Re: CalFlora website shutdown!?

All -

Some of you may already be aware of this, but I thought I would pass it along to you anyway. Those who are unaware of CalFlora should visit www.CalFlora.org to check it out - it is an online resource I have personally used extensively, a valuable tool for anyone interested in California's flora.

This is yet another example of how an altruistic idea of internet technology does not always easily find the financial footing required to support under our current market systems.

Regards,
Seán O.

Calflora has been an enormous success in bringing plant information to
you. Unfortunately we have been less successful raising funds to
continue to provide this service to the public. It is with regret that I
inform you that a key piece of Calflora’s funding for the first quarter
of 2003, previously thought secured, has not come through.  Without this
funding, Calflora will be forced to lay off all staff and stop providing
services through the Calflora.org website on January 31, 2003.  However,
all is not lost.

In the past six months, Calflora recognized that it must reorganize with
greater operational and development capacity, because it has not met its
full potential nor achieved financial stability in its present form. We
recently held a constructive, well-attended meeting to invite
participation and ideas for how Calflora can be structured to survive
and thrive in the coming years. Unfortunately, we were not able to make
sufficient progress on this work before the unexpected interruption in
funding.

There is still the chance that funding can be secured and Calflora can
stay online without interruption.  Your assistance in tracking down and,
more importantly, pursuing significant funding leads could be the vital
bridge to get us through this difficult time.  The Calflora Board of
Directors and volunteers are working to find funding to keep Calflora
online.  The Board is also open to exploring strategic partnerships with
other organizations as a possible route to keep Calflora services going.

If funding is not secured, Calflora will begin an orderly shutdown
process mid to late January 2003.  Available staff will ensure that all
data is backed up and stored safely for when Calflora can be reactivated
on the internet.  Photos will continue to be available through the UC
Berkeley Digital Library Project website.

As a data contributor or partner of Calflora, we made a personal pledge
to actively maintain and curate your information.  As part of that
pledge, and because of the technical complexities of the Calflora
system, the website can not remain online without close supervision and
management.  We will honor our pledge to you and ensure the data is
ready when we are again able to provide this invaluable data to the
world.  We affirm that the data remain your intellectual property and
that future use remains governed by you.

In today’s world, it is difficult to imagine the world before the web,
and the web has come to be a very important presence in our daily
lives.  But it is important to remember that most information in the
world exists in forms that are not on the internet.  Calflora began
before the internet phenomenon, and will continue to exist as a
non-profit organization even if we must go offline.  Calflora will
continue to work towards its original mission and purposes: to develop
electronic resource information on California plants and to provide a
forum for integrating efforts for the botanical community.

I want to thank you for the help, assistance, and good will that you
have given to Calflora, our mission, and to us personally over the past
several years.  We have achieved much and proved a successful theory-
that providing information on all wild plants of California is both an
achievable goal, and one worthy of pursuing.  I hope that you will join
with us in exploring new ways to think about meeting the basic needs of
such endeavors.

Tony Morosco
on behalf of the Calflora Board of Directors.
calflora@calflora.org

No. Calif. Branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society
Seán A. O'Hara - Branch co-chair
(510) 987-0577; fax (707) 667-1173; sean@support.net
1034A Virginia Street, Berkeley, California 94710-1853, U.S.A.
http://www.MediterraneanGardenSociety.org/branches_CANo.html
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