To appreciate the attraction of the International Barcode of Life Project, think about it as an update of the past.

Of an army of 21st century Darwins, hoping to set sail on an armada of technologically powered HMS Beagles.

In place of a lone English naturalist piggy-backing his research onto an already funded British mapping expedition, thousands of researchers from 25 countries collectively working across the globe.

In place of one boat, visualize a fleet of sequencers, operating sometimes in small laboratories and sometimes in robotized, DNA-analyzing factories.

Of the need to raise money and obtain co-operation from organizations around the world before setting sail.

Of a collective enterprise aimed at using museum collections and providing species information which is vitally needed to guide national mandates for biodiversity conservation and biosurveillance.

About aiding humanity to identify all species, and changing our notion of how a species is recognized.

This is the revolutionary framework that Alan Wildeman, Vice-President (Research) at the University of Guelph drew around the first iBOL workshop meeting in June 2007 as he welcomed delegates to the campus. "Ever since I became aware of the Barcode of Life project, I felt that I was an observer on the deck of the Beagle as it was going forward," he told the attendees.

"Unlike traditional voyages which were governed by compasses and maps, this one is guided by computers, and genomics and partnerships. But the outcome may fundamentally change how we look at species on our planet." The new voyages of a 21st century Darwin and Beagle are a metaphor that allows one to see the context of the often passionate discussions, digressions, and occasional disagreements which took place at the workshop. Part of what was exciting to attendees was the grandeur of the effort. Within a year or so, could a grouping of 25 countries create a structure which would allow biologists to produce a DNA-based barcode library for 500,000 species over a 5 year time frame?

Paul Hebert, the founder of DNA barcoding, told the delegates that this vision was "slightly audacious by biological standards but not so audacious when viewed more broadly." And the problem the proposal posed to biodiversity scientists was sociological as much as anything, because working together on expensive, collective projects "has not been part of our tribal culture."