Overview: LifeDesk-EOL Dataflow

1. Develop your content: upload images, references, taxon pages to your LifeDesk
   • You have the option to work on your images and taxon pages in draft version. Draft content is visible on your LifeDesk only to registered users, and it is not exported to EOL. So to get a page or an image to show up on EOL it needs to be published on your LifeDesk first.
2. Get your LifeDesk ready for EOL harvesting
   • If you've changed any of the chapter headings on your LifeDesk be sure to Map your chapters to the Species Profile Model (SPM)
   • Create your endpoint (= data file that will be harvested by EOL)
   • Automate endpoint regeneration, i.e., set up a schedule for your data file to be updated on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
   • Now your LifeDesk is ready for a visit from the EOL data harvester
3. Set up your EOL data partnership
   • Register your endpoint as an EOL content partner
   • Preview & approve your content before it is published on EOL
   • Set up a schedule for automatic harvesting of your LifeDesk

Map your chapters to the Species Profile Model (SPM)

Before attempting to transfer your content to the EOL Web site you must first map your custom Taxon Page chapters to the EOL schema. EOL uses the Species Profile Model (SPM) a Biodiversity Information (TDWG) Standard, to organise text data about a taxon.

• Log in to your LifeDesk
• Select Administration from the main menu
• Select Chapter Definitions under EOL Partnership.
• A page should appear showing a list of SPM chapter headings, along with a definition of what kind of data is expected. Use this information as a reference when mapping your chapters.
• Select Administration from the main menu, then select Map Chapters under EOL Partnership
• A page will appear with a list of your Taxon Page chapters.
• Next to each chapter heading is a select box containing a list of the available SPM headings. Simply choose which SPM heading best matches each of your chapters. Some of your chapters may have been automatically matched, be sure to check you agree with these mappings.
• Select Save

Create an EOL compatible data file (or endpoint)

Once you have populated your LifeDesk with content and mapped your chapters you can automatically generate a compatible data file (or endpoint) which can be harvested by the EOL Web site.

• Log in to your LifeDesk
• From the main menu select Administration, then under EOL Partnership select Make Endpoint.
• Select Generate
• A message will appear indicating that the endpoint has been generated and a URL will be provided. In addition you will notice a link "Date-stamped Versions". Each time you generate an endpoint an archive date stamped copy of the endpoint file is produced and added to this list.
• Each time you revisit Administration > EOL Partnership > Make Endpoint you will be shown the URL of your endpoint. It is a fixed address. Make a note of the page containing the URL, you will need this when you register as a content partner with EOL

Register your endpoint for harvesting by EOL

After generating your EOL compatible data file (or endpoint) on your LifeDesk, you can register the location of that file with the EOL content harvesting process. If you haven't already, you will first have to register as an EOL member.

• Go to eol.org.
• Sign into your current EOL member account or create a new one (click on Join EOL now).
• Once you have an EOL member account, you can initiate a content partnership in the Content partners tab of your PROFILE. Follow the add new content partner link and fill out the form to set up your partner profile.
• You should then read the content partner agreement and click on the agree to content partner terms button.
• This will take you to the Resources & Contacts tab where you need to click on the add a new resource button.
• Now fill out your resource form:
  • Enter a name that describes your data resource.
  • Select Load resource from URL under Resource data
  • Under Dataset URL, enter the web address of the endpoint file in your LifeDesk, e.g., http://xxx.lifedesks.org/eol-partnership.xml.gz (see Administration > EOL Partnership > Make Endpoint on your LifeDesk)
  • Under Frequency you can then specify how often you would like EOL to harvest the data from your endpoint file, choose a frequency that suits you.
  • If you want to be a classification provider for EOL, follow the steps under Publishing Classifications, then enter the url for your Darwin Core Archive.
  • Enter a default license for the materials on your LifeDesk. Note that the Default license, Default rights holder, Default rights statement, Bibliographic citation, and Default language settings in the resource form will only be used if these data fields are missing in your resource form. Most if not all current LifeDesk endpoints should cover these data for all data objects, so you should not have to fill out these fields in the resource form.
  • Any text you enter in the Resource description field, will be used to generate a description for your content partner collection. You can also add this later, directly on the collection page by clicking the edit collection details button.
  • Once you have filled out the form, click on add resource.
• In the Resources & Contacts tab you will then see a table with your dataset listed in status created
• EOL will now generate a preview collection of your content. This preview is usually ready within 24 hours, but sometimes it may take a little longer. If your previews are not ready within a couple of days of creating a new resource, please send an email to affiliate (at) eol (dot) org so we can investigate what's holding up the processing of your dataset.
• To check your preview follow these steps:
  • Log into your EOL member account
  • Go to the Content partner tab, and click on your partner project icon.
  • Go to the Resources & Contacts tab. The status of your dataset should have changed to processed.
  • Click on the Resource name to access the Details page for your resource. There will be a link to your Preview collection on the top right. In this collection, you will find links to all the data objects we have extracted from your endpoint. These data objects are not yet published on EOL pages. For now, only you and EOL admins can see them.
• If you don't see any major problems in your preview, please send an email to affiliate (at) eol (dot) org to let us know that your resource is ready for publication. Your content should then appear on EOL taxon pages within a day or two.
• Once the initial data harvest has been approved by you, EOL will automatically harvest the content from your LifeDesk at the interval you specified in the resource form.

Schedule automated regeneration of your endpoint

Rather than manually regenerating the endpoint file that is harvested by EOL, you can if you prefer schedule automated regeneration.

• From the main menu select Administration, then under EOL Partnership select Schedule.
• A page will appear showing options for enabling automated regeneration your endpoint file. If you would like your endpoint file to be regenerated (updated) automatically select "Yes" for "Enable automated re-generation of your content partner endpoint".
• The default schedule for endpoint regeneration is every 7 days, you can change this amount to an interval of your choosing. Enter your preferred number of days in the "Time interval (days)" text box. Bear in mind that EOL has it's own harvesting schedule so even though you may regenerate your endpoint, your content will only be updated in EOL at the rate of the harvesting schedule which you specified in your EOL content partner settings. Also, please note that, even after selecting an automated schedule in your LifeDesk, your endpoint will only be regenerated if there has been activity on your site, i.e. a site member has logged in.

Forcing an update on EOL

If you want to make sure content moves from your LifeDesk to EOL as quickly as possible after an update, you can do the following:

• Manually generate the export file on your LifeDesk
  • Log into your LifeDesk and go to Administration:EOL Partnership:Make Endpoint
  • Click on the Generate button at the bottom
  • Your LifeDesk export file will now update instantly
• Request a forced EOL reharvest
  • Log into your EOL member account
  • Go to the Content partner tab, and click on your partner project icon.
  • Go to the Resources & Contacts tab and click on the Resource name to access the Details page for your resource.
  • Look for the request force harvest button under Processing status & settings.
  • If all goes well, your new content will be visible on EOL the next day. If the forced harvest doesn't happen, send an email to affiliate (at) eol (dot) org, and we will investigate the problem.