PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
Latimer Core (LtC) is a data standard designed to support the representation, discovery and communication of natural science collections. A Latimer Core record may represent a grouping of objects at any level of granularity above the level of a single object, from an entire collection of an institution to a few objects in a single drawer. The classes within the standard aim to allow the high-level representation of any given collection by providing a framework within which the defining characteristics shared by objects in the collection can be described. Among others, these include their taxonomic, geographic, stratigraphic and temporal coverage, and a framework for adding quantative metrics and narratives to help to quantify and describe the collections.
https://ltc.tdwg.org/terms/index.html#1-introduction.
In 2023, I was elected to the role of review manager for the ratification of Latimer Core. 12 months later, Latimer Core was ratified and my role transitioned to a member of the maintenance group. For more information about the ratification process, see the process documents on the TDWG website here: https://www.tdwg.org/about/process/#ratification-of-standards.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) is a not-for-profit, scientific and educational association formed to establish international collaboration among the creators, managers and users of biodiversity information and to promote the wider and more effective dissemination and sharing of knowledge about the world’s heritage of biological organisms.
To achieve its goals, TDWG:
- Develops, ratifies and promotes standards and guidelines for the recording and exchange of data about organisms
- Acts as a forum for discussing all aspects of biodiversity information management through meetings, online discussions, and publications
I’ve been an active contributor to the TDWG community since 2019. Among the most notable roles include chair of the Technical Architecture Group, member of the Executive Committee, and co-convener of the Mineralogy Extension Task Group and Earth Sciences and Paleobiology Interest Group. On the technical side, I’m the lead designer and developer of a new documentation engine, Standards Documentation Generator or StaDocGen. All of my TDWG activities are summarized below:
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The NCMNS API Platform was a multi-functional data publishing platform. The overarching goal of the platform was to provide a blueprint for the construction of RESTful APIs to support scientific research, primarily in the fields of biodiversity informatics, biodiversity, geology, and paleontology.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The Mineralogy Extension (https://www.tdwg.org/community/esp/mineralogy/) is a set of proposed terms and controlled vocabularies targeted to mineralogy collections as part of a larger effort to extend the Biodiversity Information Standards community and its flagship standard, Darwin Core, to support geology collections.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The NCMNS Metrics Dashboard is a data visualization platform built to support institutional priorities and communicate performance to staff, key stakeholders, and policy-makers. The primary charting libraries are AmCharts (https://www.amcharts.com/) and d3.js (https://d3js.org/) with data sources provided through a custom RESTful API. The platform itself is built using the MVC Framework, Laravel.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The 100 Counties Project of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences allowed the public to explore how the Museum engages all 100 counties across North Carolina. Statistics were visualized through an interactive map and animated charts with summaries of each category. The data was updated annually and served through a custom RESTful API.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The Candid Critters Project Management system (CAPS) is a custom web application to support the NC Candid Critters project workflow. CAPS is built using the Laravel MVC Framework with a MYSQL database backend. The web application features a wide array of features that include camera management, reservation and training tracking, site mapping, and custom reports generated on the fly.
The architecture of the application is divided into modules that provide support for specific sections of the workflow. This way the application can target and scale to particular needs. These modules with a short description are as follows:
- Volunteers. This module handles the submissions, status, and activities of all project volunteers. The training programs all volunteers must undergo can also be tracked using this module.
- Sites. The geographic distribution and associated metadata of sites are managed through a series of interfaces. Sites belong to one or more types, including proposed camera locations, active data collection sites, and past sites.
- Libraries. Each participating library is given an optional account in the CAPS. This allows them to directly manage their camera inventory, reservation activity, and contact information. If libraries opt-out, then the module seamlessly moves to administrative control.
- Form Submissions. The start of the project workflow beings with a series of custom forms, each for a specific type of volunteer. All form submissions and subsequent routing through the project are managed using this module.
- Web Maps. Closely related to the sites module, the web map module is a centralized management component for all embedded maps and associated resources (e.g. proposed camera sites). The web maps in CAPS contain an array of features including hundreds of camera site locations, reverse geocoding, custom map layers, and a feature that allows users to find the nearest library and proposed camera site to their given location.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
NC Environmental Restoration Association is a 501c industry group that represents environmental restoration professionals in North Carolina. The website is a ‘single page application'(SPA) where all of the content loads dynamically within a single page request.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The Online Collections web application, project name Aves, is a search and data-sharing platform for biological, geological, and paleontological collections. The application was built using the Laravel and Vue.js frameworks. Bootstrap takes care of the responsive behavior, vivus.js for SVG animations, and jQuery Datatables for the display and interactivity of search results. Several collections included a web map for georeferenced specimens using Leaflet and custom GeoJSON API endpoints. The system even includes a simple collections management tool with features that include storage and photo management.
The Online Collections portal belonged to the internal collections interconnected network, a set of web applications that communicated with one another through custom APIs. Here, media in the form of 3-D models, images, and scans of primary sources (e.g., ledgers, labels, and collection cards) associated with specimens were provided by the Collections Asset Manager (CAMS). Spatial datasets, controlled vocabularies, collections metrics are provided dynamically by a Data Publishing Platform.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
The Collections Asset Management System (CAMS) was a secure digital asset management system with features that included asset capture, automatic metadata extraction, image viewing and editing, custom categorization, and support for a broad range of file types. Assets were shared, searched, and downloaded through a sophisticated web interface and API.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
CitSciScribe was a digital transcription project of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The application provided citizen scientists the opportunity to digitize hand-written collection cards and ledgers associated with orphaned collections acquired by the Museum.
PROJECT ROLES INFORMATION ARCHITECT
NCSM Species Mapper was an interactive data visualization and web mapping application that allowed end users to map the georeferenced specimens in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ collections. An array of features and data layers were included to meet the needs of both researchers and educators.
