[Taxacom] Database collection software - Open Source

[Derek Sikes]

To elaborate:

Given the enormous monetary investment needed to generate it (and its
timeless value to humanity), I and funding agencies like the NSF, think
that biodiversity data shouldn't be stored in something like an excel file
on one's desktop that can be lost with a simple harddrive crash. Or even in
a database like filemaker that any user could accidentally or maliciously
delete all the contents of any field (under a default operation mode).

Arctos is not impervious to data loss, but it's a lot less vulnerable than
many common data management solutions. Treating biodiversity data the way
banks and airlines treat their data seems wise if we're serious about these
data being useful to our great grandchildren et al.

Here's a piece of an NSF data management plan describing Arctos:

In early 2012, Arctos became hosted by the Texas Advanced Computing Center,
a member of the NSF sponsored TeraGrid network of supercomputing centers.
At the TACC Arctos is on a shared 5PB storage system. Production servers
are Dell R610s with 16 2.4 GHz cores, 48GB of memory, and a 10Gigabit
connection to the outside world, benchmarked to move 1GB/sec to and from
the disk subsystem, which can move over 20GB/sec.  With the exception of
sensitive data selectively encumbered by individual collections, all data
are accessible in real time to the public. Daily backups are stored in
three locations, each on a separate tectonic plate.

Derek




On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 2:32 PM, Robert Mesibov <robert.mesibov at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Derek Sikes wrote:
>
> 'There is a reason banks and airlines run their online databases with
> Oracle. I don't think biodiversity data should be treated as less
> important.'
>
> Ummm... Please explain?
> --
> Dr Robert Mesibov
> Honorary Research Associate
> Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
> --
> Home phone: (03) 64252630
>



-- 

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Derek S. Sikes, Curator of Insects
Associate Professor of Entomology
University of Alaska Museum
907 Yukon Drive
Fairbanks, AK   99775-6960

dssikes at alaska.edu

phone: 907-474-6278
FAX: 907-474-5469

University of Alaska Museum  -  search 302,939 digitized arthropod records
http://www.uaf.edu/museum/collections/ento/
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