scratchpads: a standard implementation using drupal
DESCRIPTION
An invited presentation at the National Biodiversity Network technical conference held in the Natural History Museum, London, UK. November 19, 2009.TRANSCRIPT
Vincent S. Smith& Simon Rycroft
ScratchpadsA standard implementation using Drupal
Macro taxonomyThe foundation for biodiversity research
• Inventory the Earth’s species• Document their relationships• “Publish” & apply these data
Goal…
• 1.8 M described spp. (10M names)• 300M pages (over last 250 years)• 1.5-3B specimens
Data set…
People…• 4-6,000 scientists• 30-40,000 “pro-amateurs”• Many more citizen scientists?
Micro taxonomyThe process of taxonomic research
• Parochial• Specialised experts• Fragmented & distributed
Sociology…
• Different (domain specific)• Communities of practice• Non transferable skills
Methodology…
Output…• Heterogeneous & scattered• High volume, low impact• Hard to find (use)
Managed Web Support
Pros • High quality• Bespoke • Branded*
Cons • Limited control • Limited updates• NHM centric• No services• No ownership• No connectivity• Protracted & slow
The NHM experience
Lepidoptera
Solanaceae
Chalcid Wasps
Spanish Sandflies
British Fleas
Martian Meteorites
Loch Ness Worms Bumble bees
Managed Web SupportThe NHM experience
Web Bottlenecks • Technology• Management
Explosion of Web 2.0Solutions to technical and management bottlenecks
Content Management SystemsProvide the basic web publishing functions
Joomla WordPress
DrupalPlone
Drupal’s strength - “community”Support the social processes of web
publishing
Drupal - social networkingComparing CMS systems
http://www.idealware.org/comparing_os_cms/
http://scratchpads.eu
ScratchpadsA multi-site implementation of Drupal
Scratchpad Application FormFree to any individual or community
Flexible Template SiteWith easy navigation
An ecosystem of communities
Sites: 130+
Users: 1500+
Pages: 170k
Circa 2 new sites/wk.
March 2007
ScratchpadTechnicalOverview
Scratchpad managementScalable & sustainable technology
One virtual machine, open-source, self-archiving, backed-up, multi-site configuration(easy to move & upgrade, secure & reliable, screencasts, low admin., low marginal costs)
Hardware, software & user support
Scratchpad Developers Site
http://home.scratchpads.eu/
Scratchpad SVN
http://svn.scratchpads.eu/viewvc
Scratchpad Object Model
http://scratchpads.eu/sites/scratchpads.eu/files/Scratchpad_Object_Model.pdf
ScratchpadFunctionality
Summary
TaxonomyTaxonomy import, management and
navigation
Bibliographic data
Reference manager / Endnote support for bibliographies
Images
Image galleries,image upload & annotation
Phylogeny
Nexus / Newick import for visualizing phylogenies
Character Matricies
Molecular & morphological character matricies (discrete, morphometric and text characters)
Distribution Maps
Presence absence country maps
Specimens & locations
Specimen & location records (DwC)
Pages, Forums, Blogs, Newsletters
Web fora with e-mail integration
User blogs
Static web pages
Newsletters with e-mail integration
Mass Import
Import from CSV text file to any content type
Create & switch between content in any language
Multilingual Support
Administration
Simple & advanced admin.
AutoTag content(automatically adds structure)
Private Groups
Customized user profiles
Dynamically built species pages
Integrating data & “publishing” in a Scratchpad
Taxon Pages
Browsed through a taxonomy
Integrating data & “publishing” in a Scratchpad
Taxon Pages
Including 3rd party content
Integrating data & “publishing” in a Scratchpad
Taxon Pages
With data curation toolsWith data curation tools
Integrating data & “publishing” in a Scratchpad
Taxon Pages
Listing all “authors”
Integrating data & “publishing” in a Scratchpad
Taxon Pages
Dated, permanent & citable
Integrating data & “publishing” in a Scratchpad
Taxon Pages
Control what to display
Adjusting the layout
Taxon Pages
n.b. Taxon page tools have since been updated
User Support
Sandbox Site
Uservoice
Screencasts
Future Directions
BMC Bioinformatics
BMC Bioinformatics 2009, 10 (Suppl 14)S6doi:10.1186/1471-2105-10-S14-S6
Published: 10 November 2009
ViBRANT
INFRA-2010-1.2.3 (VRC)17 PartnersApprox €4M
• Distribute hosting infrastructure• Web services on major data types• Registry of sites and data services• Common data portal• New services (keys / phylog.)• Vocab. / ontology site (GBIF)• User support• Sociological research
Questions?