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ZIMS meeting on internationalization issues, Osaka Tennoji Zoo
The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) hosted participants from Japan, Taiwan, Germany and ISIS to discuss translation and regional preferences within ZIMS, focusing on Asian character sets.
Participants agreed that translation of the ZIMS interface and reports is necessary for many languages. The group recommended that regional organizations should decide on which languages are needed in their respective regions and manage the translation(s) within those regions.
Participants also agreed that a partially-translated system should be released to allow institutions to decide which version (partially- or fully-translated) they would prefer, and that ISIS should keep the “help”
language simple.
 
Osaka meeting participants A wish for the project
ZIMS Project volunteers
Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) Project volunteers put in long hours reviewing thousands of documents, creating structure for the project, monitoring listserves and attending workshops around the globe.
Frands Carlsen, Copenhagen Zoo
Frands was involved with the ZIMS Project before it was formerly known by that name. In 2001, Frands joined a group in Brookfield, Chicago, which was convened by Bob Lacy, presently Chairman of Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) as a reaction to several ongoing projects that threatened the continuation of a global animal data information system. This group established the Global Animal Data Group (GADG, which today we know as the International Animal Data Information Systems Committee -- IADISC).
“There was a lot of debate in those days about which way to proceed with our animal information software,” said Frands. “Having worked with different ISIS software through the years, I experienced the need for a more flexible and better-integrated software package that made use of the latest advances in information technology, but at the same time needed this to be a truly global enterprise.”
Frands has continued with the project by being involved in most aspects, including membership in IADISC, co-chair of the European regional ADISC – EADISC, participating in development of the Request for Proposal (RFP) and the selection of a vendor for the project. Frands is a member of the ZIMS Core Team, contributes to ZIMS listserves, has participated in Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions in Sydney and Miami and has contributed to the project in numerous other ways.
“This has and will be a big part of my work in the near future and I am very grateful the foresight of Copenhagen Zoo in seeing the importance of this work and letting me use so much of my time for this,” said Frands.
Of the hard work and long hours involved in the project, Frands said, “Having worked with this project for some years now I have met a lot of wonderful people in our community. The meetings necessary to make this project a reality have created new, strong bonds and friendships and a better understanding between people from a great variety of backgrounds and institutions. This has helped make us a much stronger community.”
John Inkson, Taronga Zoo
John has been involved with the ZIMS Project since shortly after it began. He started by assisting fellow Australian Kevin Johnson and other IADISC members wherever possible. In the beginning, John helped develop documentation for the RFP and review vendor's responses.
Since then, he has assisted in documentation of business processes (use cases) and reviewed documentation in relation to the technical aspects of ZIMS. John sums up work on the use cases as, "...trying to understand the process and then compiling the many varied view points from across the world to make a meaningful process to suit multiple organisations." (Editor’s note: Doesn't sound like an easy task!)
Lately John has been working the Kevin on the ZIMS Forum (http://www.zimsforum.com/discussion), which is an IADISC initiative to provide a more transparent involvement and feedback mechanism for members of the global zoological community.
"We believe that this will encourage participation in the project and provide a forum where people can 'nut out' problems, ask questions and come to grips with and share ideas on the ways other people and institutions work," said John. "It's not as quick as verbal communication, but the benefits are enormous and it leaves a 'history of thought' so that new comers hopefully can get up to speed reasonably quickly."
John said there are multiple reasons he decided to participate in the ZIMS Project. "It's not often in the information technology [IT] industry that you get a chance to 'make a difference.' The chance that the ZIMS Project has presented is very exciting for me on a personal and professional level," said John. "In this project not only do I get a chance to assist in potentially expanding the body of knowledge about some aspect of a population for example, but indirectly I might assist others in effectively managing threatened species. How many systems administrators in the world can say that?"
About the business benefits of ZIMS, John added, "Realistically, resourcing is one of the larger problems in our organisation and anything that makes a process more efficient will directly translate into a productivity benefit.
"If I can help provide a system to make our business more productive and efficient, assist our institution to be part of the 'global institution,'and at the same time help in managing populations and species and improve and promote the good health and welfare of the species under our direct care and in the wild, it's hard not to want to participate."
When asked what the most exciting aspect of the ZIMS Project is for him, John responded, "I feel privileged and proud to be part of this project and as it progressed it really has been difficult NOT to get excited about it. I think we all recognise the real value and benefits that an IT system such as ZIMS could bring to the global zoo community.”
(See other volunteers highlighted in past issues of ISIS News.)
