The first annual Biodiversity Digitization Conference was held September 27-29, 2022. The international event focused on data generation and mobilization with a special emphasis on presentations, hands-on workshops, and lively discussions that provided training, resource sharing, and workforce enhancement. Major topics included digitization strategies for ensuring data quality, digitizing in support of the digital extended specimen, lightning talks by digitization practitioners from around the globe, updates from U.S. National Science Foundation-funded digitization projects, image and data storage, digitization workflows, and expanding biodiversity information through the digitization of trait data. The conference addressed essential content for those working at the interface of physical specimens and the generation of digital data from those specimens.
The event drew 1107 registrants from 68 countries. 457 people joined the conference live and many others took advantage of the posted recordings. The content varied from day to day. Day 1 focused on U.S. efforts and highlighted thematic collection network efforts and iDigBio resources. The morning of Day 2 featured three concurrent sessions of submitted lightning presentations from a diversity of speakers addressing a range of topics. The afternoon featured 6 discussion sessions with topics including: Solutions for long-term image storage and accessibility, Data quality: most common data dealbreakers, GBIF, ALA, iDigBio: Aligning systems to benefit data mobilization, Sustaining Institutional Digitization of Biodiversity Collections: Considerations and Examples, Including Indigenous Metadata in Collection Records, and Digital Extended Specimen. Day 3 included four workshops including: Digitization Workflows in Symbiota-based Biodiversity Specimen Data Portals, Capturing trait data: broad, across different taxonomic groups, Digitization Coordination: Combining Project Management & Digitization Efforts to Benefit Collections, Big and Small, and Imaging Biodiversity Specimens: First Steps to a Great Start (and Beyond).
iDigBio would like to thank our partner organizations and conference planners for all their help making this event happen. The virtual platform and contributed content confirmed the need to broaden the historic iDigBio Summit’s scope. The international contributions were much appreciated and provided beneficial information, elevating the knowledge provided through the event.
To learn more about the conference and to view recordings, please visit https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/BioDigiCon_2022
