Guralnick lab wins NSF grant to track biodiversity
More good news from the ! Rob has just gotten the formal notification of a $1.8 Million award that partners CU, the University of Florida, the University of Hawaii, UC Berkeley and the Smithsonian. A fine set of collaborators!
The title of the grant is: BiSciCol Tracker: Towards a tagging and tracking infrastructure for biodiversity science collectionsâ€
Abstract: Scientific specimens serve as the anchor for an expanding array of information that grows and changes with time about the specimen and the group that the specimen represents. Unfortunately, specimens, their associated data and metadata are scattered geographically across institutions and across independent computer systems and are very difficult to access or synthesize. Current data sharing systems such as DigIR are one-way channels and do not allow for quick and easy two-way linking of information or updates as new knowledge is gained. The BiSciCol team will 1) develop a tracking and annotation system based on globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) and ontological relationships; 2) deploy this system and others in a Virtual Information Appliance (VIA) as a Virtual Machine (VM); and 3) document and implement a set of use cases and practices, based on characteristic physical and digital workflows in the community. BiSciCol is designed on the simple premise that changes to data objects are trackable with GUIDs, and that semantic relationships are assignable and discoverable among physical and data objects. Project deliverables are designed to benefit the entire biological collections community by taking initial steps to implement core information infrastructure based on established challenges in the community. Collections data are critical to land management decisions, maintenance of biodiversity, and analysis of the causes and consequence of climate change. BiSciCol will improve data quality and quantity for these communities of non- scientists and scientists. BiSciCol will actively engage use communities through training workshops, summer student internships, and community BioBlitz enhancements.