www.eol.org

The recently announced Web project the Encyclopedia of Life is remarkable enough for its overarching goal—documenting all 1.8 million named species and untold numbers yet to be discovered. But the Web site itself isn't bad either. No, I'm not talking about pretty pictures of animals and such, the site is just a shell at this point, as the ambitious effort, an "ecosystem of Web pages," will be many years in the making.

Perhaps it's all the hair pulling we've done over SLJ's own site, but what struck me is the singular vision of the Encyclopedia. Even the FAQ is painstakingly well-thought out and covers all bases, from documenting the back story of the project, to expected obstacles, including intellectual property issues concerning site content, which will be wiki-based. Unlike other sites created by complex organizations, there's apparently a mission statement at work here.

Make sure to catch biologist Edward O. Wilson's humble and moving acceptance of the 2007 TED prize in which he "wished" for the establishment of the Encyclopedia. His goal? Nothing short of preserving life on Earth. Some mission.