic information management tools to better identify,
map, and predict the spread of invasive species at regional and global levels.
To build the capacity of network members in the development and use of information
tools to integrate IAS databases.
Therefore we conclude:
A successful global network for sharing and exchanging technical and scientific IAS information
(including information on native species that are invasive elsewhere) among hundreds of
diverse participants using several languages will need to be widely distributed and ultimately
highly scalable. It will also need to be integrated with existing IAS programs, including those
within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the International Plant
Protection Convention (IPPC), and other relevant international structures.
GISIN "guiding principles" will include the following:
Require a simple minimum of equipment, software, and computational expertise for
participation, so as to include people and institutions with all levels of technical resources.
Make critical information needed to recognize and manage IAS freely available to the public
and discoverable through widely used search technologies, so that IAS information users
(such as land and aquatic area managers, farmers, and schools) will find the information
they need.
Adopt widely used technical standards, including World Wide Web technologies, especially
XML (Extensible Mark-up Language), RDF (Resource Description Framework), Semantic
Web, Web services, and others as feasible and appropriate.
Agree on and share common vocabularies to describe comparable objects or concepts in
different information sources, and in different languages. Work toward consensus on these
mutually-useful vocabularies for properties such as taxonomy, geolocation, and
recommended practices, in order to develop interoperable information systems.
Promote these incentives for sharing data:
professional recognition for developers of databases,
increased linkages to local Websites to increase their availability and use,
metadata strategies that help assure that providers of data are properly credited, and
tools to make preparation of standardized data and metadata easier and more
automatic.
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