Workshop Application: Managing Natural History Collections Data for Global Discoverability
Summary:
The theme of "Collections Data for Global Discoverability" is ideally suited for natural history collections specialists aiming to increase the "research readiness" of their biodiversity data at a global scale. Have you found yourself in situations where you need to manage larger quantities of collection records, or encounter challenges in carrying out updates or quality checks? Do you mainly use spreadsheets (such as Excel) to clean and manage specimen-level datasets before uploading them into your collections database? This workshop is most appropriate for those who are relatively new to collections data management and are motivated to provide the global research community with accessible, standards- and best practices-compliant biodiversity data. iDigBio and Arizona State University are co-sponsoring this 4th-in-a-series of biodiversity informatics workshops.

During the three-day workshop essential information science and biodiversity data concepts will be introduced (i.e., data tables, data sharing, quality/cleaning, Darwin Core, APIs). Hands on data cleaning exercises using spreadsheet programs and readily usable and free software are planned. The workshop is platform independent, and thus will not focus on the specifics of one or the other locally preferred biodiversity database platforms, instead addressing fundamental themes and solutions that will apply to a variety of database applications.

30 participants are expected at the workshop. Some funds are available to offset travel and lodging costs. Admissions will take into account the applicant's fit with the workshop's theme and targeted (entry) level of prior experience.

Instructors and Organizers: Amber Budden (DataONE), Ed Gilbert (ASU, Symbiota), Nico Franz (ASU - host), Deb Paul (iDigBio, FSU), Greg Riccardi (iDigBio, FSU), Mark Schildhauer (NCEAS) & Katja Seltmann (TTD-TCN, AMNH)

Keywords: data feedback and improvement, relational database, copyright / intellectual property, data sharing, data life-cycle, assessing / facilitating data quality

iDigBio Calendar Announcement: https://www.idigbio.org/content/managing-natural-history-collections-data-global-discoverability

Location: Arizona State University, Tempe (Natural History Collections Space); https://maps.asu.edu/?id=120&mrkIid=66206 
When: September 15 - 17, 2015

Workshop Wiki (in development) https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Managing_Natural_History_Collections_Data_for_Global_Discoverability

Questions? Deb Paul, dpaul@fsu.edu

Deadline to Apply: May 1st, 2015

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First Name *
Last Name *
Best email to contact you *
Best phone to contact you (not required)
What is your place of employment and position? *
Please provide place name / position title
Briefly describe your present job responsibilities. *
Have you attended an iDigBio workshop before? If so, which ones?
Please share the size of your collection/s and note the units (specimens or lots, for example) *
What percentage of your collection/s are digitized?
If your collections are digitized, or you are working on creating a digital collection, what database software do you use?
How often do you use Excel or another spreadsheet program (OpenOffice, for example) to manage collection data? *
Do you upload bulk data into your collection database? (yes or no). If yes, what applications, webpages, programs or resources do you use to format data before uploading it into the database?
What other software or programs do you use on a regular basis (R, python, Excel, other)? *
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If you are publishing your data, where are you publishing?
If you are not publishing data, why not?
Please tell us more about why you might not be publishing your data, so that we might be able to help or point you toward help.
Additional information you’d like to give us about what you need in order to mobilize your data? Example: what technical needs or skills do you think you most need to successfully digitize your collection?
Some funds exist to offset travel, lodging and per diem costs. Please select from options below. *
This is not part of the selection criteria. Rather, it's a way for us to potentially include more people in the workshop.
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