Provide your input to the ZIMS Project
Part of the process to build ZIMS was creating “use cases,” documents that describe particular aspects of zoo and aquarium processes. Each use case describes a process (i.e. animal transfers within institutions, prescription drug processing), defines who is typically involved in the process (primary and secondary actors) and lists any constraints, pre- and post-conditions or alternate workflows and defines data requirements for that activity.
These documents will provide the basis on which the ZIMS application will be built. As part of our community, you are invited to review these documents and provide your feedback. You can review these documents and provide feedback through http://www.iadisc.org or the ZIMS forum.
ZIMS functionality
In each upcoming issue of ISIS News, we will begin to describe some of the new functionality that will be offered to our membership through the ZIMS application.
Integration of a veterinary knowledgebase
ZIMS will give the entire veterinary community access to pooled data on 2 million animals. The system will link findings (symptoms) with diagnoses, treatments and results. This will give veterinarians unprecedented power to identify “best practices” for animal care and learn the best way to solve specific veterinary issues.
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Building ZIMS: The Campaign for ISIS
Our fundraising efforts for the ZIMS Project continue. We have reached more
than US $5.5 million of our US $10 million goal.
ISIS recently received contributions from:
Association Nationale des Parcs et Jardins Zoologiques Prives, Paris, France
Joe Mayo (individual)
Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California USA
Salisbury Chesapeake Chapter of AAZK, Salisbury, Maryland USA
Thank you to all of those who have contributed to the project!
Click here to see all contributors. |
New ISIS membership category
ISIS has added a fourth membership category to accommodate associations of zoo and aquarium professionals. Membership in ISIS offers associations of zoological professionals formal representation in ISIS and exchange of information from ISIS through newsletters and other communications.
The other three membership categories are: institution, association (of institutions) and sponsored institution memberships. Click here for more information on any of these membership categories.
ISIS technical update
Because we have committed much of our organization’s resources to the ZIMS Project, ISIS plans no further development on the existing Animal Records Keeping System (ARKS) software. This means that we will no longer add features or functionality to the ARKS program. We will, however, continue to provide support and will evaluate any requests to fix problems with the program.
Please continue to contact ISIS support (+1.651.209.9250;
support@isis.org) with any questions about your ARKS software.
We look forward to serving our members with a new, modern software solution – the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS).
Another good reason to submit your data to ISIS!
Recently, ISIS technical staff was able to assist the Amsterdam Zoo when a short in a computer caused a fire in the registrar’s office. While the registrar Pernette Wijnen was diligent about making backups, those discs were stored in her office and were also destroyed by the fire. Luckily, Pernette had submitted a back-up to ISIS that day! Software Developer Paul Scobie spent the weekend compiling the data from that submission and had the data back to Amsterdam by Monday!
(No people or animals were hurt in this fire.)
New ISIS employee
Wenlei Fang has joined the ISIS team as a Software Developer/Database Administrator. Wenlei comes to us from Corel Minneapolis (formerly Jasc Software, Inc.), where he was the lead Internet technologies engineer. He has lived in Minnesota for eight years. Wenlei has a Master’s degree in Software Systems from the University of St. Thomas.
Welcome, Wenlei!
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OERS report on mercury levels
The Oceanographic Environmental Research Society (OERS) recently
completed a report covering four decades of mercury levels in marine
mammals. This report uses the scientific literature to show that levels of liver
mercury in various marine mammals throughout the world has not decreased
despite decades of regulations.
For a PDF copy, please email: getus@oers.ca with “report” in the heading.
For a hardcopy, please write to: OERS, 12 Burton Avenue, Barrie,Ontario
Canada L4N 2R2. |
ISIS News volunteers/staff
Reviewers/contributors
Frands Carlsen, Copenhagen Zoo
Robert Erhardt, Zoological Society of San Diego
Kevin Johnson, ARAZPA
Translators
Chinese: Wenlei Fang, ISIS
Danish: Britta Scholz, Givskud Zoo
French: Aude Desmoulins, Lille Zoo; Anne Fletcher-Jones, The Living Desert
German: Ulrike Rademacher, Stuttgart Zoo
Japanese: Kazu Takami, Osaka Municipal Tennoji Zoo
Polish: Barbara Zalewska
Spanish: Magaly Ojeda, National Foundation of Zoos & Aquaria (FUNPZA)
Russian: Tanya Arzhanova, Moscow Zoological Park
Web designer Yasir Wasi
Editors Michele Peters; Elisabeth Hunt news@isis.org
Contact ISIS central offices +1.651.209.9240 isis@isis.org
Support: +1.651.209.9250 support@isis.org |