iDigBio, STEPPE, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Paleontological Research Institution Department of Paleobiology, and the Paleontological Society combined to host the third digitization and digital data-related symposium at the Geological Society of America’s annual conference, this year held at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver, September 24-28. The event, which attracted over 100 participants, was titled Fossil 0’s and 1’s: Databases, Standards, & Mobilization and featured sixteen speakers on a range of topics within the paleo database, data use, and mobilization umbrella. Organizes included Talia Karim, Amanda Millhouse, Holly Little, Shelley James, and Gil Nelson. Several of the presentations generated excellent audience questions and discussion and underscored the importance of using digital data in paleontological research and practice.
In addition to the symposium, Karim and Nelson co-authored the presentation The Digital Revolution and Paleontological Collections: More Data and Better Access for the technical session Museums at the Forefront of the History and Philosophy of Geology I, presented by Karim.
Participating in and sponsoring symposia at the Geological Society of America’s annual conference has become a mainstay activity for iDigBio and provides an important time for paleo-related ADBC collaborators to come together around joint topics related to digitization, data mobilization, and TCN and EarthCube initiatives.
