iDigBio Summit II Report

Summary

The second annual iDigBio Summit was held on October 23-24, 2012, in Gainesville, Florida, and was completed with great success!  The Summit promoted clarification of objectives, communication of progress towards achieving objectives, identification and discussion of challenges and opportunities, and collaboration among stakeholders.

Summit Day 1 focused on presentations from iDigBio, freshmen TCNs, sophomore TCNs, and the Working Groups to communicate details on ongoing and planned activities, including brief reports on workshops held during the past year. Summit Day 1 concluded with a range of ad hoc "birds of a feather" discussion groups targeted to specific topics of the participants' choosing.  The presentations as well as the notes from the "birds of a feather" groups are provided below.

Summit Day 2 focused on the exploration of key challenge topics through several guided discussion groups.  Each group discussed a particular challenge area in an effort to identify and prioritize key stakeholder needs within that area.  The notes from each of the guided discussion groups are provided below.

 

Presentations

The following tables provide access to the Biblio entries for the Summit presentations and associated multimedia files.

iDigBio Presentations

Topic Presenter Presentation Multimedia
iDigBio Overview and Relationship to Other Initiatives Larry Page biblio None available
NSF Overview of AIBS, NIBA, and Implementation Plan Judy Skog biblio None available
iDigBio Research Coordination, Scientific Community Outreach, Education & Public Outreach Bruce MacFadden biblio None available
iDigBio Optimization of Digitization Workflows and Processes Gil Nelson biblio None available
iDigBio Cyberinfrastructure Jose Fortes biblio None available
iDigBio 2012 Visiting Scholar Anna Monfils biblio None available


Freshmen TCN Presentations

Topic Presenter Presentation Multimedia
Digitizing Fossils to Enable New Syntheses in Biogeography - Creating a PALEONICHES Bruce Lieberman biblio vimeo
The Macrofungi Collection Consortium (MaCC): Unlocking a Biodiversity for Understanding Biotec Interactions, Nutrient Cycling and Human Affairs Barbara Thiers biblio vimeo
Mobilizing New England Vascular Plant (NEVP) Data to Track Environmental Changes Patrick Sweeney biblio vimeo
Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN): A Model for Collections Digitization to Promote Taxonomic and Ecological Research Neil Cobb biblio vimeo
Mississippi Herbaria Consortium Lucile McCook biblio vimeo


SophomoreTCN Presentations

Topic Presenter(s) Presentation Multimedia
Plants, Herbivores, and Parasitoids: A Model System for the Study of Tri-trophic Associations Toby Schuh, Christiane Weirauch, & Katja Seltmann biblio vimeo
InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental CHange, Species Discovery and Identification Chris Dietrich & Omar Sobh biblio vimeo
North American Lichens and Bryophytes - Sensitive Indicators of Environmental Quality and Change Corinna Gries biblio vimeo
VertNet David Bloom biblio vimeo


iDigBio Working Group Presentations

Topic Presenter(s) Presentation Multimedia
Augmenting OCR (aOCR) Edward Gilbert & Deborah Paul biblio None available
Cyberinfrastructure Andrea Matsunaga biblio vimeo
Developing Robust Object-to-Image-to-Data Workflows (DROID 1/2/3) Gil Nelson biblio vimeo
Georeferencing (GWG) Deborah Paul, David Bloom, & Shari Ellis biblio vimeo
Minimum Information Standards, Authority Files & Semantics (MISC) Andrea Matsunaga & Gil Nelson biblio vimeo
Public Participation in Digitization Austin Mast biblio vimeo

 

Discussion Group Notes

The following provides access to the Biblio entries for the notes taken at the various discussion groups, including any associated multimedia files.

Topic Facilitator Notes Multimedia
"Birds of a Feather": ad hoc discussion groups focused on participant-specific topics Various biblio vimeo
Collaboration: focused on TCN interactions with iDigBio, networking among TCNs, and lessons learned, best practices, and avoiding duplication of effort Marcia Mardis biblio vimeo
Data: focused on data and image ingestion, increasing access to specimen data, and appliances Gil Nelson biblio vimeo
Outreach: focused on funding sources, audiences for education and outreach activities, formal education, informal education, communication, and outreach to smaller collections Anna Monfils biblio vimeo
Sustainability: focused on data management, funding, public involvement, and inclusiveness with other initiatives Neil Cobb biblio None available
Storage: focused on funding, temporary, primary, backup and archival storage, and sustainability David Bloom biblio None available
Metrics: focused on how to quantify progress and success, efficacy of workflows and methods, and project management Reed Beaman biblio None available

 

Conclusions

Initial feedback has indicated that the Summit was valuable, met all of the established objectives, and was a great success.  A summary of the post-summit survey, including ideas for future summits, is provided here.

During Year 2, iDigBio will be focusing on the following major areas:

  • Continue emphasis on digitization and cyberinfrastructure
  • Develop research, educational, and outreach opportunites and collaborations
  • Work to integrate with federal collections
  • Explore international opportunities
  • Long-term sustainability of the national digitization effort

Some key recommendations determined during the summit were:

  • Establish an Education & Outreach Working Group
  • Establish a Sustainability Working Group
  • Promote more "train the trainers" programs

View more photos in the Summit II Facebook Photo Album