P088; Presented in Canberra, 27 th March, 2008 GR000: Presented in Fremantle on 20 th October, 2008 GAIA RESOURCES Experiences in mobilizing biodiversity data – the story of HermesLite Tim Carpenter and Piers Higgs

INTRODUCTION Motivation HermesLite Overview Architecture Implementation Implementation at the WA Museum Issues Directions

MOTIVATION Based on our experiences with Museums: Cost had to be minimal No capacity to serve data Need minimal infrastructural change Remote management necessary Funding for WA Museum (WAM) was made available through the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) Under existing support arrangements to the WAM, Gaia Resources undertook the actual work

HERMESLITE Overview HermesLite is an application designed to help institutions serve data - in accepted formats and standards - where they don’t have the capacity or resources to do this themselves. Open Source Written in Java Easy to manage within an institution Can be remotely managed

HERMESLITE Overview Deployable in two configurations: Data Retrieval mode: A liteweight, extensible, configurable Java application to extract and send data to… Data Receiver and Storage mode: Extensible Java servlet application to receive, translate and store the data. The Data Receiver and Storage mode can also act as the Retrieval mode if databases are local.

HERMESLITE Internal Collection Database External Database HermesLite Retrieval mode HermesLite Receive & Store mode XML MapServer TAPIRLink HTTPS Architecture Internal Server External Server

HERMESLITE Implementation Data Retrieval mode: Unpack distribution files onto server Create a configuration file for each database Set up Java Wrapper Service to run appropriately Data Receiver and Storage mode: Install HermesLite web application Extend HermesLite classes Drop in handler JAR to process data Install other software, (e.g. TapirLink)

HERMESLITE Implementation - Data Retrieval Configuration via a simple properties file with variables

HERMESLITE Implementation - Data Storage Extend HermesLite classes to process received rows against chosen data format or standard

HERMESLITE Implementation This can represent a considerable organisational change in the way data is delivered Be prepared to guide your organisation through this process

EXAMPLE Western Australian Museum Considerable discussion, demonstration, etc (“social engineering”) – still ongoing after four months Selection statements for each database (restricting “sensitive” data) – being tuned all the time, curators define these Darwin Core format Restricted the fields being delivered

EXAMPLE Western Australian Museum Production went live on 11 th October, 2008 Data services are IP restricted to OZCAM only WAM Collection Database Bureau Database HermesLite Retrieval mode HermesLite Receive & Store mode XML MapServer TAPIRLink HTTPS WAM Server Gaia Resource Bureau Server

ISSUES Two main issues struck during implementation: “Social Engineering” Life Sciences IDentifier (LSID) resolution

ISSUES Social Engineering Are all parts of the organisation ready to publish their data? Consider: Management? Data custodians (curators)? Information Technology staff/providers? Customers (both “big” and “little”)? Requires considerable cultural changes to organisations, especially when revenue from data provision

ISSUES LSIDs A bureau service has issues with LSID resolution: Originating institution WAM ( Bureau service – hosting and resolving – at Gaia Resources ( Difficulties in getting access to DNS records Currently investigating opportunities to get around this by using the OZCAM cache as the LSID resolver

DIRECTIONS Future Directions Discussions with GBIF and the ALA about integrating with other provider toolkits Potential use within the Museum community in Australia under the Bureau service model

DIRECTIONS Collection Database Bureau Database HermesLite Retrieval mode HermesLite Receive & Store mode MapServer TAPIRLink Bureau Server Collection Database HermesLite Retrieval mode SFTP TAPIRLink TAPIR XML Collection Database CSV SFTP HTTPS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Would not be possible without: Funding from the ABRS Support from the WAM, both from management and the curators themselves Assistance and advice from the Faunal Collections Informatics Group members

MORE INFORMATION For more information… Links and information available from the Gaia Resources web site, including links to the SourceForge project.