About the Project

Visit the AnnoSys repository here.

AnnoSys is a web-based open-source system for correcting and enriching biodiversity data in publicly available data portals. The current release of AnnoSys establishes a number of workflows which enable online annotations of specimen data.

The AnnoSys system is available for public use since 2015 and increasingly incorporated in websites and portals providing natural history specimen data, most notably the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, GBIF.

The project´s objective was to develop a publicly accessible annotation data repository for networked and highly complex biodiversity data. AnnoSys is based on a prototype developed in the context of SYNTHESYS and uses the Open Annotation Data Model and an RDF-database for storing the information.AnnoSys’ procedure of annotating records via the Internet is analogous to the traditional, written specimen annotation (e.g. a new taxonomic identification) found in natural history collections. However, its search and subscription capabilities make it possible to access or receive notification of annotations of records and even records of duplicate specimens accessed in different portals.

Issues dealt with in the project include:

  • categorisation of annotations
  • access rights, rights of personality, attribution of annotating scientists
  • quality checks
  • identifiers: reference and linking of annotations from various sources
  • schema independence for source data
  • feedback mechanisms for the distributed data providers (curatorial processes)
  • subscriptions, filtering of annotations, notification of users
  • user acceptance

 
AnnoSys-2 is a three-year project carried out at the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, funded by the LIS-Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Original project title: “Internationalisierung und Realisierung des disziplin- und standardübergreifenden Anwendungspotentials des Online Annotationssystems - AnnoSys” (project number BE 2283/4-2).

The first project phase was a three-year project carried out at Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, also funded by the LIS-Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Original project title: “Ein generisches Annotationssystem für Biodiversitätsdaten” (project number BE 2283/4-1).