T E C H N O L O G Y
The emergence of Internet has caused a paradigm shift in research, development, technology transfer, and organizational cooperation in the 1990s. Suddenly, it has become possible to provide and access information rapidly, globally, and at a low cost. But bigger changes are looming. Electronic publishing and electronic commerce are taking shape. Intercast, a network of content providers with thousands of specialized channels like digital television, is in the works. And a flood of information from the sky via the next generation of satellites, both for public broadcasting and natural resource monitoring, is just on the horizon.The environment and natural resources community is making full use of these new services. Databases, models and expert systems are being brought online. Publications are being created for the new media. Ecosystem managers have better access to interest groups for collaboration in planning work. Global conventions for biodiversity and climate change are setting up their clearing-houses on the web. And new organizational networks supported by telematics are mushrooming.
All this to provide the public and network users with better access to information about their environment. And the search continues.
To facilitate this search, the greatest information management event of 1998 will take place from June 8-12 in Rovaniemi, Finland under the midnight sun. With the highest per capita Internet host density in the world, ATM networks, and leadership in digital mobile telecommunications, Finland is a natural high-tech host for this event. The country is also known for its fragile ecosystems, indigenous lifestyles and remote access which pose formidable challenges to ecosystem managers whose work has been considerably eased by new information technologies.
Among the wide range of topics to be covered are environmental management and restoration, parks and protected areas, biodiversity, wildlife, air quality, water resource management, geological resources, geophysics and climate, technology transfer and training, coastal zone management, Arctic/Antarctic environments, recreation management, and international cooperation. The symposium will also broadcast its proceedings worldwide in real-time for virtual participants, as space and time disappear under the midnight sun.