Annals of Botany 89: 650-651, 2002
© 2002 Annals of Botany Company
Lucid Professional Version 2.0: tools for identification and diagnosis. Centre for Pest Information Technology & Transfer.
Lucid Professional Version 2·0: tools for identification and diagnosis.
Centre for Pest Information Technology & Transfer.
The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072,Australia.
AUS$495.
Lucid Professional Version 2·0: tools for identification and diagnosis is described by its authors as ‘a system for developing and distributing multimedia tools for identification diagnosis and other purposes’.
At the heart of this system is software that allows the construction and use of computerized interactive identification keys. These keys differ from the traditional dichotomous variety in their multi-access character. Rather than having to answer questions to key couplets and so follow a prescribed route, the user of an interactive key is able to adopt different strategies in identifying a specimen. One may choose to answer questions only about the characters that are easily observable in the specimen being identified, or else may ask the computer to suggest which characters could usefully be answered at any particular stage of an identification. Computerized interactive keys are often richly illustrated and can be disseminated through a variety of media, such as CD ROM, and increasingly now over the internet.
Inside the Lucid Professional box there is a copy of the Lucid Builder, which is the software that is used to make (or ‘build’) a Lucid key and there are two versions of the Lucid Player, the software needed to operate (or ‘play’) a Lucid key. The standard version of the Player is designed for ‘occasional’ key users and copies of it may be freely distributed with non-commercial keys, or otherwise downloaded from the Lucidcentral website (www.lucidcentral. com) by anyone with internet access. The more fully featured Lucid Player Plus, complete with an additional 20 user licenses, is also included within the package. Both versions of the Player are able to ‘play’ keys over the Web. To assist with the publication of your key, either to CD or to the Web, there is a Package and Deployment Wizard. There is also a utility called the Lucid Translator which enables the transfer of any existing DELTA databases that you may have to and from the Lucid format.
The paper documentation provided is not intimidating in its thickness. It deals with installation of the software and outlines the salient points of the operation of the Builder and Player modules. More detailed information for operation of these modules is provided through the various program help files and via the Lucidcentral website, registered users of which may download software updates and various utilities not included in the standard distribution. For those folk without access to the internet a mail service is offered. Finally, a couple of demonstration keys are provided on the CD for use in conjunction with the Player and there is a Builder version of the key to insect orders that serves as a useful tutorial.
Constructing a key with the Lucid Builder proves to be very straightforward. The default Builder window is divided into two panels; in the left-hand panel a list of characters and character states is entered (values or ranges for numeric characters), in the right-hand panel a list of taxa to be scored is entered. Scoring is simply a matter of ticking against which states occur for a selected taxon, or, alternatively, a character state may be selected and the taxa that possess the selected state can be ticked. A feature introduced in this version gives further flexibility by allowing scoring through a ‘spreadsheet’ view. Here the data ‘matrix’ is presented in taxon row against character state column format. The facility to automatically highlight the intersecting row and column under the cursor is a nice touch which should help prevent scoring mistakes being made. As well as the usual recording of presence of a character state, Lucid allows scores of ‘rarely present’ and ‘misinterpreted’ to be entered. Scoring ‘present by misinterpretation’ allows the key builder to pre-empt mistakes a user of the key might make in observing difficult characters without having to deliberately mis-score the database, though this feature is arguably more important in an information retrieval system than an identification aid.
Explanatory notes for the character states and descriptions of the taxa can be added to the key as html files (webpages) along with a variety of multimedia files including pictures, video and audio. However, it is not possible to automatically generate ‘natural language’ descriptions of the taxa directly from the data matrix. A simple html editor is provided as an integrated part of the Lucid Builder package. It is good enough for creating simple page layouts with hyperlinked text and graphics and is a vast improvement over the rich text editor that came with earlier versions. Facilities for creating and editing pictures and the other multimedia files are not included, so at the very least a separate picture editing program is required.
The Lucid Player retains its familiar appearance with drag and drop selection of character states. Simple buttons control operations such as sorting by the ‘best’ characters, describing, diagnosing and finding the most similar taxa.
Improvements to the Player include some cosmetic changes to the interface, although somewhat bizarrely the thumbnail pictures of the character states are still displayed on a 5 x 3 grid, irrespective of the number of states actually present. Apart from being inelegant this seems an unnecessary constraint. The most noticeable difference between this and previous versions of the Player is the incorporation of images and hyperlinks within the descriptive text which greatly enhances presentation. When ‘playing’ keys over the web, the data matrix is automatically downloaded and stored on the local computer and the images and text are fetched as required by the program.
The Lucid system is probably most similar to INTKEY (DELTA; CSIRO Entomology, GPO Box 1700, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia), which is one of a large system of programs based on the DELTA format (a standard syntax for the recording of taxon descriptions). Whereas INTKEY was conceived with the aim of information retrieval as well as identification, particularly with large datasets in mind, Lucid was developed originally as a means of helping taxonomists communicate with non-specialists who wish to identify plants, animals and other organisms. The relative merits of the Lucid and INTKEY systems are largely a matter of personal preference, those interested in a detailed discussion should read ‘Miscellaneous Programs and Documentation’ at http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/www/programs.htm
Lucid Professional Version 2 appears a well rounded product that is backed by an established support network and development team. It is clearly aimed at taxonomists though there are examples of its use in agricultural and medical diagnosis, decision support and training too.
For the taxonomist, the package offers simple and flexible data entry and a means whereby the results of research may be shared with colleagues. More ambitious projects are possible but require graphic design skills beyond those of most individual taxonomists. The results, however, can be truly stunning.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||