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Feature of the month
This month, our feature is submitted by Simone Bayly of Zoos Australia.
"I think the use of ZIMS is going to completely change the way we are able to record animals histories and allow for better communication throughout all zoos. The training log and listing is wonderful and allows us to easily record all our daily logs in a very fast and easy way.
"We will be hopefully looking at attaching video footage logs soon as well that will provide all staff with a wonderful visual history log for all the trained behaviours. With so much record keeping being involved with the Giant Pandas it allows us to easily maintain a strict feeding log of how they have eaten, which in the future we will use to make graphs and tables to see over time how well they are eating and on what species."
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Contact ISIS technical
support@isis.org
Monday-Friday
(US Central Time)
Talk to a live person:
651.209.9250
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 ISIS Elects Paula Brock
to Board of Trustees
Paula Brock, chief financial officer, Zoological Society of San Diego (ZSSD) has been elected Treasurer of the ISIS Board of Trustees. Ms. Brock has been with ZSSD since June 2001, where she has been instrumental in financial reporting and strategic planning. Ms. Brock has a prestigious financial background, including the founding of a CPA firm. Ms. Brock has already been actively working with the ISIS Board to establish its current five-year plans and financial projections. "The addition of Ms. Brock to our board will strengthen our commitment to solid financial planning and ensuring the long-term viability of ISIS," said David Field, ISIS Board Chair. "We have many critical tasks ahead of us in coming years, and I am honored to work with a professional whose skills and knowledge are so wide and deep. Ms. Brock's expertise will be invaluable to our board." "Working to conserve endangered species has been an important part of my career with the San Diego Zoo," said Paula Brock. "I look forward to expanding this effort by working with ISIS." Ms. Brock assumes the duties of ISIS Board Treasurer from Lena Lind�n, Nordens Ark (Sweden). Ms. Lind�n has stepped down as treasurer, but will remain on the ISIS Board to help with transition and to support the work of ISIS through the end of her term in December 2013. ISIS Board of Trustees Return to top |
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ISIS leadership transition
After seven years of dedicated service to ISIS, Hassan Syed has announced his resignation as Chief Information Officer of ISIS. Hassan is planning to stay within the community, and will continue with ISIS to work through the transition plan over the next couple of months.
"Hassan has given years of dedicated service to ISIS and the ZIMS* project," said Roger Stonecipher, CEO, ISIS. "He did it when others said it could not be done. It is through his leadership that the ZIMS project was brought in-house and delivered. Hassan has created a strong and able team that I am confident will continue to do great work. We look forward to Hassan's continued involvement throughout this transition."
In addition to his work on the ZIMS project, Hassan envisioned and created the ISIS Community Portal, a social networking platform for the aquarium and zoo community with the potential to bring thousands of zoological professionals from around the globe together; and coordinated the work of creating more than 300 data standards for the ISIS community.
"I have been honored to work with the ISIS community," said Hassan Syed. "The ZIMS project gave me the opportunity to work with more than 600 dedicated volunteers throughout our community. I have made many lasting connections and am very proud that I was able to be a part of this fantastic evolution in animal care."
"Hassan's legacy at ISIS is strong," said David Field, ISIS Board Chair. "Hassan has been instrumental in leading our community - and the ISIS team to create the ZIMS application - a long unrequited dream for the community. The knowledge gathered in the ZIMS application will have implications for animal care, management and research worldwide."
New leadership
Doug Verduzco will begin to assume the responsibilities of ISIS Chief Information Officer immediately. Doug has worked with the ZIMS project since 2001 and has vast experience in the zoo community.
"The fact that we have a strong leader ready to step into the chief technical position so quickly is testament to the strength of the team Hassan has built," said Stonecipher. "We are extremely fortunate that Doug -- a well-respected, experienced leader from our community -- is willing to step in immediately for a smooth transition."
"I am fully confident that Doug's skills and abilities will lead ISIS to success," said Syed. "Doug is an excellent choice."
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ISIS around the world
ZIMS road show
at Kasai Sea Life Park, Tokyo, Japan At the end of January, ISIS representative Kanako Nishimoto hosted 25 Japanese zoo and aquarium professionals in our first ZIMS* road show in Tokyo, Japan. Kanako showed participants the ZIMS application (partially translated into Japanese), and answered general questions about ISIS and the ZIMS application. Overall, participants were pleased with the application - and excited to see that the application will be supported in their native language. Return to top |
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ISIS around the world
ZIMS at IRK
ISIS representatives Adrienne Miller, Josh Courteau and Sander Cozijn assisted the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA - North America) Institutional Records Keeping (IRK) course teachers Lynn McDuffie, Disney's Animal Programs and Environmental Initiatives; Glenous Favata, Toledo Zoo and Karin Schwartz, Brookfield Zoo in a week-long animal records training course in mid-February.
