PRESS RELEASE: 28 June 2000

HEWLETT PACKARD GIVES $1 MILLION BRAIN POWER TO ARKive

HEWLETT-PACKARD LABORATORIES are giving more than $1 million worth of brain power to a new conservation project which is harnessing on-line technology to do for the animals of the 21st century what Noah did in Biblical times.

The presentation takes place on Wednesday 28 June (1.30pm start) at the Bristol headquarters of ARKive - a globally-accessible, digital haven for images and sounds of endangered species being established by THE WILDSCREEN TRUST.

Source: Wildscreen Trust
Anne Finnie, Robin Gallimore, Chris Parsons, Michaela Strachan and Harriet Nimmo at the Launch Event

Wildlife tv presenter MICHAELA STRACHAN will visit WILDSCREEN-AT-BRISTOL, where ARKive is centred, with ROBIN GALLIMORE, of the Publishing Systems and Solutions Group at HP Labs. Together, they will take delivery of 423 natural history films to be added to ARKive's image and information bank and launch an appeal to discover other photographs, films, books and sound-tapes which should be copied for the collection.

ARKive's Director and at-Bristol Vice President, CHRISTOPHER PARSONS said: "Despite conservation efforts, the future of so many species is now in the balance that it seems inevitable many will become extinct over the next few decades. Through ARKive, though, we can bring together images and sounds of endangered species, from every conceivable professional and amateur quarter, to create an international audio-visual library of scientific reference. This will not only be an invaluable resource for everyone interested in these species and their protection but, for future generations, it will also be a 'virtual museum' of the world's lost natural treasures."

HP Lab's support for the project will provide ARKive with a custom-made core system, powerful servers, associated networking, plus access to two years of research, design and development support from a five-strong team at the IT company's European research centre at Stoke Gifford, near Bristol. more follows...... ARKive - 2 The expertise will be used to develop ways of storing, layering, indexing, retrieving and tracking digitised images, initially for use by ARKive but ultimately of potential use to many other electronic databases.

DAVID DACK, Director of HP Labs Bristol said: " The sheer scale of the project is breath-taking. Full storage of the material will amount to several terabytes - each one of which is more than 100 times the storage of the average home computer. We are very excited; this project will give HP Labs the chance to demonstrate the power of digital technologies and the Internet to shape the future, for the good of science, education and research."

In addition to developing digital records of Earth's 6,000 endangered animals and 33,000 endangered plants, ARKive is also setting up a conventional library of films and books about wildlife film-making and photography. The latest additions to the collection will also be handed over on Wednesday - 400 films entered, from 40 countries, for the Panda Awards 2000 competition taking place as part of the next international Wildscreen Festival of Moving Images from the Natural World, in Bristol, from 7 to 13 October 2000.

Project Manager, HARRIET NIMMO added: "Often, people don't realise the conservation value of their old photographs and videos. For instance, what to them is a 1940s holiday shot of, say, the New Forest, might to us be one of the few surviving images of a vanished bird. We'd like to encourage film-makers and photographers to look again at what they've got, and to let us know if it seems interesting."

GILLIAN THOMAS, at-Bristol Chief Executive, said: "HP Labs is a key partner of at-Bristol. The company has been actively involved with us since the very early stages of the project, generously providing advice and sharing expertise as well as donating equipment for our new exhibition. I am delighted HP Labs has been able to support the development of ARKive, which will be accessible from Wildscreen-at-Bristol, providing a valuable extra element for our visitors to enjoy."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

If you would like more information, please contact

Harriet Nimmo, ARKive Development Officer, PO Box 366, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS99 2HD, UK.

tel +44 (0)117 9096303, fax +44 (0)117 9095000
email: [email protected]