Happy New Year from the Specify staff. We look forward to collaborating with you in 2022 to enhance and extend Specify software, and to provide efficient support from our offices and homes at the University of Kansas. Here is hoping for less complexity and disruption from the global pandemic in the year before us.
In late 2021, we said goodbye to two highly-valued members of Team Specify. Tim Noble, lead Specify 6 developer, retired after 35 years of employment, and Norine Spears, our membership and development coordinator left to pursue other interests, after helping launch and build foundation of the Consortium. We will miss them both for their deep expertise, commitment, and for the energy they brought everyday to the initiative. We have a search underway for a software engineer, and we are deliberating on how to best fill the red glittery shoes left behind by Norine Spears. We would also like to say a belated goodbye to Yvonne Ekanim, our outstanding technical support student who graduated in 2021 to launch her engineering career, and to welcome Grant Fitzgerald, the new student tester and technical support assistant who is quickly getting up to speed.
We have lots of engineering backlog and new capabilities to consider this year. Currently we are focusing on an improved authentication and permission systems for Specify 7, as well as a wholly-new accessibility foundation for Specify 7’s web user interface. We’ll have more to say about new software capabilities and other activities in the coming months.
Our best wishes for 2022. Let’s Go.
