[tdwg-content] Occurrences, Organisms, and CollectionObjects: a review [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Steve Baskauf]

Roderic Page wrote:
> +1 on keeping things simple (i.e., Darwin Core is a success, why muck 
> with it?)
>
Well, I guess the accuracy of the statement "Darwin Core is a success, 
why muck with it?" depends on your point of view.  If the only thing you 
do is collect specimens, then you would probably agree with that 
statement.  If you document organisms by photographing them, collecting 
DNA from them, or a combination of the above, then you would probably 
NOT agree with it. 

GBIF makes the following statement on it's website: "Since its 
inception, GBIF has focused its data digitisation and mobilisation 
activities on natural history collections data. However, targets such as 
the discovery of 5 billion and mobilisation of up to 2 billion primary 
biodiversity data records require that GBIF data discovery and 
mobilisation activities place equal emphasis on other data types."  
(http://www.gbif.org/informatics/primary-data/types-of-primary-biodiversity-data/).  
I would be interested in hearing from some of the GBIF representatives 
how they would envision accomplishing the goal of integrating other data 
types with specimen data if Darwin Core remains frozen in a form that 
really only works well for collections metadata?

Steve

-- 
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences

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