Presented by Dave Roberts at a meeting titled "Information Technology in Biodiversity Conservation and in Agriculture" organized by the Club of Rome and the EU ICT-ENSURE project, at UNESCO, Paris. January 15th, 2009.

1. Scratchpads: Building web
communities supporting
biodiversity science
D. Roberts, K. Harman, S. Rycroft & V. Smith

2. Nomenclators
Index Fungorum
ZooBank
IPNI
(Kew/AUS/Harvard)
ING
AFD/APC/APUI
NZOR
CoL (Sp2000& ITIS)
ZooRecord
PESI:
ERMS
Fauna Europea
Euro+Med Plantbase
ORBIS
WORMS
Flora Europea
GNOMA
(Nomenclatpr
Architecture)
Checklists
CDM
GNA (NameBank)
uBio
PLAZI
Inotaxa
BHL
eFloras
IPNI
Google Scholar
Connotea
ViTaL
ISI
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 Life
TreeBase
CIPRES
NCBI/EMBL/DDBJ
CBoL
Barcode of Life
Initiative
ALA
CONABIO
CRIA (Brazil)
IUCN
SEEK
OPAL
DAISIE
iNaturalist
Note:
there are 600 biodiversity
projects listed by TDWG
including most of the
projects listed here.
EoL
Scratchpads
CATE
MorphoBank
Wikipedia
Key2Nature
IdentifyLife
Synthesis
BCI
BioCASE
GeoCASE
MaNIS
EMu (=MOA)
Recorder
Indicated a link yet to be realised A many-to-many relationship

4. 1. Collaborative working
2. Publication & Accessibility
3. Adaptability to the internet age
Business as
usual is not
an option.
Directions & Challenges

5. Magic
Your data Your web site
What is a Scratchpad?
A website for you & your community

6. Scratchpads: Rationale
Hosted web sites, with
tools for taxonomists
Unbranded, to encourage
community identity
Intended to encourage
community building
Tools to facilitate
structuring of data

7. Your data
Specimens
ImagesLiterature
DNA & Phylogenies
Descriptions

8. 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

9. 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

10. Small pieces loosely joined
Has many potential meanings:
Joining contributors together to form
communities

11. Small pieces loosely joined
Has many potential meanings:
Joining contributors together to form
communities
Joining the data together that go towards
forming a Scratchpad

12. 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

13. TapirLink provides
specimens to GBIF
based on Darwincore

14. Common Drupal base
means LifeDesk
modules will work with
Scratchpads

15. Working with colleagues
in Berlin, we’ll also be
providing data to the
EDIT CDM

16. 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

17. "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

18. Scratchpads: use / users Site types* (89 total+)
Taxon (x40)
Information & service (x18)
Regional (x20)
Societies (x3)
Demonstration & tutorial (x2)
e-Journals (x1)
Usage Statistics*
Registered users 997
from >28 countries
Total pages ~121k
Daily visits: ~250
Average visit time: 4 min
Pages / visit: ~5
Max daily: ~3,000
1 Aug 08- 19 Dec 08*
+ 5 private sites

19. http://scratchpads.eu