Scratchpads: Building web communities supporting biodiversity science

D. Roberts, K. Harman, S. Rycroft & V. Smith

Nomenclators

Index FungorumZooBankIPNI(Kew/AUS/Harvard)INGAFD/APC/APUINZORCoL (Sp2000& ITIS)ZooRecord

PESI: ERMS Fauna Europea Euro+Med PlantbaseORBISWORMSFlora Europea

GNOMA(NomenclatprArchitecture)

Checklists

CDM

GNA (NameBank)

uBio

PLAZIInotaxaBHLeFloras

IPNIGoogle ScholarConnoteaViTaLISI

Scan / Mark/up

Bibliographic

Phylogenetic Molecular Databases

Biodiversity

Name Functions

Molecular Functions

Literature Functions Morphological Functions

GBIF

LifeWatch

Specimen Access

Distribution Functions

TDWG

Descriptive / classification

Identification Inter-Institutional Institutional

Tree of LifeTreeBaseCIPRES

NCBI/EMBL/DDBJCBoLBarcode of Life Initiative

ALACONABIOCRIA (Brazil)IUCNSEEKOPALDAISIEiNaturalist

Note:there are 600 biodiversity projects listed by TDWG

including most of the projects listed here.

EoLScratchpadsCATEMorphoBankWikipedia

Key2NatureIdentifyLife

SynthesisBCIBioCASEGeoCASEMaNIS

EMu (=MOA)Recorder

Indicated a link yet to be realised A many-to-many relationship

1. Collaborative working

2. Publication & Accessibility

3. Adaptability to the internet age

Business as usual is not an option.

Directions & Challenges

Magic

Your data Your web site

What is a Scratchpad?A website for you & your community

Scratchpads: RationaleHosted web sites, with tools for taxonomists

Unbranded, to encourage community identity

Intended to encourage community building

Tools to facilitate structuring of data

Your data

Specimens

Images Literature

DNA & Phylogenies

Descriptions

Has many potential meanings:

Classification import from uBio Classification Bank

Import from tab delimited files in three different formats

Makes use of a core feature of Drupal

Taxonomy backbone

Quick and easy

Data available immediately after upload

Works with any extra data that may be added to a taxonomy (vernacular names, synonymy)

Auto tagging

Small pieces loosely joined

Has many potential meanings:

Joining contributors together to form communities

Small pieces loosely joined

Has many potential meanings:

Joining contributors together to form communities

Joining the data together that go towards forming a Scratchpad

Small pieces loosely joined

Has many potential meanings:

Joining contributors together to form communities

Joining the data together that go towards forming a Scratchpad

Joining Scratchpad content with the landscape of biodiversity informatics data on the web

TapirLink providesspecimens to GBIF

based on Darwincore

Common Drupal basemeans LifeDesk

modules will work withScratchpads

Working with colleaguesin Berlin, we’ll also beproviding data to the

EDIT CDM

The technology must largely embody the cause–effect relationship connecting problem to solution.

The effects of the technological fix must be assessable using relatively unambiguous or uncontroversial criteria.

Research and development is most likely to contribute decisively to solving a social problem when it focuses on improving a standardized technical core that already exists.

Sarewitz and Nelson (2008) Three rules for technological fixes. Nature, 456: 871-872

I

II

III

"By deciding to launch web-based resources or services, scholarly projects are moving from a relatively sheltered environment, operating at the pace of the academic enterprise, into one that operates at the speed of web commerce. It is a challenging new world."

While much attention is given to making material available online, very little is given to making sure people become aware of it and can find it. "We find few digital resource projects have devoted substantial financial or intellectual resources to understanding user needs, preferences and behaviours," say the authors of the report, who call for a "shift in mindset" among project leaders if their projects are to secure needed ongoing resources.

Martin Whitaker, JISC Inform 22 (EducationGuardian.co.uk, Monday 21 April 2008)

Quoting the Ithaka Report:

http://www.ithaka.org/strategic-services/university-publishing

Scratchpads: use / usersSite types* (89 total+)

Taxon (x40)Information & service (x18)Regional (x20)Societies (x3)Demonstration & tutorial (x2)e-Journals (x1)

Usage Statistics*Registered users 997from >28 countriesTotal pages ~121kDaily visits: ~250Average visit time: 4 minPages / visit: ~5Max daily: ~3,000

1 Aug 08- 19 Dec 08*

+ 5 private sites

http://scratchpads.eu