Scratchpads Intro: Swiss Orchid Foundation

Ed Baker!Natural History Museum, London, UK!

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityWhy Scratchpads?

ViBRANT! Virtual Biodiversity21st Century taxonomyThe challenge for modern taxonomists Goal… •  Inventory the Earth’s species •  Document their relationships •  “Publish” & apply these data Data set… •  1.8 M described spp. (10M names) •  300M pages (over last 250 years) •  1.5-3B specimens People… •  4-6,000 scientists •  30-40,000 “pro-amateurs” •  Many more citizen scientists?

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityThe problem Science is global •  It needs global standards •  Global workflows •  Cooperation of global players Science is carried out locally •  By local scientists •  Being part of local infrastructures •  Having local funders

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityTowards a solutionThe European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy •  A Network of Excellence (NoE) •  29 leading European, North American, & Russian natural history collections-based institutions •  Circa 12M €, funded under EU FP6 •  March 2006 - February 2011 Products… •  Funding •  Training & outreach •  Websites •  Integrated scientific activities •  Inventories •  Computer tools

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityGoal a scholarly communication system that is intertwined with the pursuit of natural history, rather than an after- thought or annex

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityWhat is a Scratchpad? A website for you & your community 1 2 3 Your data Uploaded & “Published” & reviewed tagged on your site Fast Intuitive Fit for use

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityScratchpadsOverview •  Hosted websites for taxonomists •  Research & publication platform •  Modular (Drupal) & flexible •  Supports the taxonomic workflow •  Bottom-up design, agile dev. •  Ecosystem of communities (330+) •  7,350+ users (unpaid) from 2007

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityScratchpad Application FormFree to any individual or community

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityCategories of Scratchpads Taxa (Classifications, taxon profiles, specimens, literature, images, maps, phenotypic, genotypic & morphometric datasets, keys, phylogenies) Conservation Projects Regions Societies

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityFlexible Template SiteWith easy navigation

ViBRANT! Virtual Biodiversity

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversitySustaining ScratchpadsViBRANT: Building on EDIT & the Scratchpads “To set up the means, tools and infrastructure to produce a more rational and a more effective framework for European Biodiversity research” •  A Virtual Research Environment (Scratchpads) where users can safely store, share and manage their research information. •  Analytical services for users to build identification keys and phylogenetic trees. •  A publication platform for users to automatically compile taxonomic manuscripts from their research database. •  A portal for users to centrally access publicly accessible biodiversity research information and literature. •  Training, support & sociological study, helping research communities to use these tools and services. •  A standards compliant technical architecture that can be sustained by the biodiversity research community.

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityViBRANT logistics •  Starts December 2010 (36 months) •  Project website (http://vbrant.eu) •  Virtual Research Communities, CP-CSA, EU FP7 •  €6.2M Euros (EU Contribution €4.75M) •  17 Partners in 9 countries, 603 person monthsCollaboration… •  ESFRI Projects: LifeWatch, ELIXIR & EMBRC •  GBIF - controlled vocabularies, nodes & observational data recording •  PESI, 4D4Life & related EU projects •  Encyclopedia of Life, Barcode of Life & Biodiversity Heritage Library •  South African National Biodiversity Institute & Atlas of living Australia

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityScratchpad Technical Overview

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityScratchpad management Scalable & sustainable technology Hardware, software & user supportOne virtual machine, open-source, self-archiving, backed-up, multi-site configuration (easy to move & upgrade, secure & reliable, low admin., low marginal costs)

ViBRANT! Virtual BiodiversityScratchpad Developers Site http://dev.scratchpads.eu/

Scratchpads Intro: Swiss Orchid Foundation

by Edward Baker

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Scratchpads Intro: Swiss Orchid Foundation Presentation Transcript