**WG2: Development of Standards and Guidelines for Data gathering and large-scale digitisation of collection objects** Co-leads: Elspeth Haston (RBGE), Arnald Marcer (CREAF) and Joaquim Santos (COI) Based on existing biodiversity data information standards and taking into account information from WG1, WG2 will develop common standards and guidelines for digitisation of different types of collections and collection objects, linking complementary expertise of information technicians and biodiversity and geoscience researchers. The information to be shared through the standards and guidelines refers primarily to large-scale digitisation of 2D and 3D objects, including micro-CT and surface scanning technologies, and the development of the respective infrastructure at the European and international scale. Information about novel techniques will be shared with SME partners. Guidelines for the respective technical framework and standardised workflows for the digitisation process will be developed. New concepts and products (software, equipment etc.) will be discussed and, if necessary, evaluated. Existing standards already implemented by various national and international initiatives will be integrated into harmonised common guidelines. Refers to Objective: 2 (Bridging: Linking complementary expertise of information scientists, biodiversity researchers and geoscientists leading to new concepts, technical innovations and products), 3 (Compiling: Develop recommendations and best practices linking regional and global community standards and guidelines) and 4 (Planning: Increase sustainability of bio- and geo-diversity data providing infrastructures and define a common research agenda for long-term preservation and re-use of biodiversity data) **Tasks:** - (a) Identify existing and new communities (incl. industry) and expertise; - (b) Develop standards for the data files needed to be stored; - (c) Develop strategy on the access and terms of use for data and metadata; - (d) Create partnerships for the development of 2D/3D pattern recognition technology solutions; - (e) Assess citizen science platforms and projects for structured data-gathering tasks. **Activities:** - Discipline specific workshops on collection digitisation (e.g. for geology, palaeontology (vertebrate / invertebrate), zoology (Vertebrate / invertebrate), botany) at major conferences; - Interdisciplinary workshops to include industry partners. **Milestones:** - Scope of development determined; - Development framework determined; - Guidelines published. **Major deliverables:** - A set of standards and guidelines for large-scale digitisation, incorporating innovative techniques through collaboration with industry partners. **List of participants** - <a href="https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA17106/#tabs+Name:Working%20Groups%20and%20Membership" target="_blank">COST EU website link</a> **MOBILISE website** - <a href="https://www.mobilise-action.eu" target="_blank">MOBILISE</a> ---------- **ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS** ***PEOPLE IDENTIFIERS*** **Workshop: Authority Management of People Names, 12-13 March 2019, Sofia** - **Conference abstract**: Groom et al. (2019) Progress in Authority Management of People Names for Collections. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 3, e37188. [https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.35074][1] - **Publication**: Quentin Groom, Anton Güntsch, Pieter Huybrechts, Nicole Kearney, Siobhan Leachman, Nicky Nicolson, Roderic D M Page, David P Shorthouse, Anne E Thessen, Elspeth Haston, People are essential to linking biodiversity data, Database, Volume 2020, 2020, baaa072, [https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baaa072][2] **Workshop: Biodiversity Next Pre-conference Workshop: Identifiers for people working on biodiversity, 21 October 2019, Leiden** - **Conference abstract**: Haston E, Mitchell L (2019) People: From a Collection Manager's Viewpoint. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 3: e35709. [https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.35709][3] **Workshop: People Identifiers, 25-26 Janary 2023, Oslo** - **Leaflet**: Meeus Sofie, Ariño Arturo H., Bakken Torkild, Braun Paul, Dillen Mathias, Endresen Dag, Haston Elspeth M, Lowe Miranda, Meyke Evgeniy, Santos Joaquim, von Mering Sabine, & Groom Quentin. (2023). Who is Who in Natural History Collections?. Zenodo. [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7781754][4] **Best practice for people identifiers** - **Conference abstract**: Groom Q, Bräuchler C, Cubey RWN, Dillen M, Huybrechts P, Kearney N, Leachman S, Paul DL, Rogers H, Santos J, Shorthouse DP, Vaughan A, von Mering S, Haston EM (2022) Collections do not have to Remain Ambiguous Forever: Seven steps to getting the correct people into your data. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 6: e91194. [https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.6.91194][5] - **Publication**: Groom et al. (2022) The disambiguation of people names in biological collections. Biodiversity Data Journal. 10: e86089. [https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e86089][6] - **Publication**: Güntsch A, Groom Q, Ernst M, Holetschek J, Plank A, Röpert D, David Fichtmüller, David Peter Shorthouse, Roger Hyam, Mathias Dillen, Maarten Trekels, Elspeth Haston, Heimo Rainer . (2021) A botanical demonstration of the potential of linking data using unique identifiers for people. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0261130. [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261130][7] ---------- ***GEOREFERENCING*** **Workshop: Quality issues in georeferencing, 10-12 Feb 2020, Warsaw** - **Report (Survey)**: Marcer A., Groom Q., Haston E., & Uribe F. (2021). Natural History Collections Georeferencing Survey Report. Current georeferencing practices across institutions worldwide. