[Nhcoll-l] FW: Specify Software -- Upcoming Releases

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

The Specify Software Project is pleased to announce the imminent release of three new Specify products. All will be available as production versions within the next several weeks.

First, we are finalizing testing and will soon ship a Specify 6 update release. Specify 6.5.05 fixes about 20 engineering issues with data handling, form behavior, catalog number formatting, performance, along with a few sprinkles of user interface enhancement.

Also in Specify 6.5.05, we are changing the handling of the paleontological data associated with collection objects by extending and updating the Specify database schema. As a consequence of several online discussions organized by University of Florida's iDigBio project, an NSF EarthCube Paleontological Research Coordination Network workshop, and with significant input from the Swedish Museum of Natural History, we will enable Specify users to associate Paleocontext information (chrono- and litho- stratigraphy, etc.), on a collection by collection basis, to the data objects of their choice - Collection Objects (supported currently), or Collecting Events, or to Localities. The addition of two new linking options reflects the heterogeneity of practice with the paleontological collections community.

Specify 6.5.05 will present a new tool for pushing specimen data to Symbiota software servers. Symbiota, created by Ed Gilbert, is a popular web-based, project data hub, particularly among U.S. NSF-funded Thematic Collection Network digitization projects. Symbiota aggregates data from participating collections which are organized by a particular research and taxonomic scope. Specify's new Symbiota connector will allow users to determine which specimen records have not yet been pushed to Symbiota, create a batch of those data, and then send it through a web-service link to a Symbiota project data hub. Later in 2014, we will support data exchange in the opposite direction-records created in Symbiota will be 'repatriated' to Specify institutional collection databases. This work was underwritten with support from the NSF ADBC collections digitization program.

Second, we are completing Specify Insight, an iPad application which will be available through the Apple store which takes a distilled copy of your database and makes collection information searchable taxonomically and geographically, using the intuitive gesture-based iPad interface. Specify Insight will truly make collections data portable, perfect for taking data with you on the road, for public outreach, for family reunions, and for showing your director, vice-provost, chancellor, or minister of science, the scope and treasures of your collection. Specify Insight loaded on the right iPads will take your collection's data to where they have never gone before.

Last but certainly not least, by mid-August we will release a new generation of Specify, Specify 7 for the cloud. For over two years we have been quietly designing and implementing a new, web-based Specify architecture which will make Specify collection databases accessible for editing and collaborative work through any web browser. Specify 7 works with the same database schema and form layout engine found in the Specify 6 thick-client, so Specify 6 and 7 can operate simultaneously on a single MySQL database, and users can use identical, customized data forms in both native Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and web browser interfaces. Moving Specify to institutional or cloud servers as a hosted application creates opportunities for collaborative database hosting and joint data entry projects across multiple institutions.

Release 1.0 of Specify 7 will include data entry, search and structured query functions. Subsequent releases in the coming months will add printing, museum transactions and user account administration. In the meantime Specify 6 can continue to be used (simultaneously) for those functions. The Specify Project is excited to release Specify 7 as our primary platform for innovation and data integration moving forward. For a peek, take a look at our Specify 7 Demonstration Server: http://7beta.specifysoftware.org.

We will have more information on these products within a few weeks. Contact us at specify at ku.edu<mailto:specify at ku.edu> if we can be of assistance with informatics planning for your collection's computerization or collaborative specimen digitization project.


Specify Software Project
Biodiversity Institute
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
specify at ku.edu<mailto:specify at ku.edu>
www.specifysoftware.org<http://www.specifysoftware.org>



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