This site manages information added by registered users. This information can have several formats (Images, videos, text, links, etc...). The way to manage the information is adding categories to the information, and browsing it via these labels. So, we are mixing three things: Users, content and labels.
Registered users, and only these, can add information. There are three types of users, depending on the expertise and knowledge area. We'll explain it in detail here.
The content is the information that can be added to the site. It can adopt several formats (images, database records, keys, articles, etc.) and to make life easier, we have prepared some "Content types" to automatize its load and management. It's really simple to do and quite similar for all of them (won't take you more than five minutes to learn it!).
Each "content type" is managed via labels or "categories". For example, if we add the images for a worker of Camponotus piceus, we need to tell the system that the images added:
For a better explanation on the categories, click here
And that's it. The site combines different tools to manage, filter and present this information via maps, summaries, listings, queries, etc.
This site is thought to be used by five user types: Visitors, Registered Users, Writers Taxonomists and Admins.
Visitors can access all of the published info in this site but can not collaborate adding info. They just enjoy. No registration is needed, and they'll have access to the same published information than registered users.
The other four user types (Registered Users, Visitor, Taxonomist and Admins) can log in the site. To be one of these, you need to be provided with a user name and a password.
Registered Users have access to all the information, but improved with some blocks offering different functionalities as "New content" that lists all the unseen information added or modified in the last month. Once this information is viewed, dissapears from the block, so it's a practical tool to keep updated. They can comment any piece of info in the site.
Writers are the blocks on which this community is based on. They can add and categorize content, modify their own content or comment any kind of information
Taxonomists can perform all the tasks available to Registered Users, revise the content and also manage the taxa structure. They can:
Admins have access to the whole site and are the only ones that can implement new tools for the web. This is a role obviously more suited to programmers than to taxonomists
The content that users can add to the web is formatted in several "Content Types". Each one is a preformatted schema where you will add the content itself and the categories the system needs to manage it. We have:
All of these are introduced or edited in a very similar way.
To upload one or more images, taxa related or not. Notes can be added to the image, as well as categories. Curiously enough, this content type is not of much use to this site, as the taxonomical images are better added via the Specimen type, and the story and other content types support the attaching of images or they can be inserted into the "body" field, so they usually form part of other content types.
We'd like to underline an special case, and it's when you upload an Specimen content type. The attached images are automatically processed and each of them generates an "Image" content type inheriting the propierties (categories, author, etc.). So, let's say that you upload an Specimen with two images. The system will generate three nodes, one for the specimen and other two one for each uploaded image, the three nodes with the same categories given to the "Specimen" node.
The "Story" content is thought to add any taxa-related written content. It can carry:
Once the Story is created, the system keeps track of the author, dates, etc, and also keeps a history record of the changes made to the document.
The "Book" is a compilation of "Book pages" where each page can be added by an author. The pages can be ordered via an schema (let's say you can append it to a tree branch). It's not categorised under any category, and it's thought to develop common contents as a "Sampling methods" book or any other subject not strictly related to taxa.
The node you are reading now is a book page. The block on the upper left, to navigate the book is generated automatically by the system, and it's authomatically shown when some part of a book is opened.
As the "Story" content, it can carry written content (with media), related links and uploaded files.
The way to add quality images of a given ant is via the "Specimen" type content. The goal is that once an specimen is identified with the keys, it can be cheked with these images. So, no biology or other kind of images are thought to be added in this content type, only taxonomical ones.
The information offered is:
As this is a key content type in this site, a lot of searching tools are based on this. We'll talk about them later.
There's an special type of specimens, that can be found here. These are the specimens that do not have a valid ID, and are offered to the community to search them one. Everybody, registerd users and visitors, can comment the specimen, until a final ID appears.
No need to explain that in a site like this, keys are one of the main tools. There are two kind of keys in this site.
The information offered contains:
Used to manage bibliographical references. Offers all the typical information on authors, title, etc. It can offer the full text via an uploaded pdf or a weblink (to the fantastic www.antbase.org repository, mainly).
Once the biblio is submitted, the system offers a lot of tools to index, filter and show the information. For example, for each registered user a tab is shown with a list of his/her bibliographical references present in the database.
This content type carries information on the taxa and section, and is filtered and offered in the summaries for a taxon. Besides this info, a "notes" field can be filled with information about the link, it's validity, personal impressions, etc. When the weblink is shown, it can be commented by visitors or registered users.
There is another source of links in the system, and it is that any Story (or other content types) can have "related links" added to it for further information. The main difference is that these added links are not cathegorised (and thus, not filtered or searchable) and as they're not nodes, they can not be commented.
So, this content type is thought to offer information which we want to list when a taxon is selected.
There are four Categories to label the content:
One example. If you want to add the images of a Camponotus vagus worker, first you have to add an specimen, and then label it as "camponotus vagus" in the taxa category and as "worker" in the section category. Adding this categories to the content is quite straightforward and in most cases is a one-click issue. We'll deal with it later on.
If you're a visitor, these categories do not affect you and are totally transparent, olthough you'll find them everywhere when searching or managing lists.