How does an advocate of open data and open-source software without connections to government and academic institutions encourage those same bodies to link international science collaborations to local education? For Jiří Podhorecký, the answer lies in translation.
More than 72,000 words' worth of it: web content, video subtitles and user interface. Since joining GBIF's translation volunteers in January 2025, Podhorecký has enabled the release of a comprehensive Czech version of GBIF.org, making GBIF.org's twelfth language the latest Slavic one supported on the site.
Podhorecký's work on GBIF.org is the latest in a series of translations he has volunteered, including several familiar to biodiversity and natural science communities, such as iNaturalist, the Encyclopedia of Life, Bionomia.net and Pl@ntNet. The common thread he hopes these efforts have is that the use of local language can increase national involvement in international collaborations.
"I choose my projects with the intention of building interest in and supporting people and institutions in Czechia to contribute to global projects on open data and open science," said Podhorecký, a native of Český Krumlov in the country's Southern Bohemia region. "I hope this translation helps provide opportunities for university students to become involved with GBIF, whether the country is a formal member or not."
The conditions exist to test Podhorecký's theory of change regarding the impact of translation on a country's GBIF-related activities. The Czech Republic dropped to national observer status in 2006, and data publishing by the country's data-holding institution remains limited: just seven Czech institutions are registered as GBIF publishers, and only five them are currently sharing data.
These limitations, however, have not eliminated the benefits of GBIF-enabled research. Records shared by largest data publisher from the Czech Republic, the Masaryk University Department of Botany and Zoology. have applied in almost 800 publications, including nearly 600 peer-reviewed journal articles, four Red List assessments, and the first IPBES Global Assessment Report. The country's researchers have likewise made increasing use of data from the GBIF network in their own investigations, producing 153 GBIF-enabled publications since 2022, more than doubling the total up to that point.
"Our cohort of translators contribute mightily to the estimated €1 million value in services that volunteers donate to GBIF each year," said Kyle Copas, GBIF head of communications. "We're thrilled to have GBIF.org in Czech and test the importance of language in effectively engaging countries to become GBIF Participants."
This latest addition follows closely behind the release of Polish translation on GBIF.org earlier in March, and together they bolsters local support for sharing and using biodiversity data in Central Europe.
Become a translator
Join the growing network of GBIF volunteers who contribute translations for GBIF.org across five official UN languages (Arabic, Simplified Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) as well as Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Ukrainian and Polish. Other GBIF publications and online resources including its hosted portals, support additional languages as well. Those who want to offer translations in any language can signal their interest by completing the GBIF volunteer form.