Lucid keys

Lucid tools are powerful and highly flexible knowledge management software applications designed to help users with identification or diagnostic tasks.1

Description

Lucid software is a special type of expert system, specifically designed for identification and diagnostic purposes, which enables expert knowledge to be “cloned” and distributed to a wide audience via CD or the Internet. The large number of functions incorporated in the software and the ability to include multi-media makes the creation and use of identification and diagnostic keys easy, effective and enjoyable.

Lucid identification keys are currently being used by a wide range of end-users, from primary, high school and university students to taxonomists, quarantine identifiers, biodiversity scientists and conservation managers.2

Lucid3 users who wish to identify an entity in the group for which the key has been built can "describe" their specimen to the key by choosing features that match the specimen. The key progressively eliminates entities that do not match the chosen features until only one or a few remain - multimedia fact sheets and images provide further information for making an identification.3

Lucid Phoenix is a computer based dichotomous or pathway key Builder and Player that enables traditional paper based identification keys to be published on the Internet or CD. Phoenix keys are interactive, can be enhanced with multimedia, and delivered across the Internet seamlessly.4

The Lucid software development team is located at the Centre for Biological Information Technology (CBIT) at the University of Queensland, Australia.5

Function

• Taxonomy
  • Identification tools, keys
• User interface
  • Personal use

Why use this tool?

• Identification or diagnostic

Who will use this tool?

• Data users
  • Expert
  • Interest groups
  • General public

How will the tool be used?

Lucid tools are available both as online keys and distributed as a desktop application on CD. Of most interest to the ALA would be the online keys.         

The Lucid keys can be used online through one of two Players – the Lucid3 On-line Player and the Lucid3 Applet.

The keys can be hosted on any internet domain.

Lucid3 On-line Player

• Requires a web server to deliver content, eg Linux/Apache or Windows Server/IIS. Uses Tomcat and Java based technology.
• Browser based, platform independent
• Will work on PDA and mobile phones
• Uses Standard for Descriptive Data (SDD) data format
• Currently under development, in pre-release phase

Lucid3 Applet

• Java applet
• Browser based, platform independent
• User input is required

Lucid Phoenix

• Phoenix keys can be directly embedded within web pages
• Cross platform, operates on Windows, Mac, Unix
• Java required

Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• User’s machine

When could this tool be used?

• As a post process, after data is with the user

Availability

• Lucid: http://www.lucidcentral.org/
• Lucid3: http://www.lucidcentral.org/lucid3/
• Lucid Phoenix: http://www.lucidcentral.org/phoenix/
• CBIT Centre for Biological Information Technology: http://www.cbit.uq.edu.au/
• Support: http://www.lucidcentral.org/support/
• No licence fees are required when deploying a key, non-commercially, to a free internet site.
• Commercial distribution attracts a fee. Contact sales@lucidcentral.org
• Free key hosting service at Lucid

Lucid Phoenix player within a browser.6

 Comments

Lucid Phoenix is quite a different system from Lucid3. It’s never really been properly taken up, partly because many people have the misapprehension that dichotomous keys are primitive. In fact they have some striking advantages over matrix keys, and the idea of Phoenix is to draw out the strengths while minimizing the weaknesses.7