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The TDWG Biodiversity Data Quality (BDQ) Interest Group, a collaboration between data aggregators including iDigBio, researchers and collections data managers, is working towards developing standardized terminology and tools for assessing the research fitness-for-use for biodiversity data.  

The Interest Group wishes to capture data user stories in a practical, plain language in order to better understand the specific needs of biodiversity data users. Past and present, successful and failed biodiversity data use attempts are equally welcome. The ultimate goal is to improve the research and collection community's data use experiences and to do this,  a public collection of data use examples - or stories - needs to be gathered that would be helpful for data providers, data aggregators, and for you, the user, to demonstrate the spectrum of data relevance, purpose, and analyses of primary biodiversity data.

Do you have a biodiversity data use story to tell?  Help with the development of data quality and fitness-for-use metrics by submitting your User Stories so that the team can better understand the specific needs of the community of biodiversity data users.

Questions or interested in heping further?  Contact the BDQ Use Cases Task Group.

Federal agencies have taken steps to improve the management and accessibility of scientific collections

Scientific collections—collections of physical specimens such as animal and plant specimens and their tissue and DNA, microbes, geological minerals and moonrocks, even air and water samples—are a vital part of the infrastructure for science in the United States and globally. They also play important roles in supporting public health and safety, agriculture, homeland security, trade and economic development, medical research, and environmental monitoring. Federal departments and agencies own and maintain hundreds of diverse scientific collections, many of which are being used for applications beyond their original use. Many of these collections grow at regular, predictable rates, and all require ongoing maintenance to preserve their value and utility.

Read more here!