[tdwg-content] DarwinCore 1.4 & 'lots'

John R. WIECZOREK tuco at berkeley.edu
Fri Mar 6 18:54:57 CET 2009


Dear Kehan and others,

Lots are supported in all versions of Darwin Core in a simple way,
through the IndividualCount. The information about this term in the
proposed Darwin Core can be found in the Quick Reference Guide at
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/index.htm#IndividualCount. Detailed
information about this concept, including all of the preceding
versions and the mapping to/from ABCD can be found in the Complete
History Guide at
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/history/index.htm#IndividualCount-2008-11-19.

In the case(/bottle/box/jar/tube/freezer ;-) ) where a lot is composed
of individuals of more than one ScientificName
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/index.htm#ScientificName) all under the
same catalog number, the recommendation is to apply the ScientificName
that accurately captures all of the samples in the cataloged
container. For example, if you had a cataloged box of sweat bees you
would put the number of individuals in the box in IndividualCount and
"Halictidae" in the ScientificName.  Any other attributes not shared
by all individuals in the lot could be captured at the level of
specificity shared by all individuals. Alternatively, such information
could be captured by enumerating the range of values represented in
the lot. For example, if the hypothetical box of sweat bees had both
adult individuals on pins and larvae in vials, Preparations
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/index.htm#Preparations) could be
populated with "whole animal (pinned), whole animal (ETOH)".

I hope that helps.

John

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 6:41 AM, Kehan Harman <kehanharman at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
> Markus has asked me to pass this on to this shiny new mailing list as
> it's the list that's designed for this kind of query. I'm working as
> part of the Scratchpads project (http://scratchpads.eu) and we're
> wanting to update our specimen module which is currently based on
> DarwinCore 1.2.1. We'd like to be able to support the concept of
> 'lots' within this module and were wondering whether DarwinCore and/or
> the curatorial extensions for it (or ABCD for that matter) support
> this.  A 'lot' is for example a jar of  specimens of n number of
> species, and this is often the lowest level to which specimens get
> curated. I'm pretty sure this is taken into account by DarwinCore but
> just wanted to find out if you know the mapping for this. Markus
> indicated that with DwC it would only support one name per record. I
> know that people on this list will have had to deal with this at the
> application level so maybe you could share how you've done it within
> your institutions.
>
> thanks
> Kehan Harman
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Markus Döring (GBIF)" <mdoering_at_gbif.org>
> Date: Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 5:00 PM
> Subject: Re: DarwinCore 1.4 & 'lots'
> To: Kehan Harman <kehanharman_at_gmail.com>
>
>
> Kehan,
> its not dwc specific really, the problem is known since ages also in
> ABCD. As far as I remember a "unit" in ABCD is anything the museum
> curator decides to be a unit. Basically what gets a catalog number. So
> a single dwc record could represent multiple specimen in case they are
> "hidden" behind a single catalog number. Thats what I think at least,
> John Wiezoreck might disagree, better ask him in person. Best would be
> to use the new tdwg-conten meiling list which is exactly for this.
> Problem with a single dwc record is of course that only one scientific
> name applies. Please post this problem to the list, its good for all
> of us to share the same idea of what a "lot" becomes.
>
> markus
>
>
>
> On Mar 3, 2009, at 17:35, Kehan Harman wrote:
>
>> Hi Markus,
>> Not sure how familiar you are with entomological collections, but
>> Simon and Vince are looking at the scratchpads specimen module
>> (currently based on DarwinCore 1.3) and one thing that they'd like to
>> know about DarwinCore (& the proposed version) is whether it supports
>> the concept of 'lots' out of the box. A lot is for example a jar of
>> specimens of n number of species, and this is often the lowest level
>> to which specimens get curated. I'm pretty sure this is taken into
>> account by DarwinCore but just wanted to find out if you know the
>> mapping for this (or who I should talk to to find this out)? The
>> reason I'm emailing you is you're one of the contributors on
>> http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/index.htm.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Kehan
>>
>>
>> --
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> kehanharman at gmail.com
> http://kehan.wordpress.com
> skype: kehanharman
> msn: kehanharman at gmail.com
>
> Bill Vaughan  - "Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the
> trees, then names the streets after them."
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