About Guides-on-Demand

By Mike Dennison and Alejandro Lynch

Guides-on-Demand is a system to create and publish checklists and field guides in multiple formats from a single database of content. At the heart of the system is an XML-based content management system which stores species accounts (text) and accompanying images as "objects" in a database.

The style of publications is created separate from the content and only merged to produce documents at the end. This allows for content to be automatically compiled from the database independent of style, which streamlines the formatting of pages and the output of documents as digital files.

The system does not consist of a single monolithic application, but a set of software tools, some developed by Hopscotch, others available freely as open-source software.

The key to the system's flexibility and power lies in the way it stores content and style separately. This is a big difference from most "publishing" applications in which the author formats the content page by page in one file. Instead, the system treats the content as "objects" (media or text objects); typically an object being a species account or a species image. In a separate file, the style ---how the content is formatted on each page--- is rendered as page templates in stylesheets. Then, the processor compiles the set of objects for a particular guide, and inserts them into the "slots" of the page templates. Depending on the desired publication, the resulting documents are output in digital formats such as HTML (for Web), PostScript (digital print) or PDF (both Web and print).

An author has several options of how they use the system to publish guides and checklists. We describe these below.

Hopscotch offers consulting services to an author and works with them to customize the system and then run it to produce publications. In this case, the author is just responsible for the content production and Hopscotch takes care of the rest of the process. This can include services such as overseeing printed guide production, and hosting of Web guides.

Alternatively, Hopscotch can develop the programs and templates based on the author's requirements. Then the author can update the database and create the files on demand. This model requires that the author is familiar with editing XML files, image creation and manipulation, Web development and printing technologies.

There are three key steps to running the system:

The system requires that the content be stored as "objects" in an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) database. If an author stores content and image metadata in another way (e.g., Access, MS Word), then we can convert it to XML format with a custom script. Hopscotch has developed an XML DTD (Document Type Definition) which defines the structure and rules for the objects repository specific to field guides and checklist documents. If the author requires a different data structure, the DTD is modified. The author fills the repository with text and media objects.

The objects can be compiled in different combinations and order, and then we apply the style to them to create the page layout. Page layouts and formatting instructions are stored as XML and XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) files. Hopscotch has developed some default stylesheets for printed booklets and HTML pages. These can be customized by the author or Hopscotch to suit the exact needs of the publications.

The final publications are not created until an XSLT processor runs the stylesheets which compile the content objects and format them. Depending on the stylesheet, the output are digital files in the desired formats: HTML, PostScript, PDF, etc.

PostScript output files can be sent to commercial digital print facilities directly to produce booklets. These PostScript files can also be converted to PDF, either for distribution via the Web or for printing.

Guides-on-Demand is best suited to situations where the same guide is to be published in different formats (e.g., print and online) or languages. It is particularly powerful in cases where many guides, differing in their exact species composition, are needed for different localities or seasons in a region. Examples of both these uses are given below.

Guides-on-Demand automates the compilation and assembly of guides from a database, which makes it cost-effective to create smaller, localized or seasonal guides targeted to specific audiences. Targeted guides can have fewer species yet still be robust, and they have the added benefit for non-specialists of being less intimidating than the traditional comprehensive field guides favoured by experts.

We worked with the Iwokrama International Centre, Guyana, to publish the first in a planned series of field guides to the flora and fauna of the Iwokrama Forest. Much of the content was repurposed from an existing mammal guide (A field guide to the mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico, Fiona A. Reid, Oxford University Press, 1997). This involved creating a repository of digital images and digital text in a structure which the software could search and compile automatically. After consultation with the authors contracted by Iwokrama, we established a data structure for the text content. The authors then created the content database as a text file using a word processor. We programmed the format and layout of Web and print publications as separate stylesheets.

From the one content database, we were able to produce two very different publications simultaneously and automatically. The final output files (HTML, PostScript) were sent to Iwokrama. The Web pages were mounted on their local server. They contracted Hopscotch to coordinate the digital printing of 5,000 booklets in Toronto. Hopscotch trained staff to run the system in-house, maintain the current guides and create new guides. To date no new guides have been published by Iwokrama staff, but this is primarily due to problems with creating new content, rather than running the system.

This was an example of custom development by Hopscotch. The costs were about $15,000 U.S. (this included the printing costs of about 50 cents per guide). Much of the total cost is the initial setup, and future guides will be very cost-effective to create and publish.

A copy of the printed guide can be obtained free from Hopscotch, or guides can be purchased directly from Iwokrama. The companion online guide can be viewed at: http://www.iwokrama.org/ROM/mammals/index.html.

A local chapter of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand has contracted Hopscotch to help them publish a set of birding guides to 18 popular localities in the Wairarapa region. The group has supplied locality checklists, species accounts and photographs, and Hopscotch has done the rest. This is an example of a "custom install and run" by Hopscotch.

From a database of the species accounts for the region, we used the locality checklists to compile 18 unique guides and then output each as HTML guides. The site is still under development and is currently hosted on the Hopscotch server: http://www.hopscotch.ca/wairarapa/. There are plans to produce a regional field guide as a printed booklet. This will simply require the creation of a new stylesheet, as the content is already in a database.

For the Wairarapa site, which uses a default Web guide stylesheet, the cost was $4,000 U.S.

Mike Dennison, Ph.D., helped found Hopscotch Interactive, and is primarily responsible for project management and marketing. Mike is a trained biologist, and is passionate about helping to bridge the gap between research and education, especially in the areas of species monitoring and interpretation. He can be contacted by phone at 416-696-7230 or by email at dennison@hopscotch.ca

Alejandro Lynch, Ph.D., founded Hopscotch Interactive and is primarily responsible for programming and project development. Alejandro trained as a biologist and conducted research and taught before starting the company. He can be contacted directly by email at alynch@hopscotch.ca

Hopscotch Interactive Incorporated is a Toronto-based company which helps nature organizations manage and publish nature information using new digital technologies. Services include consulting, software development, Web site and database management, research and writing, and publishing. One of the core areas is the publication of checklists, identification guides, and trail guides using the Guides-on-Demand system.