View source for ARKive

{{Infobox Website
| name           = ARKive - Images of Life on Earth
| logo           = ARKive-logo.jpg
| logo_size      = 260px
| screenshot     =
| caption        = 
| url            = {{URL|www.arkive.org}}
| commercial     = 
| type           = Encyclopedia
| language       = [[Social:English language|English]]
| registration   = 
| owner          = 
| launch date    = {{Start date|2003|05|20|df=y}}
| current status = 
| author         = Wildscreen
| alexa          = {{IncreaseNegative}} 46,220 ({{as of|2016|8|12|alt=August 2016}})<ref name="alexa">{{cite web|url= http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/arkive.org |title= Arkive.org Site Info | publisher= [[Company:Alexa Internet|Alexa Internet]] |accessdate=12 August 2016}}</ref>
}}

'''ARKive''' is a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery",<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/about/|title=About ARKive|work=ARKive|accessdate=12 July 2011| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110701182614/http://www.arkive.org/about/| archivedate= 1 July 2011 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref><ref name="about2017">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/about/|title=About Arkive|work=Arkive|publisher=Wildscreen|accessdate=25 July 2017| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20170713182635/http://www.arkive.org/about/| archivedate= 13 July 2017| deadurl= no}}</ref> which it does by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the world's [[Biology:Species|species]] into a centralised [[Digital data|digital]] archive.<ref name="about" /> Its current priority is the completion of audio-visual profiles for the c. 17,000 species on the [[Organization:IUCN Red List|IUCN Red List]] of Threatened Species.<ref name="about" />

The project is an initiative of Wildscreen, a UK-registered educational charity,<ref>{{EW charity|299450|Wildscreen}}</ref> based in Bristol.<ref name="Wildscreen-About">{{cite web|url=http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/about|title=Wildscreen - About|accessdate=12 July 2011}}</ref> The technical platform was created by Hewlett Packard, as part of the HP Labs' Digital Media Systems research programme.<ref name="HP1">{{cite web|url=http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/ssrc/services/publishing/arkive/ |title=HP Labs : Solutions and Services Research : Technology for Services : Services for Digital Publishing : ARKive |work=[[Company:Hewlett-Packard|Hewlett-Packard]] |accessdate=12 July 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120025341/http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/ssrc/services/publishing/arkive/ |archivedate=20 January 2011 }}</ref>

ARKive has the backing of leading conservation organisations, including [[Organization:BirdLife International|BirdLife International]], [[Organization:Conservation International|Conservation International]], [[Organization:International Union for Conservation of Nature|International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN), The {{wipe|United Nations}}' [[Organization:World Conservation Monitoring Centre|World Conservation Monitoring Centre]] (UNEP-WCMC), and the [[Organization:World Wide Fund for Nature|World Wide Fund for Nature]] (WWF),<ref name="about" /> as well as leading academic and research institutions, such as the [[Biology:Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]]; [[Organization:Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]]; and the Smithsonian Institution.<ref name="about" /> It is a member of the Institutional Council of the [[Biology:Encyclopedia of Life|Encyclopedia of Life]].<ref name="about" />

Two ARKive layers for [[Software:Google Earth|Google Earth]], featuring endangered species<ref name="GEOutreach">{{cite web|url=http://earth.google.com/outreach/showcase.html|title=Google Earth Outreach|work=[[Software:Google Search|Google Search]]|accessdate=12 July 2011| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110716075715/http://earth.google.com/outreach/showcase.html| archivedate= 16 July 2011 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> and species in the Gulf of Mexico<ref name="GEOutreach" /> have been produced by Google Earth Outreach. The first of these was launched in April 2008 by Wildscreen's Patron, Sir [[Biography:David Attenborough|David Attenborough]].<ref name="GEO-launch">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/news/press-release-20080410-launch-of-arkive-google-earth-layer.html |title=Attenborough launches Wildscreen's Google Earth Layer - Press release 10 Apr 08 - ARKive |date=2008-04-10 |publisher=Wildscreen |accessdate=12 July 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317000607/http://www.arkive.org/news/press-release-20080410-launch-of-arkive-google-earth-layer.html |archivedate=17 March 2012 }}</ref>

