Vincent S. SmithDave Roberts & Simon Rycroft

Small pieces loosely joinedGetting louse researchon the Web

Phthiraptera.org

Pros • High quality• Bespoke • Digital ‘hub’

Cons • 1 Person • Limited updates• Taxonomy focus• No digital services• No ‘ownership’• Slow to buildhttp://phthiraptera.org

A common experienceExamples from the NHM, London

Spanish Sandflies

Lepidoptera

Solanaceae

Chalcid Wasps

British Fleas

Martian Meteorites

Loch Ness Worms Bumble bees

Explosion of Web (2.0) toolsPutting you in control

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

Your data1

“Published” & reviewedon your site

3Uploaded &

tagged

2

Your data1

“Published” & reviewedon your site

3Uploaded &

tagged

2

Fast Intuitive Fit for use

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

http://scratchpads.eu

ScratchpadsA multi-site implementation of Drupal

Scratchpad Application FormFree to any individual or community

Flexible Template SiteWith easy navigation

An ecosystem of communities

Sites: 150+

Users: 2000+

Pages: 266k

Circa 2 new sites/wk.

March 2007

Phthiraptera.orgReborn as a Scratchpad

http://phthiraptera.myspecies.info

Phthiraptera.orgYour content available to edit by you…

e.g. Your research profile

Content Summary Phthiraptera.org

Data so far… • Phthirapterists (296)• Lice (8,040)• Birds (5,640)• Mammals (6,561)• Louse-host associations (12,472)• Bibliographic data (9,759)• Institutional collections (62)

Data to follow… • Images (7,650, 440 taxa)• PDF attachments (4,084)• Phylogenies (30+)

Will get prettier

The futurePhthiraptera.org

That’s all folks… • It’s a community based site• Needs you to submit data• Needs a senior editor• Its your site, not mine

THIS SITE NEEDS YOU!

Louse Scratchpad WorkshopTuesday 12-13.00, June 15th

To cover…• An overview of what’s possible• Accounts & logging in• Taxonomy• Louse - host associations• Bibliographies• E-mail forums• Phylogenies

No time for…• Private groups• Character projects• Publications• Many more things…

European Distributed Institute of TaxonomyEDIT - http://www.e-taxonomy.eu/

• Network of 27 partners• €12M Euros• Feb. 2006 - Feb. 2011

“to integrate taxonomic research and improve the production of knowledge”

ViBRANT

INFRA-2010-1.2.3 (VRC)17 Partners, 9 countries€4.75M

• Distribute hosting infrastructure• Web services on major data types• Registry of sites and data services• Common data portal• New services (keys / phylog.)• Vocab. / ontology site (GBIF)• User support• Sociological research

• Formal publishing

BMC Bioinformatics

BMC Bioinformatics 2009, 10 (Suppl 14)S6doi:10.1186/1471-2105-10-S14-S6

Published: 10 November 2009

Questions?