An  Introduc+on  to  Scratchpads  

 Ed  Baker  Department  of  Life  Sciences,  Natural  History  Museum  

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Why  Scratchpads?  

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Science  is  global  

•  It  needs  global  standards  

•  Coopera+on  of  large  ins+tu+ons  and  organisa+ons  

Science  is  carried  out  “locally”  

•  By  local  scien+sts  

•  Involvement  with  local  infrastructures  

•  Funded  locally  

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The  problems  with  tradi9onal  published  data  

•  Most  descrip+ons  are  under  copyright  (~1923)  

•  Limited  Open  Access  and  accessibility  

•  No  mechanism  for  updates  &  correc+ons  

•  LiUle  or  no  data  integra+on  (except  cita+ons)  

•  No  mechanism  for  community  engagement  

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This  leads  to:  

•  Vast  amounts  of  unpublished  taxonomic  “knowledge”  

•  The  knowledge  that  is  published  cannot  be  mobilised  

•  Low  scien+fic  impact  (but  long  half-­‐life)  

 

•  A  complex,  fragmented  &  hard  to  navigate  landscape  

•  Dispersed  data  sources  

•  Difficul+es  for  collec+ng  informa+on  for  research  

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The  Concept  

Your data External data & services

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

What  is  a  Scratchpad?  

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Scratchpads  are  not  

•  A  single  biodiversity  database  

•  A  tool  just  for  taxonomists  

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The  Basics  

•  Hosted  websites  for  biodiversity  data  

•  Virtual  research  &  publica+on  pla^orm  

•  Completely  open  access  &  open  source  

•  Modular  &  flexible  

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Taxon  pages  

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Distribu9on  Maps  

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Literature  

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See  who  is  using  your  site  

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Coming  soon  

•  Matrix-based keys using the character project

•  Publication tool - submit manuscripts made on your site to ZooKeys,

Phytokeys or the new Biodiversity Data Journal

•  Checklists, multiple language support and more!

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The  Scratchpads  project  

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How  are  Scratchpads  funded?  

2007 2011 2014

ViBRANT!Virtual  Biodiversity  Research  

&

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Who  uses  Scratchpads?  • Professional scientists

• Amateur naturalists

• Citizen scientists

• Individuals, groups & societies

Site

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Use

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ViBRANT SP 2

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Protec+ng  your  data  

• Nightly backups of database and files

• Off-site tape backup

• Whole-site archives available upon request

• Berlin mirror

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Resources  

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Wiki  

•  help.scratchpads.eu  -­‐  training  manuals,  videos  

Ambassadors  Programme  

•  scratchpads.eu  –  local  experienced  users  

Issues  Queue  

•  Report  bugs  and  suggest  features  from  your  site  

Sandbox  

•  Sandbox.scratchpads.eu  –  for  trying  things  before  doing  them  on  your  site  

Introduc+on  >  Why  Scratchpads?  >  What  is  a  Scratchpad?  >  About  the  Scratchpads  project  >  Resources  

Ques+ons?