PaleoNetters:
Paleo 21: Paleontology in the 21st Century is a workshop to be held at the Senckenberg Museum Sept. 3-9. It's purpose is to suggest goals to the paleontological community, and those it interacts with, for the start of the next century of paleontology.
Because vigorous discussion among the participants is desired, the Workshop was necessarily limited in attendance. The Organizing Committee desires two things: 1. That the attendees be able to represent a broad, if perhaps incomplete, spectrum of paleontological concerns; and 2. That the entire paleontological community worldwide be included in the final suggestions. Of course, we recognize that the best way to do these would be to include all paleontologists everywhere; we feel badly and we apologize that this is simply impossible for many practical reasons.
Electronic Conference and Reports: Since the number of Workshop participants is limited, we do not surmise that we can anticipate or expect agreement from all paleontologists. Towards this end, we are holding an Electronic Conference on Paleontology in the 21st Century on PaleoNet. Everyone interested in any aspect of paleontology is invited to this conference. To start it, we ask participants to read the preliminary draft statements assembled as discussion papers for the Workshop. These are posted on the WWW at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/paleonet/paleo21/. We invite discussion, comment, suggestions and criticism of these papers. This phase of the Conference should take place before Sept. 1, so that the Conference comments can be considered at the Workshop for incorporation in the DRAFT Paleo 21 Report.
Within a month or so after the end of the Workshop, the Draft Report will be posted on the same site for the second phase of the Electronic Conference. At this time, Conference commentary on the Draft Report will be seriously considered by the authors of each section and by the editors of the Report as a basis for revision of and/or incorporation into the Final Report.
The Final Report will be published and widely distributed. It should be regarded as a point of departure for discussion of paleontology in the 21st century, not a plan for it. The results should be considered by all paleontologists and modified or rejected after careful thought for your own use. Our goal is to provoke those thoughts from the paleontological community with the hope that action can ensue. We want the Final Report to be as useful to individual paleontologists, as well as organizations and groups everywhere, as possible. This we believe can be accomplished only by inclusion of the entire paleontological community through this Electronic Conference. Please participate.
To Participate: Please post your comments, suggestions and criticisms on PaleoNet. Be as kindly or brutal as you care to be. You can be nasty too, although that would set the wrong tone for acceptance because we are sensitive people!!
When posting to PaleoNet, please indicate on the subject line Paleo21-<topic> so that our Conference can be easily identified. The subjects in the preliminary discussion papers are listed below and on the WWW Site. You should feel free to open discussion on any other topic you believe should be considered at the Workshop or in the Report.
Topics to be covered are categorized into 3 major areas and these major areas and their sub categories are listed below. Included also are the names of Topic Coordinators. Preliminary delegate reports and a listing of all topic delegates are linked to the topic titles.
Organizations
(Our employers, funders, and societies)
a. Academia K. Flessa
b. Commercial Collectors M. Triebold
c. Consultancies J. Fenton
d. Funding Agencies C. Maples/E. Fluegel/ D. Maronde
e. Government L. Edwards
f. Independent Paleontologists C. Cozart
g. Industry J. Armentrout
h. Museums/Institutes D. Erwin/W. Ziegler
i. Societies J. Gall
Paleontological Themes
(The products of our work)
a. Astropaleobiology S. Cady/M. Walter
b. Biostratigraphy/Geochronology M. Simmons
c. Functional Morphology N. Schmidt-Kittler
d. Geobiology/Biogeochemistry A. Knoll/J. Hayes
e. Macroevolution D. Jablonski
f. Paleoclimatology J. Parrish
g. Paleoecology/Paleobiology F. Fuersich
h. Paleoceanography W. W. Hay
i. Systematics/Taxonomy D. Briggs
Paleontological Infastructure
(The things that assist us)
a. Computers/Quantification/Databases N. MacLeod
b. Curating/Collection/Extraction/Preparation W. Allmon
c. Media J. Fischman
d. Publications S. Bengtson
e. Public Outreach R. Stucky/J. Scothmoor
f. Regulation C. L. May and C. Benjamini
g. University Education S. Carlson
Additional Reports
a. Vertebrate Paleontology J. Flynn
We hope you will enjoy the Conference!
Jere H. Lipps, for the Organizing and Scientific Committees, Paleo 21