Informatics: new media and paths of data flow

The international community of systematic botany is in the process of enter ing a networked, digital environment that, after initial development over t he past five years, will dominate all aspects of scientific activity in the future. Emerging new technologies are transforming the Internet into a glo bal neural network that presents systematic botany, and science in general, with future prospects that include remarkable opportunity and significant challenge. The products of systematic botany, previously generated locally as static, hardcopy documents, can now be presented as collaborative enterp rises from distributed centers as high-content, dynamic data resources that are constantly updated and refined. In addition, these products can be mad e available to a global user community in multiple forms that can be target ed for different user groups. The emerging Internet standard of "usage equa ls value" could place the products of systematic botany in a position to dr aw public interest, usage, and-most importantly-support. However, opportuni ties inherent in the coming "digital transition" will not be realised if tr aditional, hardcopy-based, perspectives on collaboration, peer review, publ ication and "ownership" are retained. Scientific communities that are able to recognise new potentials and respond by establishing appropriate interac tive protocols will enhance and advance their discipline in this new enviro nment. They will also work to insure, via interaction and content review by professionals, that information available to the public is of the highest scientific quality.