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Mike, It seems like it might be a good project for one of the botanical garden libraries or ag/forestry school libraries. Have you considered asking around to them? I know NY Botanical Garden and the Missouri Botanical Garden both have some pretty sharp people on their staff. -Ross. On Dec 18, 2007 11:30 AM, Michael Beccaria <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hey all, > > I'm considering trying to create a framework\tool to allow people to > create a whatbird.com like interface for other types of datasets > (plants, trees, anything really). > > The idea is to create a framework allowing users to create a discovery > tool with attribute selections to narrow down the result set. So, for > example, our faculty/students would identify attributes found in all > trees (leaf shape, fruit, bark, form, etc.) and then input this data > into the tool which would then allow them to input actual trees and > associate them with the attributes (as well as input description info, > pictures, etc.). The end result would look something like whatbird.com > does with birds. > > This will be a challenge for me (but a good one). My thought is to use a > web framework like Django (picked because I know it a little) but am > unsure if you can have it organize the database tables with the > relationships properly. I considered using solr but thought it would be > overkill considering the relatively small datasets this tool would be > used to create (under 1000 objects) but in the end it might be a good > bet. If approved (I have to talk to the dean of our forestry department > to see if he will buy into the idea) I will try and create the bulk of > it during January and tweak it the rest of the semester. > > Anyone interesting in working on this type of project with me? > > Mike Beccaria > Systems Librarian > Head of Digital Initiatives > Paul Smith's College > 518.327.6376 > [log in to unmask] >