C5.52 Open review environment for software tools and resources available
The Application and Service Tracker (BDTracker) has been established at http://www.bdtracker.net to document and review applications, services, and resources (e.g. authority files or maps that can be used as GIS layers). It will be used to review the most important and promising software tools for taxonomists (download the report below).
All applications and services are categorised into an expandable and potentially hierarchical system covering major biodiversity topics. The applications and services reported by the bdTracker may by signed as certified by EDIT to be to be compatible with EDIT's “Platform for Cybertaxonomy”, a variety of tools known to work together to assist taxonomic work.
Anonymous users can search for tools and suggest new software to be reviewed. They also have the option to file bug tickets and suggest new features for the system. If they register and create an account, they can write comments to any review or even write reviews themselves that then have to be released for publication by the EDIT site administrator.
Each review page is dedicated to a single version of an application or service. It provides details such as system requirements, interfaces and standards, information on licensing and cost and most important a review from editors as well as a comments section at the bottom that is open for everyone.
According to the general decision to use the content management system “Drupal” for the EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy, Drupal (http://drupal.org/) has been chosen as base for the technical realisation. The BDTracker has been developed as a module for Drupal, therefore the BDTracker can be easily installed and distributed; furthermore the BDTracker module could be contributed to the Drupal community to enhance the publicity and acceptance of the Biodiversity Service & Application Tracker.
System Requirements:
• Drupal 5.1
• PHP 5.2
• MySQL 4.1 or MySQL 5.0.
Links:
• Homepage: http://www.bdtracker.net
• Subversion repository: http://ww2.biocase.org/svn/edit/trunk/bdtracker/
The report can be downloaded here.