==History==

[[File:David Attenborough.jpg|thumb|260px|left|Sir David Attenborough and the ARKive]]
The project formally was launched on 20 May 2003<ref name="scotsman">{{cite news |url=http://living.scotsman.com/features/The-animals-came-in-bit.2428238.jp |title=The animals came in bit by byte |author=Gilchrist, Jim |publisher=''The Scotsman'' |date=2003-05-17}}</ref><ref name="bbc2">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3041813.stm |title=Digital Noah's Ark launched |publisher=BBC News |date=2003-05-20}}</ref><ref name="arkive">{{cite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/about/wildscreen.html |title=About ARKive: Wildscreen |publisher=ARKive.org |accessdate=7 April 2009}}</ref><ref name="ARKive-2011-2015">{{cite journal|title=ARKive 2011-2015 (brochure)|publisher=ARKive}}</ref> by its patron, the UK-based natural history presenter, [[Biography:David Attenborough|Sir David Attenborough]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/conservation/story/0,,969572,00.html|publisher=''The Guardian''|title=Arkive sets sail on the web|accessdate=2 July 2007 | location=London | first=Ashley | last=Davies | date=2003-05-20}}</ref><ref name="2002-12">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org.uk/|title=December 2002 version|publisher=Wildscreen|accessdate=12 July 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021201024509/http://www.arkive.org.uk/|archivedate=2002-12-01}}</ref> a long-standing colleague and friend of its chief instigator, the late Christopher Parsons, a former Head of the BBC Natural History Unit. Parsons never lived to see the fruition of the project, succumbing to cancer in November 2002 at the age of 70.<ref name="obit1">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/nov/14/bbc.guardianobituaries |title=Obituary: Christopher Parsons |author=Paine, Barry |publisher=''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'' |date=2002-11-14}}</ref>

Parsons identified a need to provide a centralised safe haven for wildlife films and photographs after discovering that many such records are held in scattered, non-indexed, collections, often with little or no public access, and sometimes in conditions that could lead to loss or damage.<ref name="obit1" /> He believed the records could be a powerful force in building environmental awareness by bringing scientific names to life. He also saw their [[Engineering:Film preservation|preservation]] as an important educational resource and conservation tool, not least because extinction rates and habitat destruction could mean that images and sounds might be the only legacy of some species’ existence.

His vision of a permanent, accessible, refuge for audio-visual wildlife material won almost immediate support from many of the world’s major broadcasters, including the BBC,<ref name="scotsman" /> Granada,<ref name="scotsman" /> international state broadcasting corporations<ref name="scotsman" /> and ''National Geographic'' magazine;<ref name="scotsman" /> leading film and photographic libraries, international conservation organisations and academic institutes such as [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]].<ref name="scotsman" />

The initial feasibility study for creating ARKive was carried out in the late 1980s by conservationist John Burton,<ref name="WLT">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldlandtrust.org/about/biographies.htm|title=About the World Land Trust: Staff Biographies|publisher=World Land Trust|accessdate=12 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913074515/http://www.worldlandtrust.org/about/biographies.htm|archive-date=13 September 2011|dead-url=yes|df=dmy-all}}</ref> but at the time the costs of the technology needed were too far too high,<ref name="HP">{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/HP+Helps+The+Wildscreen+Trust+Create+ARKive%3A+ARKive+Provides+Digital...-a0102007545 |title=HP Helps The Wildscreen Trust Create ARKive: ARKive Provides Digital Safe Haven for Records of Endangered Species |publisher=Business Wire |date=2003-05-20}}</ref> and so it was over a decade later, after the technology had caught up with Christopher Parson's vision (and the costs dropped), that the project was able to get off the ground.

