Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012:(209):133-46.
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.209.3178. Epub 2012 Jul 20.

No specimen left behind: industrial scale digitization of natural history collections

Vladimir Blagoderov  1 , Ian J Kitching, Laurence Livermore, Thomas J Simonsen, Vincent S Smith
Affiliations

No specimen left behind: industrial scale digitization of natural history collections

Vladimir Blagoderov et al. Zookeys. 2012.

Abstract

Traditional approaches for digitizing natural history collections, which include both imaging and metadata capture, are both labour- and time-intensive. Mass-digitization can only be completed if the resource-intensive steps, such as specimen selection and databasing of associated information, are minimized. Digitization of larger collections should employ an "industrial" approach, using the principles of automation and crowd sourcing, with minimal initial metadata collection including a mandatory persistent identifier. A new workflow for the mass-digitization of natural history museum collections based on these principles, and using SatScan® tray scanning system, is described.

Keywords: Digitization; biodiversity informatics; imaging; natural history collections; specimen metadata.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
SatScan imaging: a SatScan machine b specimens being imaged c individual frames aligned d fragment of a stitched image; final resolution of the stitched image ~11 lines/mm.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Image based digitization workflow consisting of four stages: Imaging, Metadata capture, Institutional databading and Publication.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Metadata Creator software: a–c working areas a drawer image b specimen records c annotation fields d tool selector e unique IDs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ariño AH. (2010) Approaches to estimating the universe of natural History collections data. Biodiversity Informatics 7: 81-92.
    1. Baird R. (2010) Leveraging the fullest potential of scientific collections through digitization. Biodiversity Informatics 7: 130-136.
    1. Berents P, Hamer M, Chavan V. (2010) Towards demand-driven publishing: approaches to the prioritization of digitization of natural history collections data. Biodiversity Informatics 7: 113-119.
    1. Bertone MA, Blinn RL, Stanfield TM, Dew KJ, Seltmann KC, Deans AR. (2012) Results and insights from the NCSU Insect Museum GigaPan project. In: Blagoderov V, Smith VS. (Ed). No specimen left behind: mass digitization of natural history collections. ZooKeys 209: 115–132. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.209.3083 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blagoderov V, Kitching I, Simonsen T, Smith V. (2010) Report on trial of SatScan tray scanner system by SmartDrive Ltd. Available from Nature Precedings http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2010.4486.1

LinkOut - more resources