Specify
Specify Workshop for Paleontologists and Collaborating to Make it Easier to Start Digitizing
by Deb Paul (on Twitter @idbdeb)
Have you used Specify? Or, are you looking for an easy way to install and try this collection management software?
Specify Paleo Collections Workshop - training, new technology, and data models
guest blog by Talia Karim (University of Colorado) and Una Farrell (University of Kansas)
iDigBio’s Paleo Digitization Workshop Draws more than 60 Attendees to New Haven
More than 60 paleontologists representing 41 institutions assembled in New Haven, CT the week of September 23rd, 2013 to share ideas, protocols, preferences, and strategies. This was iDigBio’s most populous workshop to date, with an assortment of excellent presentations and ample opportunities for rich discussion.
iDigBio and the KU Biodiversity Institute Conduct Specify Workshop
iDigBio, Specify Software Project, and the Biodivesity Institute at University of Kansas joined forces the week of August 12–16, 2013 to offer its first “progressive” Specify workshop. The recent release of Specify 6.5 made the event a timely adventure. Twenty on-site participants representing 16 institutions were joined by up to 20 remote attendees for the occasion. The workshop began with basic installation of Specify, followed by four days of progressively advanced topics.
Entomologists Gather for Insect Digitization Workshop in Chicago
Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) turned out to be the perfect venue for iDigBio’s April 23–25 (2013) Dried Insect Digitization workshop. Overlooking Grant Park and the Chicago lakefront, FMNH provided an exceptionally attractive and hospitable environment with outstanding amenities. About 50 entomologists and digitization professionals from the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom attended, bringing together a diverse assemblage of knowledge and skill to address the complex job of digitizing pinned insect collections.
ASB–iDigBio Digitization Symposium and Workshop Report: An Inspiring Event
Digitization was a hot topic at the 2013 Association of Southeastern Biologists’ (ASB) meeting held in Charleston, West Virginia the week of April 10. Well before the beginning of the ASB–iDigBio-sponsored digitization symposium and workshop, several conference goers had already offered important papers outlining strategies and successes in digitizing small herbaria and incorporating digitization into biodiversity field research.
Report: Collaborators meet to discuss the future of Specify
Report: Collaborators meet to discuss the future of Specify
Biological Collections Databases, Tools, and Data Publication Portals
Launching a biological collections digitization program requires careful selection of a database management system, portal option, aggregator, and associated data enrichment tools. Numerous database systems, data publication portals, and other productivity tools are in use across the collections community, all of which vary in cost, installation requirements, storage methods, approaches to data processing, and other important features. iDigBio has begun the process of reviewing the various systems, tools, and data portals in current use, with the goal of building an annotated list of available products. Our reviews include brief descriptions of features, installation and maintenance requirements, cost, ease of use, and other components that collections managers might find useful when evaluating them for fitness. We include a wide range of products in the list, each of which fits one or more categories as denoted in the parenthetical entries immediately below the product name.
