Download African Marine Biodiversity

The useful seaweeds
of Africa online
SeaweedAFRICA is a major EU funded, Fifth
Framework Project and is co-ordinated from the
AlgaeBase Centre in the Martin Ryan Institure,
National University of Ireland, Galway.
IOI-SA is
responsible for the
design and
construction of the
online database
Project to expand Algaebase a biodiversity
database of seaweed information to include:
•
•
•
•
Ecological
Commercial
Technological
Legal
information for African seaweed species
The project also aims to:
1. Modernize the AlgaeBase a biodiversity
database converting it to a relational database
providing a common platform for both the
SeaweedAfrica extension data and the core
AlgaeBase data.
2. Provide species lists for the seaweeds of African
countries.
3. Provide additional useful information for
potential users including students, aspirant and
practicing seaweed farmers, academics and the
public.
Project partners include:
• Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute, National
University of Ireland, Galway Ireland
• International Ocean Institute, University of the
Western Cape, South Africa
• University of Cape Town in co-operation with
Marine and Coastal Management, South Africa
• University of Stockholm, Sweden
• University of Namibia
• CIMAR - Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação
Marinha e Ambiental, University of Porto, Portugal
• International Ocean Institute, East Africa, Kenya
•
Thus a collaboration between a team of people
spaced far apart who can only see each other
face to face occasionally and have to rely on
technology as their main means of
communication – a virtual team.
•
Uses the Internet as the main means of of
interaction including communication between
team members, the collection of information by
the team members and its dissemination to the
potential users.
Lets take a look at how this
can be done via the web ...
General project information
Any information can be
added here online by a
project manager
Searching for seaweed
information
General project information
Potential users can search
for the seaweed information
Potential users can search
for the seaweed information
Searching for seaweed
information
General project information
Login and registration
open to everybody
Up to date news about
project progress
Access to communication tools
e.g. discussion fora, chat and
instant messaging
Discussion fora both private
and public
Access to communication tools
e.g. discussion fora, chat and
instant messaging
Chat
Document manager
Access to information e.g.
uploaded documents, FAQ and
project manager
Project management
system
Access to information e.g.
uploaded documents, FAQ and
project manager
Access to administration pages
depending on access level e.g.
website and seaweed database
areas
Manage website users and their
access rights
Manage communications,
projects and documents.
Administer main website
content
But what about the
database itself - how does
one manage that?
Manage taxonomic data for a
seaweed species e.g. genera.
Manage taxonomic data for a
seaweed species e.g. species.
Manage references for
information all information is
fully referenced
Manage ecological, technological,
commercial for a seaweed species.
Add use data for a species
Add ecology data for a
species
Get species lists by country
using GIS
E.g. editing details for a
specific seaweed species.
E.g. List of species for Liberia.
Lessons learned
WWW.SeaweedAFRICA.ORG
The useful seaweeds
of Africa online
and much more!!