HyperK.link stands for HyperK(nowledge).link. These links, implemented in Microsoft Word, Excel or any Web publishing program make it very easy to built knowledge systems. Applications we make are still for internal use only. We try to make them more widely accessible in the near future.
The applications we make are mostly small knowledge systems for identifying groups of plants and animals. The advantages are numerous:
– Custom keys for the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). When biological assessment systems are adapted to the WFD standards, the identification process will alter with it. The identification levels will rarely stay untouched and inter callibration of the local assessment systems will lead to new protocols. With HyperK.link sets of unifying keys can be built for the Water Authorities.
– By adopting Hyperlinks, we create an infrastructure between pictures and keys that allow the user to focus on the process of identification and is not distracted by leafing between key and picture. Text in native language and only the essential species in the key further enhance the identification process.
– HyperK.links are fast to implement and within a few days a custom build set of keys can be operational.
-New students get acquainted much faster with HyperK.link than learning it the (hard) conventional way.
– The HyperK.link based identification will be complemented with ecological data, to make the identification more robust.
– When taxonomy changes the keys can be easily adapted to the new insights, and a laptop with all the keys will replace the pile of books and articles beside the microscope.
To give you an idea of how HyperK.link works, we made a key (in Dutch) for the known Cymbella species in the Netherlands. For the sake of modem-users we truncated the key. The key is adopted from:
Krammer, K., 2000. The Genus Pinnularia. Diat. Eur. 1: 703 pp.