EDIT scratchpads as a vehicle for community building and outreach.
Dave Roberts, Vince Smith, Simon Rycroft
Abstract
The idea behind the EDIT (European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy) Scratchpads is simple enough: make web sites easy to get, easy to use, and easy to read by computers and humans alike. Scratchpads are an intuitive web-application, enabling communities of taxonomists collaboratively to build, share, manage and publish their data on the web. Scratchpads are easy to use, adapted to taxonomists' needs and provide powerful tools for managing biological information. Data are stored in an underlying database that is connected to a series of user-controllable modules which determine the sites functionality.
Major features include:
- Unlimited content (pages, images, maps, bibliographies, phylogenies, DNA sequences, specimen lists, classifications, forums) or define your own content type;
- Workflows for data import (includes MS Excel support) and editing;
- User controlled hierarchies to classify content;
- Unlimited and controllable site membership;
- Public, private and user defined access groups;
- Context sensitive user profiles;
- Rich text (WYSIWYG) editing & intuitive administration; and
- User defined web addresses.
Scratchpads are independent and unconnected, allowing communities to create distinct customized sites tailored to their needs. They are built on the content management system Drupal (http://drupal.org/), and managed on servers at the Natural History Museum, London. Content is archived such that it can be cited like a traditional publication.
In the first four months of operation, 18 communities of users have established sites to capture and disseminate thematic information about various taxonomic groups. In the next phase of development, data from these independent sites will be connected and fed through to a common data structure, such as that proposed for EDIT's Cybertaxonomy platform or that generated by the Encyclopaedia of Life (EoL) project.
For more information, explore the following links:
Current Scratchpads: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/SiteList
Sandbox Site: http://sandbox.editwebrevisions.info/
Scratchpad Functionality: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/featureList
Scratchpad Help Screencasts: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/help
Scratchpad Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/aboutus
Apply for your Scratchpad at http://editwebrevisions.info/signup
Major features include:
- Unlimited content (pages, images, maps, bibliographies, phylogenies, DNA sequences, specimen lists, classifications, forums) or define your own content type;
- Workflows for data import (includes MS Excel support) and editing;
- User controlled hierarchies to classify content;
- Unlimited and controllable site membership;
- Public, private and user defined access groups;
- Context sensitive user profiles;
- Rich text (WYSIWYG) editing & intuitive administration; and
- User defined web addresses.
Scratchpads are independent and unconnected, allowing communities to create distinct customized sites tailored to their needs. They are built on the content management system Drupal (http://drupal.org/), and managed on servers at the Natural History Museum, London. Content is archived such that it can be cited like a traditional publication.
In the first four months of operation, 18 communities of users have established sites to capture and disseminate thematic information about various taxonomic groups. In the next phase of development, data from these independent sites will be connected and fed through to a common data structure, such as that proposed for EDIT's Cybertaxonomy platform or that generated by the Encyclopaedia of Life (EoL) project.
For more information, explore the following links:
Current Scratchpads: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/SiteList
Sandbox Site: http://sandbox.editwebrevisions.info/
Scratchpad Functionality: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/featureList
Scratchpad Help Screencasts: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/help
Scratchpad Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/aboutus
Apply for your Scratchpad at http://editwebrevisions.info/signup