Authors

BNA Author's Page

News and Updates for those who have Authored BNA Accounts

FROM: ALAN POOLE, EDITOR - BNA ONLINE (afp7@cornell.edu)
TO: BNA AUTHORS, EDITORS, REVIEWERS
May 2007

Welcome BNA authors! These pages will provide occasional updates on the status and evolution of the Birds of North America project. As many of you know, BNA is alive and well online and now based at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. See also Occasional Update #1 and 2.

Updates and Revisions

BNA published a total of 716 species accounts. 26 of these have been fully revised to date, with 76 others in various stages of revision. Revisions continue to emphasize accounts published early in the BNA series – those most out of date. Thanks to all who have volunteered to revise an account and kudos to those who have completed a revision. For a list of accounts revised or in revision, see here.

Some have asked how BNA revisers are found. While full consideration is given to those who wrote original accounts, especially if they continue to work with the species, we lean toward those who are now publishing actively on their bird. We encourage collaboration among new revisers and original authors, and welcome full participation from all.

We expect the pace of BNA revisions to accelerate in the next 6-12 months, with dozens of newly revised accounts published by the end of the year. As noted in Occasional Update #2, one of our major goals in keeping BNA alive has been to develop the capacity for efficient online editing of species accounts. We’re now closer to that goal, with a Beta-release this summer of BNA on its new content management system, PLONE. Integrating BNA into the PLONE system has taken longer than anticipated, and temporarily slowed our rate of publishing revised accounts, but we expect PLONE to boost our efforts greatly once the transition is complete.

Development of BNA in PLONE has been made possible with funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Science Digital Library. BNA is serving as the model for a larger, more comprehensive effort called the Science Knowledge and Education Network-- an open-source infrastructure that will help to build dynamic, collaborative communities centered on primary scientific references. Think of this as a Wiki-style system for creating, correcting, and updating scientific content, with gates and filters to ensure rigorous control of scientific content. We are in the forefront of current methodologies of research dissemination and validation, and it’s exciting to have BNA leading the way.

New Sub-editors

Michael Patten (Univ. Oklahoma; mpatten@ou.edu") and Peter Pyle (Institute for Bird Populations; ppyle@birdpop.org) have agreed to help edit BNA accounts, with Michael focused on revision of the Systematics articles and Peter on the revision of Molts and Plumages in the Appearance articles. We’re pleased to have their help, and we welcome both of these experts to the BNA team.

Sound, Video and Photos

With BNA transferring to a new, more efficient content management system (PLONE; see above), we will have the significant new capacity to add to the rich media content of species accounts. While we plan to draw heavily from the collections of the Macaulay Library here at Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, we encourage authors to submit their own material: sound recordings, videos, photographs. Please contact me at afp7@cornell.edu if you have any such material to contribute, to your own account or to others. I can provide the specifics you’ll need to know before submitting. Thanks for considering this; we’ll be consulting with you as we begin to add new material to your accounts.

Authors who are eager to start revising their account should contact me (afp7@cornell.edu) . See the BNA home page for accounts revised in the last 6 months.

Alan Poole

Editor, BNA Online