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This paper describes a new approach for creating and using identification keys based on two main components: the Open Key Editor and the Open Key Player, both of which were created within the European project KeyToNature. The Open Key Editor can be used to produce custom identification keys starting from a master key and to add original usergenerated content, while the most important feature of the Open Key Player is the possibility to track relevant user activities into an eLearning environment, in order to collect data to improve the design and usability of identification keys.

The European KeyToNature project has created a framework to gather large amounts of biodiversity-related digital data and metadata from cooperating providers and to make them publicly available via an advanced search engine tool. The novelty of the solution consists in the creation of specific queries for the search web service in the KeyToNature digital repository, in the implementation of a communication protocol between the client application and the repository server, and in other original solutions for metadata presentation.

Various implementation approaches are available for digital field guides and identification tools that are created for the web and mobile devices. The architecture of the “biowikifarm” publishing platform and some technical and social advantages of a document- and author-centric approach based on the MediaWiki open source software over custom-developed, database driven software are presented.

An innovative workflow is presented, leading from a simple character and taxon matrix, prepared in an Excel spreadsheet, to a functioning free-access matrix key, stored in SDD (Structured Descriptive Data) format and presented in the flash-based free-access key player IBIS-ID directly on the web. The subset of matrix key functionality supported by this workflow include categorical and quantitative characters, multiple character states for a given taxon, taxon, character, and state illustrations, and a single character grouping level. Advanced features such as complex character or taxon trees, character dependency, or taxon-specific state images are not supported. The workflow aims to attract new contributors for which the learning curve of special purpose matrix-key editing software is too steep.