Developing a cyberinfrastructure: Experiences from a regional network of plant taxonomists Zack Murrell, Derick Poindexter, and Michael Denslow Appalachian State University

SERNEC: SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections A National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network RCN Award # FIVE YEAR PROJECT TO BUILD A REGIONAL BIOINFORMATICS RESEARCH TOOL

SERNEC: SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections 215+ herbaria in the region Colleges Universities State and federal parks Private collections SERNEC

Goals 1. Network the 215 herbaria in 15 states in southeastern North America 2. Develop a strategy for advancing each state’s ongoing databasing effort 3. Publish online botanical resources that will be available to scientists, land managers, state and federal agencies, educators and the general public

State of Herbaria in the Southeast USA Data derived from Index Herbariorum ( Collections vary in size from 3,000 to 750,000 specimens. Curators are taxonomists, ecologists, paleobotanists, population biologists. Some institutions with significant budgets, IT support and curatorial staff. Some institutions are single person operations without budgets or IT support. ESTIMATED 15 MILLION SPECIMENS FROM THE SOUTHEAST. “Highest fruit on the tree” or “Least Common Denominator”

MOBILIZATION AND COMMUNICATION WORKING GROUPS: 1. IT and infrastructure - Facebook 2. Libraries and literature - LinkedIN 3. Images (specimen and live) - Drupal 4. Education and outreach -Drupal 5. Taxonomic concept mapping - Drupal 6. State working groups - NING and listserv “IT TAKES A VILLAGE”

SERNEC Partners US Geological Survey NBII/SAIN US Geological Survey NBII/SAIN SunSITE – Univ. of Tennessee-Knoxville SunSITE – Univ. of Tennessee-Knoxville Implementation of emerging and advanced technologies and applications. University of North Carolina and the Interdisciplinary Geospatial Research Center, Univ. Tenn-Chattanooga Dynamic mapping of Southeast collections University of North Carolina and the Interdisciplinary Geospatial Research Center, Univ. Tenn-Chattanooga Dynamic mapping of Southeast collections Robert Sandusky - University of Chicago Robert Sandusky - University of Chicago E-Research: The Contexts, Processes, and Social Order of Distributed Collective Practice Developing collaborations with HERBIS, MORPHBANK and FILTERPUSH Developing collaborations with HERBIS, MORPHBANK and FILTERPUSH

digitizeclean Portal- individual herbarium SERNEC Federated Database Concept mapping MORPHBANK SERNEC-NBII portal Herbarium w/out Server Herbarium w/ Server Automated Automated- data provided Automated- Data provided Experts View Data (LOGIN and annotate) Public Educators K- 12 Corporate users Decision- makers Curators scientists SunSITE Data storage/curation SERNEC Community Curators Scientists Educators Artists Mirrored data storage/curation Data transfer Annotation Data transfer Annotation Notify of Annotation Annotation Notify of Annotation Annotation GIS mapping Virtual workbench SHC portal w/ herbarium Tools

Using the Society of Herbarium Curators for governance structure State consortia Regional Chapter Decision-making Consensus building Conflict resolution Utilize existing organization’s constitution structure

Community tool development: “Idiot’s guides” Compiling listserv threads Seeking contributions

Networks and collaborations on this scale do not develop overnight The potential success of this network is rooted in the significant contributions made by biologists in the region over the past century that provide a solid foundation for this effort. Meeting annually for the past 60 years. The Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB) The Southern Appalachian Botanical Society (SABS) How can we identify “natural” groups? Associations and journals, annual gatherings, taxon based societies.

Initiative to develop an all- taxa database of collections in the Southeastern USA Symposium April 4, 2009 Birmingham, Alabama Sponsored by: CollectionsWeb (NSF RCN) SERNEC (NSF RCN) Biodiversity Informatics: Progress and Potential in the Southeastern USA Expand domain network to all-taxa regional network

Modified from: New England SERNEC Great Lakes Northern Great Plains Pacific Northwest California Consortium of Herbaria Arizona & New Mexico CIRH Central Great Plains TORCH Developing Herbarium Networks

United States Virtual Herbarium (USVH) Will use regional networks for organizational structure Will use regional networks for organizational structure Support from National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Support from National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)

What can networks do? Drive change in behavior by accepting best practices (mark-up new descriptions at time of publication). Drive change in behavior by accepting best practices (mark-up new descriptions at time of publication). Develop high quality data through analysis and annotations. Develop high quality data through analysis and annotations. Assemble species pages and interactive keys. Assemble species pages and interactive keys. Provide information on phylogenetics and phyloinformatics. Provide information on phylogenetics and phyloinformatics. Identify gray literature/scan literature. Identify gray literature/scan literature. Provide expertise for concept mapping (to literature and use). Provide expertise for concept mapping (to literature and use).

How can we mobilize social networks? Support typical workflow (layman’s guide to technical jargon). Support typical workflow (layman’s guide to technical jargon). Develop education modules for bioinformatics (for both curators and students). Develop education modules for bioinformatics (for both curators and students). Provide training modules for literature mark- up. Provide training modules for literature mark- up. Collaborate on development of standards within taxonomic groups. Collaborate on development of standards within taxonomic groups.

DS/CS/I nf Herb NetworkMuseum Network Regional Network Herb Network Domain Network “US” TDWG DS/CS/Inf Domain Scientists Computer Scientists Informaticists { Evangelical model

SERNEC SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections SERNEC