DwC Hour #7: Aggregators - A Darwin Core View

[garymotz]

Abstract-

In this next Darwin Core Hour Series, we shift to the viewpoint of large biodiversity data aggregators including: GBIF, iDigBio, VertNet, ALA, and Canadensys. In this session, we welcome GBIF and iDigBio.

GBIF aggregates the world's biodiversity data from observations to checklists to biological specimen data. iDigBio aggregates specimen data, not observations or checklists. The Darwin Core Standard plays a key role in the standardization of biodiversity data and in the design and implementation of strategies to improve data quality. Many people wonder what happens to their data after they provide it to an aggregator. Find out the answers to such questions as: what does the aggregator do to assess fitness of the data?, what are the most common data issues seen?, what does the aggregator do to data to make it easier to find when searching an aggregator database?, and how does sharing data with an aggregator benefit me as a collection manager/curator/researcher/data scientist?

GBIF: free and open access to global biodiversity data

GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an open-data research infrastructure funded by the world’s governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere access to data about all types of life on Earth. Coordinated through its Secretariat in Copenhagen, the GBIF network of member states and organizations—formally known as Participants—provides data-holding institutions around the world with common standards and open-source tools that enable them to share information about where and when species have been recorded. This knowledge derives from many sources, including everything from museum specimens collected in the 18th and 19th century to geotagged smartphone photos shared by amateur naturalists in recent days and weeks. The GBIF network draws all these sources together through the use of the Darwin Core standard, which forms the basis of GBIF.org’s index of hundreds of millions of species occurrence records. In the process, a number of checks and validation steps ensure data consistency and completeness of core elements. Publishers provide open access to their datasets using machine-readable Creative Commons licence designations, allowing scientists, researchers and others to apply the data in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and policy papers each year. Many of these analyses—which cover topics from the impacts of climate change and the spread of invasive and alien pests to priorities for conservation and protected areas, food security and human health— would not be possible without this. iDigBio: aggregating and enhancing vouchered global biocollections data

iDigBio's scope is focused on vouchered specimen data. In addition, we accept all attendant information related to the specimen including media, relevant genetic information, and trait data. iDigBio preserves the original data as sent to us by the data provider, and enhances the data via an index according to a set of data quality metrics for improved searchability for researchers and the data providers alike. Through iDigBio, any biocollection on the planet can extend the reach of their collections. We facilitate research use of biocollections data and strive to make it easy for researchers to show what's possible with the data.

Remaining to do items:

• [x] Schedule sound/screen check
• [x] Request survey content from presenters
• [x] Send presenters feedback request to Shari and get survey link from Shari at iDigBio
• [x] Generate tinyURL for survey
• [x] Written intro to webinar
• [x] Prepare AdobeConnect environment
• [x] Send emails advertising DwC Hour one week prior
• [x] Send emails advertising DwC Hour one day prior

[garymotz]

Closing issue for now, unless we hear that ALA or Canadensys wishes to contribute.

[garymotz]

This GBIF and iDigBio webinar had 58 unique participants. The (MorethanVert)Net webinar had 43 unique participants.