New guide to biodiversity data capture software! Imagine that.

The JRS Biodiversity Foundation is considering a grant to publish a guide to biodiversity data capture software and would like your views on its utility. By guide we mean an online and print resource with profiles of each app, comparative tables of features, and examples of uses. What would make such a guide useful to you? Many grant applications to JRS seek to develop novel mobile apps and we find that comparative information in the biodiversity data capture software ‘market’ is hard to come by. There appears to be duplicative effort in building data capture apps and field applications for species occurrence and behavioral monitoring data. We hypothesize that (1) more information could promote a more competitive marketplace that delivers innovations more quickly and more broadly and (2) that more information would promote technology adoption and use. What do you think?

Independent, comparative studies and information resources are a valuable and common contribution of private foundations like JRS. It often takes a few years to develop the right methodology and scope to serve the target audience. In this case, no two software systems may be directly comparable. We’d certainly face a risk of incomplete assessments as well as gaps. As we explore and scope the study, here is a list of software applications and data platforms that might help define what is in scope and what is out of scope (special thanks here to Emilio Bruna and the Bruna Lab for half these entries).

Update: Since first posting this query, I have received questions about whether non-field based data capture and analysis would be in scope (e.g. barcoding and genomics-related software) and what is meant by “guide”? What is the boundary between an app and mobile web? Let us know your views, email info@jrsbiodiversity.org .