Scratchpads Intro: Swiss Orchid Foundation

Ed Baker!Natural History Museum, London, UK!

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Why Scratchpads?

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

21st Century taxonomy

•  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?

The challenge for modern taxonomists

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

The 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

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Towards a solution The 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

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Goal

�a scholarly communication system that is intertwined with the pursuit of natural history, rather than an after-

thought or annex�

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Your data 1

“Published” & reviewed on your site

3 Uploaded &

tagged

2

Fast Intuitive Fit for use

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

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Scratchpads Overview

•  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

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Scratchpad Application Form Free to any individual or community

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Categories of Scratchpads

Taxa (Classifications, taxon profiles, specimens, literature, images, maps, phenotypic,

genotypic & morphometric datasets, keys, phylogenies)

Projects Conservation Regions Societies

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Flexible Template Site With easy navigation

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Sustaining Scratchpads ViBRANT: 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.

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

ViBRANT 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 months

Collaboration… •  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

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Scratchpad Technical Overview

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Scratchpad management Scalable & sustainable technology

One virtual machine, open-source, self-archiving, backed-up, multi-site configuration (easy to move & upgrade, secure & reliable, low admin., low marginal costs)

Hardware, software & user support

Virtual Biodiversity ViBRANT!

Scratchpad Developers Site

http://dev.scratchpads.eu/