[Tdwg-obs] What is an observation?

Hannu Saarenmaa hsaarenmaa at gbif.org
Wed Oct 19 16:40:51 CEST 2005


How about this:   An observation captures data about the occurrence of 
an organism in space and time and in relation to habitat and other 
organisms.  Documenting the precision, accuracy, certainty, and methods 
of the measurements that have been made during an observation is 
essential for determining the fitness for use of the data that has been 
captured. An observation is an event that can be linked to other events.

Indeed, I would like to emphasise the need of documenting what is called 
"quality".

Hannu

Steve Kelling wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I had several people respond to my query about  what kinds of things we 
>should discuss in this list. Overwhelmingly, the interest seemed focused on 
>defining some of the key terms that we are bantering about. To that end I'd 
>like to initiate the first discussion on this list by asking, what is an 
>observation?
>  What follows is some information that I gleaned from the Internet, 
>discussions that I have had with others, and with the ENBI reports. I'd 
>appreciate your comments, in our goal to create a good definintion of 
>observation for our purposes.--Steve
>
>Princeton University's Wordnet 
>(<http://wordnet.princeton.edu/>http://wordnet.princeton.edu/) defines an 
>observation as the act of making and then recording a measurement. 
>Basically, something is watched, and notes are taken about it. In the study 
>of biology and astronomy careful observations made by trained observations 
>and amateurs alike, is the foundation of information gathered for these 
>disciplines.
>
>
>With regard to biodiversity informatics, particularly as to how 
>observations relate to the existing infrastructure, the above definition is 
>too general, because it encompasses all facets of biology. Consequently, we 
>need to begin to qualify the definition of observation. First, we restrict 
>our definition to only those observations made of organisms in the 
>environment. Second, the location at which the observation was made is an 
>integral component of the observation. Third, an observation is exclusive 
>of museum voucher specimens. Finally, information collected during an 
>observation includes additional attributes such as: protocol, measure of 
>abundance, extent of occurrence, demographic, ecological associates, and 
>environmental conditions.
>
>  To discuss and ultimately added to the definition:
>
>Advantages of observational data.
>Disadvantages of observational data
>Observational data providers (amateurs/professionals)
>Detectability and data quality
>Location specificity
>Integration of observational data
>Definition of a collecting event and its significance
>others?
>
>
>Steve Kelling
>Cornell Lab of Ornithology
>607-254-2478 (work)
>607-342-1029 (cell)
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Tdwg-obs mailing list
>Tdwg-obs at lists.tdwg.org
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>
>  
>

-- 
Hannu Saarenmaa
Deputy Director for Informatics
Global Biodiversity Information Facility - GBIF Secretariat
Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen
Tel +45-35321479     Fax +45-35321480     GSM +45-28751479
hsaarenmaa at gbif.org  http://www.gbif.org/





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