connecting the dots: natural science collections and the web

Connecting the dots……natural science collections and the web

Ed BakerDepartment of Entomology, Natural History Museum

Introduction > Uses > Golden Rules > Digitisation > SocialIntroduction > Uses > Golden Rules > Digitisation > Social

The Informatics Landscape


An ecosystem of projects


How do we join in?


Some golden rules

• If it’s not online then it doesn’t exist

• Something is better than nothing

• It will never be perfect…

…deal with it (it will still be useful)


“… the rate of progress by the UK taxonomic institutions

in digitising and making collections information available

is disappointingly low.

Unless a more strategic view is taken... there is a

significant risk of damage to the international reputation

of major institutions”

2009 UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Report on

Taxonomy and Systematics

If it’s not online it doesn’t exist!


If it’s not online it doesn’t exist!

X X XIntroduction > Uses > Golden Rules > Digitisation > SocialIntroduction > Uses > Golden Rules > Digitisation > Social

Something is better than nothing

• It’s ok to put incomplete data on the web – as long as you’re honest about it

• Data doesn’t need to be perfect to go online• “bad” photographs can still be useful• it is better to put ‘orphaned’ files and data online

than have it inaccessible


It will never be perfect….

“At present rates it would take approximately 900 years

to get the data off the Natural History Museum’s 70

million specimens, and 500 years to take the pictures.”

Blagoderov & Smith 2011


It will never be perfect….

• We can’t wait that long

• We need to come up with a new way

• Industrialise digitisation


….dealing with it

• Move the focus from specimens to drawers, large images, high resolution

• Develop new technologies to interact with and annotate giant images


Going social


Your data1

“Published” & reviewedon your site

3Uploaded &

tagged

2

Fast Intuitive Fit for use


>18K specimen records(local small scale coverage)

>276M specimen records(worldwide coverage)


25 May, 2011239 sites

3212 users371,947 nodes

Mar. 2007 - Dec. 2010


Questions?Questions?

connecting the dots: natural science collections and the web

Technology

digitisation introduction

useful introduction

use introduction

data doesnt

data onlinethan

incomplete data

x x xintroduction

natural history museums