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Specimen Barcode and Labeling Guide: Difference between revisions
Specimen Barcode and Labeling Guide (view source)
Revision as of 19:53, 28 January 2015
, 28 January 2015→Barcodes and GUIDs
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* Barcodes, especially in biodiversity domain, are not *globally* unique. They are meant to be only *locally* unique. Therefore, barcodes alone can never be used as a GUID. | * Barcodes, especially in biodiversity domain, are not *globally* unique. They are meant to be only *locally* unique. Therefore, barcodes alone can never be used as a GUID. | ||
* UPC barcodes (those that we find in all products that we buy), ISBN barcodes (found in books/journals) are globally unique because there is an international authority that assigns those numbers and there is an infrastructure/process that everyone is expected to follow. Such authority does not exist for biodiversity collections. | * UPC barcodes (those that we find in all products that we buy), ISBN barcodes (found in books/journals) are globally unique because there is an international authority that assigns those numbers and there is an infrastructure/process that everyone is expected to follow. Such authority does not exist for biodiversity collections. | ||
* A specimen | * A digital specimen GUID is what identifies the specimen (part of an individual, an individual, a set of individuals) in the digital world, while a barcode identifies the specimen in the physical world. | ||
* A specimen | * A digital specimen GUID does not need to be physically attached to the specimen as long as some other type of identification (e.g., a barcode) can be used to locate/link the digital record to the physical specimen. | ||
* Neither a barcode or a GUID are meant for human consumption. They are intended to be compared/read by machines and readers. | * Neither a barcode or a GUID are meant for human consumption. They are intended to be compared/read by machines and readers. | ||