OSF and TaxonWorks: Developing the Integrative Website for Orthoptera

CIGLIANO, M. M.

Agadir

Congreso; 13th International Congress of Orthopterology; 2019

The Orthoptera Species File (OSF, http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/) is the most update and complete taxonomic database of the world´s Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, katydids, crickets), both living and fossil. Nowadays, the classification of Orthoptera shown in OSF is being used worldwide as the general reference for the group. The field of cybertaxonomy represents the convergence of traditional taxonomic goals with new ones, powered by the full potential of cyberinfrastructure, digital technology, information science, and computer engineering. The potential of using OSF for integrating many of the most recent cybertaxonomic tools will be discussed. An introduction to ?Taxon Works?, the new platform that integrates the best features of Species Files software with new ones will be presented. This new platform, constituted by a collection of open source tools and services that cover all aspects of the taxonomic workflow will help to maximize the efficiency of taxonomic work allowing the exchange of data among the orthopterists? community and helping to expand and enhance our knowledge of Orthoptera. The workshop will explore the use of TaxonWorks as it stands now, focusing on how to use the software and discussing the possibilities of how to integrate its features to OSF. Currently, TaxonWorks is a workbench for individuals or small groups of collaborators that sits behind a login window but it is nearing a stage where questions are beginning to arise as to how data within a workbench might be displayed to public users. Larger efforts will be devoted towards creating homepages, species pages, customizing them and populating them with OSF data. Integrative websites like OSF, that expose the full richness of the data will be developed. Such site that is very rich and highly complex, take a lot of time to code and maintain. How best to wrap this complexity, and maintain that wrapper for the longer term is a question that needs to be addressed by the broader community. This workshop will seek input from the orthopterists? community on this important issue discussing what should the new version of OSF supported by TaxonWorks minimally include? Or how can we improve the present version of OSF?