Information letter №2 (pdf)

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the International Conference “Information Technologies in the Research of Biodiversity” http://bit.icc.ru, which will take place on September 11–14, 2018 (followed by the master class on data mobilization skills on September 15–19) in Irkutsk, Russia at Matrosov Institute for System Dynamics and Control Theory of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. Integration of modern information technologies and classical methods of biodiversity research enables reaching new levels of knowledge acquisition. New demands on researchers require coordination, standardization and unification of data and methods.
The conference includes plenary and sectional reports, round tables, and master classes on the publication of biodiversity data for use in basic and applied research to provide you with principles for working with existing biodiversity information systems. Those interested in participating can register electronically via http://bit.icc.ru.
Applications for master class on data mobilization are collected before 1 May 2018; for details and application form see http://www.forbio.uio.no/events/courses/2018/Data_mobilization_Baikal.html.

Goals
1. Coordination of research interactions to digitize, standardize and publish data on biodiversity in Russia and other countries, as well as promoting and spreading modern international principles, resources and tools for working with biological data.
2. Consideration of modern principles for creating and integrating local and regional information system projects for biodiversity research in Russia and other countries.
3. Creation of infrastructures for implementing technological and information support to organizations seeking to exchange data and data analysis methods.
4. Development of specialized software for handling biodiversity research tasks.
5. Networking and exchange of experience, advanced technologies and trends in the field of distributed databases and data processing.

Conference sections
1. Global biodiversity data portals: data integration, use in knowledge generation tasks.
2. Information and analytical systems on biodiversity. Virtual natural history collections.
3. National data on biodiversity: the current state of digitization. Copyright issues, methods and concepts for assessing data quality.
4. Theoretical fundaments and organization technologies of the information and telecommunications infrastructures. Standards for describing digital data, processing services, etc.
5. Methods, models, software systems and Web services for the analysis of biodiversity data.
6. Application of remote methods in vegetation mapping and biodiversity research.

Important dates
May 1, 2018 – electronic registration of the conference closed and abstracts accepted. End of registration for master-class (separate form)
May 20–15 June, 2018 – confirmations of registration, conference and visa invitations.
August 30, 2018 – conference program online, arrival info.
September 11–14, 2018 – conference dates, including excursion.
September 15–19, 2018 – master-class on data mobilization skills.