[Nhcoll-l] Has anyone had experience using Specify as electronic museum management system?

[angie thompson]

Tom,

You can do a global updates in *some* cases. If, say, a genus was
misspelled in the taxon tree- correcting the mistake in the taxon tree
(aka, 'editing' the node instead of 'adding a new determination') would fix
it for all records tied to that node. You cannot yet create a record-set
and update only those records included in the set. As to the
export/fix/reimport, that mechanism is not in place. Granted, if you have
someone who can work directly with the SQL database, none of these issues
apply. The edit records limitation only applies to interacting with data
from the 'normal' interface.

I have asked the Specify crew about downloading ALL the data for each
record into a huge spreadsheet, fixing the records that need tweaking, then
blowing away the current install of Specify and reinstalling it.
Shockingly*, this was not met with much approval.



-Angie


*note: It was not really shocking that the crew didn't approve. In truth,
it was more shocking that nobody fainted at the notion. I would NEVER
seriously suggest this as an option. But I think I did get my point across
for how much we want GUI based mass editing capabilities!

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 9:19 AM, Thomas J Trombone <trombone at amnh.org> wrote:

> Hi Angie,
>
>
>
> If you and Lien don’t mind my jumping in, I have a question about
> Specify’s capabilities. Is there no means of performing a single global
> update operation across a set of records? For example, in the case you gave
> where some records are assigned to a new taxonomic name, does the user need
> to edit each record individually as opposed to performing one operation
> that automatically edits all of them? (Or perhaps some global updates are
> possible in Specify, but not in this particular case involving taxonomic
> reassignments?)
>
>
>
> Alternatively, can data be exported, edited externally (in something like
> Excel or Access)  and then re-imported, allowing one to avoid having to
> edit each record individually?
>
>
>
> We use KE EMu in my department at AMNH but I’m always interested in
> learning about the alternatives, particularly Specify. Thanks!
>
>
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> __________________
>
> Thomas J. Trombone
>
> Data Manager
>
> Division of Vertebrate Zoology - Ornithology
>
> American Museum of Natural History
>
> Central Park West @ 79th Street
>
> New York, NY 10024-5192
>
> Phone: (212) 313-7783
>
> Email: trombone at amnh.org
>
> URL: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__research.amnh.org_ornithology_&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=kCOHGTe1EXcVzh7i_WzTnHe4TEnO1ge8d9McpMhibgw&s=oTX1LvBBgtbCqyMNlfrWs5zu8SKObitVDg_w4OBEa5A&e= 
>
>
>
> *From:* nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:
> nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] *On Behalf Of *angie thompson
> *Sent:* Friday, 02 October 2015 9:52 AM
> *To:* NHColl
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Has anyone had experience using Specify as
> electronic museum management system?
>
>
>
> Lien,
>
>
>
> My lab has used Specify database for years. I love it. Everything is
> *finally* in one database - there's a table for scanning and attaching
> accession paperwork and permits, a table for publications so you can easily
> link specimens to their citation history, all of our loans are 'in' and we
> can quickly find who is coming due. Use of authority tables and 'trees'
> that tie to lookup fields cuts down on misspellings, and helps keep
> mistakes down to a mild roar (our original database has issues with people
> putting data into the wrong field, such as in the taxon field, they would
> put 'Jurassic').
>
>
>
> It's a complex thing but it's worth it. We make extensive use of wikis to
> train people, as well as to provide them with a quick reference. (wikis
> [dot] utexas [dot] edu/display/specify6/Specify+Database)
>
>
>
> Finding the information you need is really quick, too. It's been a
> learning curve, of course, but we can now generate reports that count
> number of specimens per locality, how many research loans vs. outreach
> loans for any given year, and so on. It's nice having good tools to look at
> the collections with, but it's also a great help for gathering statistical
> data about how the collection is *used*.
>
>
>
> I find one of the biggest drawbacks is how hard it is to change
> information once it's in the database. If data got added incorrectly, or
> even if you just want to refine some information, in many cases each record
> has to be edited individually. An example would be if a taxa is split, with
> some saying with the original genus but others getting reassigned. In this
> case, you would have to first update the taxon 'tree', then open *only* the
> records that are getting reassigned and edit each of them. Sure, it's a
> small thing, but if you have a lot to do then it gets really tedious and
> time consuming. The silver lining is if *all* the specimens get reassigned,
> you just edit the 'tree' and the individual records tied to that entry all
> change (this features comes with its own dangers, though!).
>
>
>
> Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you have other questions.
>
>
>
> Angie
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:37 AM, Huong Lien Tran <huong.tran at uq.net.au>
> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I am posting for my colleague who is working in natural history collection
> management. Currently her museum in Vietnam is looking to digitise their
> current specimens collections and is looking for an affordable management
> system. We've done some research and found that the common ones like KEmu
> or Vernon are a bit too expensive for their museum to handle. We've come
> upon Specify (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__specifyx.specifysoftware.org_specify7_&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=kCOHGTe1EXcVzh7i_WzTnHe4TEnO1ge8d9McpMhibgw&s=JlQfiKMxOEDi33rthCe6S_7qKZR4rGHutnP_OMYp4Mg&e= 
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__specifyx.specifysoftware.org_specify7_&d=AwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=InDsYKRaBducE-o3tDKHCN6uuQ0o7Lm03va1z7qaUrM&s=HI7xEF19TJNrx5S6GJap8u-oro_8dmJyrNXJhL5-zis&e=>)
> and it seems to be very good in the prospect of having local technicians
> handling the development and maintenance the database, keeping the cost at
> affordable level. Nevertheless, we would really want to have some insights
> from professionals who had experience with Specify. Are there any pitfalls
> we should look for? Or maybe a contact points where we can get help when
> using Specify?
>
>
>
> Thanks You,
>
>
>
> Lien
>
>
>
>
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