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]
>