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4644529 - **Report (Workshop)**: Marcer A., Haston E., Groom Q., Ariño A., Chapman A.D., Bakken T., Braun P., Dillen M., Ernst M., Escobar A., Fichtmüller D., Livermore L., Nicolson N., Paragamian K., Paul D., Petterson L. B., Phillips S., Plummer J., Rainer H., Rey I., Robertson T., Röpert D., Santos J., Uribe F., Waller J. and Wieczorek J.R. (2020). Quality issues in georeferencing: From physical collections to digital data repositories for ecological research. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3734848 - **Publication**: Marcer et al. (2021) Quality issues in georeferencing: From physical collections to digital data repositories for ecological research. Diversity and Distributions. 27: 564–567. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13208 **Data quality and georeferencing practices** - **Publication**: Marcer et al. (2022). Uncertainty matters: ascertaining where specimens in natural history collections come from and its implications for predicting species distributions. Ecography. 2022: e06025. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06025 - **Publication**: Marcer et al. (2022). Ali-Bey - an open collaborative georeferencing web application. Biodiversity Data Journal. 10:e81282. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e81282 - **Conference abstract**: Marcer A, Escobar A, Díaz A, Uribe F (2019) Towards a Federated List of Versioned Georeferenced Site Names: A local experience. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 3: e37079. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.37079 - **Conference abstract**: Spatial uncertainty in data from Natural History Collections as mediated by GBIF. Implications for ecological research. Through the door and through the web: releasing the power of natural history collections onsite and online. Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, June 5-10, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6593764 - **Conference abstract**: Marcer A, Haston E, Groom Q, Picó F, Escobar A, Uribe F (2019) Uncertain Geo-Uncertainty: Ecological research and public biodiversity data repositories. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 3: e34826. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.34826 - **Software**: Marcer et al. (in development). GeoPick. Implementing Best Practices for Georeferencing (2022) ---------- ***IMAGE CAPTURE STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES*** **Workshop: Image capture standards and guidelines, 18-19 May 2022, Heraklion** - **Report (Survey)**: Marcer et al. (in preparation) ‘Imaging Natural Science Collections Survey’ report - **Report (Workshop)**: Haston et al. (in preparation) ‘Image capture standards and guidelines’ workshop report. - **Collaboration**: iDigBio periodic virtual meetings to prepare the actions on standards and guidelines for image capture. **Workshop: Machine learning on images of natural history collections, 8-10 September 2021, Coimbra** - **Report (Workshop)**: Santos et al. (in preparation) ‘Machine learning on images of natural history collections’ workshop report. - **Publication**: Groom et al. (2022) Envisaging a global infrastructure to exploit the potential of digitised collections. Authorea. October 31, 2022. https://doi.org/10.22541/au.166678848.82362633/v2 ---------- ***CROWDSOURCING*** **Workshop: Crowdsourcing for Natural Science Collections - closing the circle of data flow, 2 & 9 November 2020, Virtual** - **Report**: Santos et al. (2023) Crowdsourcing for Natural Science Collections - closing the circle of data flow’ workshop report. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7853038 ---------- **MIDS** **Minimal Information about a Digital Specimen (MIDS) standard** - **Collaboration**: TDWG MIDS Task Group on the development of the MIDS standard - **Specification**: Hardisty, A., Addink, W., Dillen, M., Groom, Q., Haston, E., et al. (Draft) Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen (MIDS) v0.14, 29 Mar 2021. ---------- ***DELIVERABLE: A set of standards and guidelines for large-scale digitisation*** - Workshop: Year 4 (12-13 September 2022, Padua) WG2-WG5 Joint Workshop - Digitization in Italy - Report: Year 4. Santos et al. (in preparation). ‘WG2-WG5 Joint Workshop - Digitization in Italy’ workshop report. - Workshop: Year 4 (12-13 January 2023, London) Digitisation Deliverable Report: Year 4. Haston et al. (in preparation). ‘Digitisation Deliverable’ workshop report. - Website: DiSSCo Digitisation Guides. Guidance and workflows for the digitisation of natural science collections. https://dissco.github.io - Conference presentation: Haston EM, Chapman C (2022) MIDS: The digitisation standard for Natural Science collections. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 6: e94604. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.6.94604 ***Abstracts*** - Groom Q., Besombes C., Brown J., Chagnoux S., Georgiev T., Kearney N., Marcer A., Nicolson N., Page R., Phillips S., Rainer H., Riccardi G., Röpert D., Shorthouse D.P., Stoev P. and Haston E. (2019). Progress in Authority Management of People Names for Collections. Biodiversity Next. Building a global infrastructure for biodiversity data together. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Leiden, Netherlands, October 22-25, 2019 ---------- [1]: https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.35074 [2]: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baaa072 [3]: https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.35709 [4]: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7781754 [5]: https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.6.91194 [6]: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e86089 [7]: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baaa072