Data and digital images: progress, tools and scientific need for digitizing Pacific biological specimen collections at the 23rd Pacific Science Congress: Science, Technology and Innovation, June 16, 2016 in Taipei, Taiwan.
Collection of biodiversity specimens in the Pacific stretches back more than 240 years and continues today, providing a wealth of information about the flora and fauna of the region through space and time. Digitizing natural history collections, and making the data available electronically, provides a powerful tool for scientific research, from the biogeographic distribution of native and invasive species, to facilitating taxonomic research, to big-picture projects such as understanding the impacts of climate and humans on biodiversity. Building upon the iDigBio-sponsored workshop held in Hawaii in 2013, this symposium invites international collaboration in the Pacific region by bringing together managers of biological collections, data managers, researchers and educators to share stories of the current progress of digitization of biological collections from the Asia-Pacific region, communicate current research projects that are using biological collections data, and discuss the needs for sustainable digitization and data archiving in the region.
