Abstract Detail

Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization

Beach, James (Jim) [1].

Options for Supporting the Biological Collections Community with Specify Software for the long run.

The Specify Software Project produces and supports Specify, a biological collections data management platform for curation, digitization and data publishing. The Project is a descendent of the MUSE Project which together have been funded since 1987 by the US National Science Foundation. About 500 collections around the world use Specify for specimen data processing and, in recent years, the number of collections adopting Specify has increased by about 15% per annum. Our latest generation is Specify 7, a web application hosted by the Specify Cloud server, or by institutions themselves. All Specify 6 and 7 software is open source licensed. During 2017, we are undertaking a process to identify a sustainable revenue model, and actual sources of financial support, for the ongoing software engineering of Specify and its helpdesk support as well as associated data management services, without US NSF grant funding. The development of a sustainable revenue model for Specify software is an open, community process and the presentation will discuss various options for collections community governance and support of the software in the future. During 2017 we are engaging with various groups and segments of the international biological collections community to envision a sustainable path toward community-supported collections cyberinfrastructure. We enthusiastically solicit ideas and feedback.

Related Links:
Specify Software Project

1 - University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66044, United States

Keywords:
databases
cyberinfrastructure
business model
Specify Software
open source.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 31, Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization I
Location: Fort Worth Ballroom 6/Omni Hotel
Date: Tuesday, June 27th, 2017
Time: 2:30 PM
Number: 31003
Abstract ID:136
Candidate for Awards:None