MIDS Element - 1. PhysicalSpecimenId

[RBGE-Herbarium]

Information Element Name	PhysicalSpecimenId
Modified	2023/12/14
Label	Physical Specimen ID
Definition	A unique identity for the specimen within the curating institution. Whatever the institution uses to uniquely identify the item. For example: DOI, stable identifier, catalogue number, barcode, etc.
Purpose	To allow the curator/researcher to identify the physical specimen to which the data refer. To allow citation of the specimen. To enable the attachment of additional information to the specimen record.
Applicable standard(s)/recommendation(s)	It is strongly recommended to use a globally unique persistent identifier, preferably resolvable, e.g. CETAF Stable Identifiers or DOIs. It is strongly recommended to map these to the DwC term materialSampleID.
Examples	http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113
Required (Biological/Geological/Paelaeontological)	Yes (all)
Constraints
Element specification status	agreed; accepted in specification
Notes	The physical specimen identifier, when given back to the organisation indicated by the Institution information element must be sufficient to allow the organisation to locate the object(s) the user is interested in. In cases where a single identifier identifies multiple objects (as is possible in some collections) information to distinguish the specimen may also need to be given.

[dshorthouse]

We also have materialSampleID. The example provided for a MaterialSample states:

A whole organism preserved in a collection.

[matdillen]

A definition has been suggested: “whatever the institution uses to uniquely identify the item within that institute”

This could be a single identifier, a set of written directions or a combination of multiple properties. As indicated in #4, for meteorites the mass of the specimen is used, in addition to a name (MIDS-1), a date (MIDS-2) and/or a location (MIDS-2).

So, assuming all those properties are needed to uniquely identify a single meteorite in an institution, this would imply that PhysicalSpecimenId maps for that institution to the corresponding 4 properties in the data model it is employing (e.g. the local CMS model or ABCDEFG). Hence, the need for mass as a MIDS property seems absolved by the existence of PhysicalSpecimenId, as long as this MIDS-0 property can require data in multiple fields in the source dataset.

Similarly, an institution may map PhysicalSpecimenId strictly to dwc:catalogNumber or it may require an additional dwc:collectionCode, dwc:kingdom or dwc:country to uniquely identify the specimen.

The big question is how we will manage all those mappings and how we can harmonize them as much as possible. In this case, improving Darwin Core will not necessarily help because the problem is how individual institutions manage their specimens differently.

[tucotuco]

We also have materialSampleID. The example provided for a MaterialSample states:

A whole organism preserved in a collection.

I agree completely. There seems to be no need to create a new term for this.

[emhaston]

Purpose: To allow the curator/researcher to identify the physical specimen the data refer to. To allow citation of the specimen. To enable the attachment of additional information to the specimen record.

[emhaston]

Element confirmed at TDWG Task Group meeting (5 May 2022)

For final version:

• Check need for constraints
• Name discussed again (Material / Specimen / …?)
• Check recommendations - many institutes use a barcode with alphanumeric codes
• Should we be recommending Stable URIs?

[emhaston]

Task Group meeting (2 June 2022) Notes for this element: PhysicalSpecimenID – I’d be tempted to change this to SpecimenIdentifier Should the scope be mandated? How would it be mandated? If the identifier is a local identifier vs a global identifier - how would the scope be published? The scope could be provided by the additional elements in MIDS1

Decision: To retain name as PhysicalSpecimenID To not be overly prescriptive at MIDS-0 and MIDS-1, but to include clear recommendations to encourage use of globally unique, resolvable identifiers.

[emhaston]

Dublin core: identifier: http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/identifier

[emhaston]

Updated element metadata table to follow DWC format more closely Deleted the Repeatable item | Repeatable | Yes. An object can have several identifiers. |

[emhaston]

Include occurrenceID in the mapping. Potentially recommend mapping physicalspecimenID to materialSampleID with the understanding that occurrenceID has a higher level mapping similar to CollectionObjectID in Specify.

[emhaston]

If materialSampleID maps exactly to the PhysicalSpecimenID then should the name of this element be changed? Also checking the LtC term of ltc:RecordLevel.hasIdentifier https://github.com/tdwg/cd/issues/43 "The machine-actionable information profile for the collection description digital object." https://github.com/tdwg/cd/issues/126 "A numeric, textual value, or reference such as an IRI, that can be used to uniquely identify the object to which it is attached."

[emhaston]

Maps narrowly to materialEntityID