Online Encyclopedia of Life "Birthed"

The first 30,000 pages of what will eventually become 1.8 million pages for the entire Encyclopedia of Life.

Feedback on these first pages will shape the ultimate design and functionality of all 1.8 million pages of the encyclopedia, scheduled for completion by 2017. It will also help inform priorities for content development.

"It is exciting to anticipate the scientific chords we might hear once 1.8 million notes are brought together through this instrument," says Jim Edwards, executive director of the Encyclopedia of Life, EOL, based at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

The site crashed yesterday as the site appeared to be too popular to "live."

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