After capital development funds of £2m were secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 1997<ref name="Wildscreen-History">{{cite web|url=http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/about-history|title=Wildscreen - History|accessdate=12 July 2011}}</ref> and New Opportunities Fund in 2000,<ref name="Wildscreen-History" /> work on building ARKive began as part of the UK's [[Millennium]] celebrations, using advanced computerised storage and retrieval technology devised for the project by Hewlett-Packard.,<ref name="HP" /> with an initial capacity of up to 74 [[Terabyte|terabyte]]s of data,<ref name="HP" /> using [[Engineering:Redundancy (engineering)|redundant hardware]] and multiple copies of media stored at multiple sites.<ref name="HP" /> Media is digitised to the highest available quality without compression and encoded to open standards.<ref name="HP1" />

A prototype site was online as early as April 1999.<ref name="Prototype">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org.uk/choice.html|title=April 1999 version|publisher=Wildscreen|accessdate=12 July 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19990422061755/http://www.arkive.org.uk/choice.html|archivedate=1999-04-22}}</ref> There were several design iterations before the formal launch.<ref name="2002-12" /><ref name="2000-06">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org.uk/|title=June 2000 version|publisher=Wildscreen|accessdate=12 July 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000619091734/http://www.arkive.org.uk/|archivedate=2000-06-19}}</ref><ref name="2001-09">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org.uk/|title=September 2001 version|publisher=Wildscreen|accessdate=12 July 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010923023705/http://www.arkive.org.uk/|archivedate=2001-09-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org.uk/|title=April 2003 version|publisher=Wildscreen|accessdate=12 July 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030410162745/http://www.arkive.org.uk/|archivedate=2003-04-10}}</ref>

By the launch date, the project team had researched, catalogued, copied, described and authenticated image, sound and fact files of 1,000 [[Biology:Animal|animal]]s, [[Biology:Plant|plant]]s and [[Biology:Fungi|fungi]], many of them critically [[Biology:Endangered species|endangered]]. More multi-media profiles are added every month, starting with British [[Earth:Flora|flora]] and [[Earth:Fauna|fauna]] and with species included on the Red List – that is, species that are believed to be closest to [[Biology:Extinction|extinction]], according to research by the World Conservation Union. By January 2006, the database had grown to 2,000 species, 15,000 still images and more than 50 hours of video.<ref name="WotY">{{cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/pressReleases/suntimes010106.html|publisher=''ARKive''|title=ARKive named as Sunday Times website of the year|date=2006-01-01|accessdate=2 July 2007 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070609145850/http://www.arkive.org/pressReleases/suntimes010106.html |archivedate = 2007-06-09}}</ref> By 2010, over 5,500 donors had contributed 70,000 film clips and photos of more than 12,000 species.<ref name="AR-2010">{{cite book|title=WildScreen Annual Review 2010 |url=http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/downloads/AnnualReview2010.pdf|accessdate=11 July 2011 |publisher=Wildscreen}}</ref>

== Recognition ==
The site was Sunday Times website of the year for 2005.<ref name="WotY" /> It was a 2010 [[Webby Award]] honoree for its outstanding calibre of work,<ref name="AR-2010" /> in the 'Education' category,<ref name="Webby">{{cite web|url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?media_id=96&category_id=21&season=14 |title=Webby Honorees |accessdate=12 July 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607062013/http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?media_id=96&category_id=21&season=14 |archivedate=7 June 2011 |deadurl=yes }}</ref> and a 2010 Association of Educational Publishers 'Distinguished Achievement Award' winner, in the category for websites for 9-12 year olds.<ref name="AR-2010" /><ref name="AEP2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.aepweb.org/awards/10tech.htm |title=AEP Awards - Distinguished Achievement Award Winners - Technology and New Media |accessdate=12 July 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930230825/http://www.aepweb.org/awards/10tech.htm |archivedate=30 September 2011 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Biology:Catalogue of Life|Catalogue of Life]]
* [[Biology:Encyclopedia of Life|Encyclopedia of Life]]
* List of online encyclopedias
* Nature documentary

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.arkive.org Official ARKive site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110120025341/http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/ssrc/services/publishing/arkive/ Technical specifications from Hewlett-Packard]
* [http://eol.org/content_partner/agreement/5978 Memorandum of Understanding with Encyclopedia of Life]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{threatened species}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arkive}}
[[Category:Biological classification]]
[[Category:Online encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Biological databases]]

{{Sourceattribution|ARKive|1}}