[ Another topic for comments.  Please keep the Topic number in responses ]

 

Topic 2: GUIDs for Collections and Specimens

 

Identifiers to assist with management of collection data have been at the centre of TDWG’s GUID investigation from the beginning.  A primary motivation for this work has been the need to recognise where two data providers are offering access to information on the same specimen.  Two very basic scenarios for specimen identifiers are described on the wiki at http://wiki.gbif.org/guidwiki/wikka.php?wakka=GUIDUseCases. However we do need to make sure we understand the actual scenarios requiring such identifiers across the range of biological collections.  I am therefore looking for descriptions of the situations in which your current processes, systems and applications already use identifiers for specimens (and where perhaps genuinely globally unique identifiers may help), and of any policies and processes around collection management which might affect how we are able to assign, manage or resolve identifiers.

 

When I speak of ‘specimens’ I am primarily thinking of organisms (living or dead, including subsamples) held in collections (including zoos, aquaria, culture collections and seed banks), but I am also very interested in parallel situations involving the assignment of identifiers to observation events in the field.

 

Some more specific questions to try to shape discussion:

 

  1. What identifiers (how many per specimen) get assigned to specimens in your organisation or domain (field numbers, catalogue numbers, etc.)?
  2. What is the scope of uniqueness for each of these identifiers (notebook page, collector, database, institution, global, etc.)?
  3. Can you explain the life cycle of each of these identifiers (who assigns them, how they are subsequently tracked)?
  4. Can you give examples of how these identifiers are used to retrieve the specimen and/or information on the specimen?
  5. Would there be any social or technical roadblocks to replacing these identifiers with a single identifier that was guaranteed to be unique?
  6. In the case of subsamples from a specimen, can you identify issues around associating the sample and associated information with the source specimen and associated information?

 

The subject of specimen identifiers is somewhat linked to that of collection identifiers, since Darwin Core and the ABCD Schema have used institution and collection codes together with catalogue numbers to identify specimens in the absence of GUIDs.  It would also be useful here to collect information on the following:

 

  1. How are your specimens organised into larger identifiable sets (collections, named collections, databases, institutions, etc.)?
  2. What identifiers get assigned to each of these sets in your organization or domain (institution codes, collection codes, Index Herbarium acronyms, etc.)?
  3. Can you explain the life cycle of each of these identifiers (who assigns them, how they are subsequently tracked)?
  4. Can you give examples of how these identifiers are used to locate the set and/or information on the set?
  5. Would there be any social or technical roadblocks to replacing these identifiers with a single identifier that was guaranteed to be unique?

 

To help you a little, my aim is to use this information to develop additional scenarios as use cases which will complement those already on the wiki (and yes, I do realise that the existing “use case” pages are not formal use cases!).  If you feel able simply to add pages to the wiki which describe scenarios for using identifiers to manage specimen and collection data, please go ahead (and include links to your new scenarios from the GUIDUseCases page).

 

Thanks,

 

Donald
 
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Donald Hobern (dhobern@gbif.org)
Programme Officer for Data Access and Database Interoperability
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat
Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel: +45-35321483   Mobile: +45-28751483   Fax: +45-35321480
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