Islandora is a digital asset management system based on Drupal and Fedora and a host of additional applications, creating a rich open source software ecosystem. It provides a highly customizable and modular framework that can accommodate the diverse needs of the biodiversity community. This includes the integration of open source and proprietary applications that can provide a wide range of data transformation and stewardship services. This session will provide a general description of the Islandora software ecosystem, with an emphasis on the emerging support for various bio and biodiversity projects, including the nature of the open source/standards-based approach of Islandora. A specific focus on Islandora development at The Smithsonian will be provided as a profile of diverse collections and functionality.

A key value-add of the Islandora system is the Fedora framework, which provides a best-practice system for long-term data stewardship. Support for a number of key metadata schemas of interest to the TDWG community include: Dublin Core/Qualified DC, Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS), Federal Geographic Data Committee FGDC), Darwin Core, Ecological Modeling Language (EML), Natural Collections Description (NCD), Encoded Archival Context – Corporate bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF). This diverse metadata support intersects with the ability to store any digital data file, or series of related digital assets, and expose them through powerful search and viewing features. The Drupal front-end provides the interface for Islandora, as well as powerful collaborative tools, elevating the data repository to allow the development of community around a collection of digital assets.

The various kinds of data that can be stewarded and displayed will be highlighted, with examples from a variety of institutions: Smithsonian Field Books and Camera Trap projects; University of PEI and University of North Texas Herbarium projects as well as some general tools from other projects. For example, the recent integration of R, the open source statistical analysis software, provides powerful analysis tools working directly against the data in the repository. There will also be a brief discussion of some upcoming features, including a roadmap of features of interest to TDWG. Islandora will also be shown in more detail in a separate Computer Demo session.