A Brief History of Recorder
Recorder 3
The original version of Recorder (now known as Recorder 3) was
developed in the late 1980s by the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC)
and made generally available in 1992. In the mid 1990s the package
was externally reviewed and considered a success. However, the
review identified a need to redevelop Recorder on a more modern
database platform as opposed to the DOS based technology of the
original version as this was becoming obsolete.
Recorder 2000
Redevelopment of Recorder by the Joint Nature Conservation
Committee (JNCC) began at a similar time to the emerging idea of
the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) around 1997. The new
version of the package, known as Recorder 2000, was released in
September 2000. Over the following two years Recorder was altered
and augmented through extensive consultation with users and the
next major version was known as Recorder 2002.
Recorder 2002
The Recorder 2002 version embodied a number of key NBN standards
and concepts ranging from metadata standards, a taxon dictionary
and model licences for the exchange of data. It also allowed scheme
organisers to define their own standard terms, recording cards and
locations to help in the collation and management of records from a
number of recorders and provided access to maps of 1:50,000 within
Recorder. Recorder 2002 was widely adopted across the community but
suffered from a restriction in the amount of data it could hold (up
to around 1.3 million records). For many of the major collators
across the community this was not enough and in 2004 a further
phase of the project was launched to develop Recorder 6 which would
effectively allow users to collate limitless numbers of
records.
Recorder 6
The fundamental innovation introduced in the Recorder 6 series
include a change in database platform from Microsoft Access to
Microsoft SQL Server (MSDE) which provides more robust data
storage, better security and the ability to store a potentially
unlimited number of observation records. Recorder 6 has continued
to be improved since its launch with increased stability and the
development of a suite of additional functionality. This includes
the ‘snapshot tool’ (which enabled closer integration with other
software applications such as GIS systems), more powerful reporting
facilities, full integration of the ‘import wizard’, improvements
to the report wizard and mapping facilities and the ability to
control and transfer the custodian of records. It is
currently used in the majority of Local Record Centres in the UK, a
smaller number of National Recording Schemes and amongst individual
recorders as well as in Germany, Luxembourg, the Falkland Islands
and the Channel Islands.
The latest version
The latest version, Recorder 6.14, includes enhanced
compatibility with Vista, installs with SQL Express (which allows
for even greater data storage than MSDE), has improved links with
GIS data storage and mapping functionality, a fast new bulk import
routine for large datasets as well as an option to save data
matches part way through the import.
Further developments to the package will include a validation
and verification tool which can be used to check records from a
range of sources and an add-in that enables the more sophisticated
management of local sites data.