From paper to cloud: elevating text from specimens and field notes to the web. Leslie W. Powrie Kirstenbosch Research Centre South African National Biodiversity Institute Private Bag X7, Claremont, 7735, South Africa
Basic biodiversity data are essential In this Biodiversity Planning Forum 2014 we have heard about initiatives for which basic biodiversity data are essential Key Biodiversity Areas Biodiversity Planning Biodiversity informatics Municipal Biodiversity Summaries Invasive species Biodiversity Monitoring Framework Environmental management of the ocean
Basic biodiversity data are essential And that is just in the first day! There is a wealth of basic biodiversity information tied up with specimens in herbaria and museums, and in field notes
Where are we at present? SABIF: 11 million records (all organisms) About 1 868 300 plant data are in SABIF About 80 herbaria in South Africa Only 19 of these are in SABIF Only parts of 4 herbaria in SANBI BRAHMS (PRE, NBG, SAM, NH)
Where are we at present? SABONET 5 030 710 specimens digitised 10 participating countries Since there are only about 1 868 300 plant data are in SABIF, where are the other major herbaria?
Where are we at present? About 2.8 million specimens in the 8 largest herbaria of South Africa National Herbarium (PRE), the largest herbarium in Africa and the fourth largest in the southern hemisphere 1.2 million specimens over 900 000 databased Compton Herbarium (NBG, SAM, STE) 750 000 specimens 13% have been databased
Where are we at present? Still about 950 000 specimens in SANBI herbaria alone still to be databased A portion of the approximately 1 000 000 remaining specimens in other herbaria in South Africa still to be databased A further 3 million specimens in the 14 largest herbaria elsewhere in Africa
Where are we at present? About 10 million non-botanical specimens in museums in South Africa 67 collections 21 institutions Largest collection is 3 500 000 terrestrial invertebrates, 100 000 birds, reptiles, terrestrial mammals, marine invertebrates and mammals, and fish in Iziko Museum 70% of this collection is not accessioned and is unidentified and yet to be databased
Where are we at present? GBIF has 429 million records (all organisms) 1 450 000 species 14 630 collections 580 data publishers
Where are we at present? Data for South Africa in GBIF is contributed by 30 countries with 705 occurrence datasets with 11 571 095 records Data in GBIF published by South Africa comprises 21 occurrence datasets with 8 973 006 records, 1 checklist with 10 533 records, and covers 194 countries, territories and islands
Where are we at present? A survey was undertaken in about 2010 which revealed that there were about 6 478 426 specimens yet to be databased in the 67 collections in South Africa
Georeferencing of specimens QDS may be fine for animals as they are mobile QDS far from ideal for plants, but better than nothing Interestingly, plant data were generally recorded with QDS while insect and other tended to be latitude and longitude
Tada! Fanfare! I ll share an exciting citizen science project that elevates this information, taking it from paper to the cloud.
SAFARIS This is where the title of my talk really comes from From paper Specimens Field notes Collecting registers To cloud Indexed Becomes searchable online in the Cloud
SAFARIS Southern African Friends and Researchers Indexing Specimens
Presently hosted on Atlas of Living Australia
Why ALA? Australian Museum has a good working system. Other collections on ALA Smithsonian Institute New York Botanical Garden The Frost Entomological Museum at Pennsylvania State University Finnish Museum of Natural History SANBI
Making images of specimens searchable online SAFARIS A Project A batch of specimens from a museum or herbarium collection Field note book, herbarium collection A task A specimen label, or a page from a field note book Indexer Person transcribing text in the image Validator Person doing quality control checking the transcription
SAFARIS
Now search for saf or africa
Select a project
Start transcribing
Progress thus far Book 1 62 tasks 1860 specimen records Book 2 87 tasks 2934 specimen records
Why the three sources?
Give it a try be a volunteer A wonderful way to spend time Far more personal satisfaction than watching TV! Transcribing Georeferencing Validating
Give it a try be a volunteer Spread the word Family Friends Botanical Society Schools Clubs Scouts, Guides, Voortrekkers Church
www.ala.org.au
Start transcribing
Give it a try be a volunteer Unleash the valuable records and do a good deed or 2 or 20 each day!
Thank you Questions? Acknowledgements GIS lab National Vegetation Map Committee Interns Colleagues SANBI Atlas of Living Aurtralia