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How to initiate Natural History Collections Digitisation?

Regional Workshop on Strategies for Digitisation and Mobilisation of Natural History Collections Data. How to initiate Natural History Collections Digitisation?. Vishwas Chavan Senior Program Officer for Data Publishing Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) 15-16 June 2011.

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How to initiate Natural History Collections Digitisation?

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  1. Regional Workshop on Strategies for Digitisation and Mobilisation of Natural History Collections Data How to initiate Natural History Collections Digitisation? Vishwas Chavan Senior Program Officer for Data Publishing Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) 15-16 June 2011

  2. Why should we digitise? • Wider dissemination of data • Enable your data to be studied in different ways • Enhance curatorial activities • Protect your specimens • Aid research by reducing future transcription time • Raising institution / collection profile • Enhance the ability of the institution to contribute in areas beyond its traditional remit • Legislation

  3. Before you get started

  4. Planning is essential • Demand driven strategisation • The business case • The Implementation Plan • The Risk Analysis

  5. Identify your goals • Institutional vs personal • Who are the major users? • Which languages you will support? • How much data? • What data quality? • Data capture or data interpretation • Enhancing existing practices • Imaging • What digitisation will not do? • When do you want data set to be available? • Future requirements

  6. What digitisation will not? • Databasing is not a money saving option? • Digitisation will not create new information for you? • Collections still needs to be physically stored and handled?

  7. Current limitations & resources • Staffing • Curatorial staff as part of their regular work • Contract, volunteer, project staff, students • Digitisers • Data Owners • Data experts • Technical staff • Project management

  8. Current limitations & resources • Data entry procedures • How big is your collection? • Is access to your data restricted? • Does your institute needs to use existing system? • Legacy data (electronic v/s paper) • What are your physical requirements • Funding • Is there will to change?

  9. Produce a tentative business case • What do you gain from doing this project? • Is your project feasible? • Do your goals exceed your limitations? • Rising above your limitations

  10. Database solutions • Existing packages • Building your own solutions

  11. Good database solution • What does it cost? • Is it stable? • Good documentation & technical support • Performance level (what you expect)? • Learning curve • Initial population of data, data entry, editing, navigation, deleting, improting, exporting, reporting functions etc. • Can it improve data quality? • Networking & multiple access support • Can you customise it?

  12. Tools and Best Practices http://manisnet.org/GeorefGuide.html http://mapstedi.colorado.edu/

  13. Develop action plan • solution: goals, limitations, resources & future requirements • Staffing • Training of staff • Time required to build or implement solutions • Cost • Workflow • After project completion • Data quality enhancement • Contingency planning / Risk Analysis

  14. Run the project • Test your assumptions • Seek funding • Build database solutions • Hire staff, training or orientation • Documentation of processes • Office space and equipments • Start digitising • Review and monitoring

  15. Best resource...... Frazier, C. K., Wall, J., and S. Grant (2008). Initiating a Natural History Collections Digitisation Project, ver. 1.0. Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 75 pp. ISBN: 87-92020-05-4 (available as standalone PDF from http://www.gbif.org/

  16. Best resource… • Chapters on • Data Quality • Data Cleaning • Geo-referencing • Generalising sensitive data http://www2.gbif.org/TM1.pdf

  17. Thank You! Email: vchavan@gbif.org Skype: vishwaschavan

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