Democratizing essential wood identification information for Central American timber markets with an ergonomically designed, interactive, bilingual smartphone app

Abstract

In 2022, scientists from the Center for Wood Anatomy Research at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory published a field manual entitled Identification of Central American, Mexican, and Caribbean Woods. Bilingual with English and Spanish side-by-side on each page, this publication provided step-by-step processes with simple tools to enable readers with no previous experience in wood anatomy or identification to identify woods of the region. In use, the manual presented potential ergonomic challenges in both print and PDF formats. The objective of this project was to eliminate these challenges by transforming the field manual into a smartphone app. The WhatWood? Central America app was built in Visual Studio 2022 using Microsoft’s .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI). The app is available as a free download on both Android and iOS platforms and can run without an internet connection. Ergonomic modifications included small-screen-optimization, adjustable text, image zooming and panning, and a colorblind viewing option. Dichotomous key navigation was automated, removing the need for manual page turning. Quizzes were added to reinforce the learning of anatomical features. The settings page was configured to show only one language at a time to eliminate the potential for confusion caused by parallel translations. Transforming the original source material into a smartphone application has democratized essential wood identification information for the Central American, Caribbean, and Mexican timber markets by making it available at no cost to virtually anyone in the world with a mobile device, delivering content in both Spanish and English, eliminating potential barriers for operators with mild visual impairments, and providing interactive functionality for self-study.