Twenty-eight students attended the class; 12 were taking the course for graduate credit with George Mason University. The class included eight registrars and a mixture of keepers, animal trainers, educators and curators.
The annual IRK course used the ZIMS application as a teaching tool for the first time. Students were overall impressed with the application and its capabilities, but also wrestled with some of the features that are not quite complete in the software.
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Pros, cons and issue status
In terms of the Pros and Cons of the ZIMS applications, here are some of the comments from these users:
PROS:
- Brings everything together for conservation purposes
- In the event of a power failure, ZIMS saves most of the recent info entered because it is online and constantly saving
- It encompasses everything! Training, enclosures, taxonomy, feeding logs, groups, egg masses
- The ability to accession eggs as a group, great for aquarists and herp keepers
- Future ability to upload pictures, files, etc.
CON: Speed, Speed, Speed Speed, Speeeeed
STATUS: In each release, ISIS developers are working to optimize the application for speed. ISIS is also exploring the options of locally- and regionally-hosted ZIMS servers, which would help minimize the application's reliance on varying Internet speeds.
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CON: Help page. From what I've seen it could be so much more accessible/easy to use and navigate STATUS: ISIS is continually working to develop additional help page content and make it more accessible. � � � CON: Data integrity - reports printed with different information/animals than entered STATUS: ISIS has discovered some unexpected issues with migrating current ISIS members data from ARKS to the ZIMS environment. This is causing some issues with what new users are seeing in the application. See more about data migration on the ZIMS blog� � �
CON: I am unable to add more information/edit the animal's record once the animal is dead or we do not have ownership of the animal
STATUS: The edit ability is being opened up in the ZIMS application to a great degree. You will be able to edit post-death
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CON: I have to assign our own local ID! ARKS generated all the accession numbers for me and I am very happy about it, but now I have to keep a separate log of all my newly accessioned animals with their local ID and their GAN ID. Oh dear!
STATUS: This is NOT REQUIRED in ZIMS...just a best practices idea.
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CON: Cannot add photos or audio files yet
STATUS: This feature will be contained in a future release of the ZIMS application.
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Upcoming events 2011 ZIMS road show opportunities As more of our members go live with the ZIMS application, many of them are willing to share the progress they have made with the application and share that experience - along with "tips & tricks" with others who will be adapting the ZIMS application in future months. We will continue to offer new opportunities as we build the ZIMS community. During these day-long sessions, ISIS and our members' staff will walk you through how the application has been implemented in their institutions, give you an overview of deployment of the ZIMS application, show you the advantages the system has brought to each institution, and how it may help yours. These sessions will include hands-on time for participants to "play" with the application (plan to bring your laptop). MARCH 7 Woodland Park Zoo and Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation As an early adopter of the ZIMS application, Woodland Park Zoo will preview their use of this animal management software during the Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation Conference held March 7-11, 2011 in Seattle, Washington USA. To register, contact Michele Peters at ISIS (mpeters@isis.org). MARCH 21 Tennessee Aquarium and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums mid-year conference As one of the first aquarium adopters of the ZIMS application, Tennessee Aquarium would like to invite you to preview their use of this innovative animal management software and discuss use of the application for aquariums. Register for the AZA mid-year conference and book your hotel room at www.aza.org/midyearmeeting. APRIL 30 Virginia Aquarium and the Regional Aquatics Workshop The Virginia Aquarium is excited to host a pre-event ZIMS road show as it hosts this 2011 Regional Aquatics Workshop in Virginia Beach, Virginia USA. To register, contact Michele Peters at ISIS (mpeters@isis.org). Participation is limited (not more than two per institution, please). There is no additional cost for these sessions. For additional information, contact Michele Peters at ISIS (mpeters@isis.org). APRIL 6ISIS Board meeting, Gland, Switzerland SEPTEMBER 11-12ISIS Users' Conference ISIS will hold annual ISIS Users' Conferences beginning in 2011. This year's conference will be held September 11-12, just prior to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) fall conference in Atlanta, Georgia USA. For more information and to register, see www.isis.org/Pages/UsersConference2011.aspx. We hope to hold the 2012 conference in Europe. We will have more details on both events very soon! Keep an eye on www.isis.org/Pages/Upcomingevents.aspx for event updates. Return to top |
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