Welcome to iDigBio

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Welcome to iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollections)

On behalf of the iDigBio PIs, Larry Page, Pam Soltis, Bruce MacFadden, José Fortes and Greg Riccardi, the staff at the University of Florida (UF) and Florida State University (FSU) welcome you to iDigBio.

Below are some resources we hope you will find useful, whether you are writing your digitization proposal for the next round of funding, have just received your funding, or are looking for more ways to get involved in the biodiversity digitization community.

These are only some of the resources on the iDigBio website. We encourage you to use them and to explore on your own. Why not start a ‘Wiki’ page for your digitization project, get involved in a Working or Interest Group, or start a conversation about digitization on Facebook? These are some of the resources in the user participation area on https://www.idigbio.org.

Seeing the Big Picture – the Grand Challenge

Materials developed through the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) are instructive in framing and planning the solution for the ‘Grand Challenge’ created by NSF to digitize all natural history collections in the U.S. Learn what BCoN (formerly NIBA) is and how it supports your digitization efforts.

  • NIBA Strategic Plan – this outlines the 10-year effort to digitize and mobilize the scientific information associated with biodiversity specimens held in U.S. research collections.
  • NIBA Implementation Plan – this takes the NIBA strategic plan further by defining the steps necessary to meet the ‘Grand Challenge’ all the way to becoming a sustained program.
  • BCoN - this describes the change from NIBA to BCoN and outlines implementation plan recommendations.

Funding Sources

If you are looking for funding for digitization of biodiversity collections data, below are some NSF resources.

iDigBio is interested in all digitized natural history collections data, not only those supported by NSF.

Working Together

If you are curious about what collections might already be included under the iDigBio umbrella, TCNs, PENs and RDCNs, etc., go to: https://www.idigbio.org/content/thematic-collections-networks

iDigBio has various cyberinfrastructure resources (e.g., virtual machines (VMs)), services, and processes for collaborating that you might want to be aware of for your budget planning and proposal writing.

Our data use and support policies are documented in the following:

iDigBio holds workshops throughout the year on such topics as georeferencing, methods for augmented optical character recognition (aOCR), public participation (e.g., citizen science), and specimen digitization workflows (e.g., flat sheets, pinned, things in jars, things in drawers). In addition, there are working/interest groups comprising community members (i.e., people like yourself interested in improving specimen digitization) working on cyberinfrastructure, database schema, and supporting the workshops.

Are you interested in joining a working group or interest group? Participation is open to all at any level of commitment: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/IDigBio_Working_Groups

iDigBio relies on the community to propose and implement good ideas for uses of data.

If you would like initial guidance on writing a proposal to the NSF's ADBC program: https://www.idigbio.org/content/writing-proposal-adbc-program-nsf

Dissemination and Contact

If you would like copies of our iDigBio poster and/or pamphlet, which are suitable for showing your support and interest in iDigBio in any public place:

Don't miss our newsletter. Please sign up for our monthly newsletter here: https://www.idigbio.org/newsletter-subscribe

Bookmark this general index to project resources: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Wiki_Home

If you go to iDigBio’s website, https://www.idigbio.org, and want to find something but don’t know where to look, try the ‘Search’ box in the upper right. It provides a targeted Google search within the entire site.

If you would like to join one of our listservs to receive timely or important notices, apply here:

If you have comments, suggestions, or need help: