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    Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal

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    Published (1002.Kb)
    Authors
    Vissers, J.
    Van den Bosch, F.
    Bogaerts, A.
    Cocquyt, C.
    Degreef, J.
    Diagre, D.
    de Haan, M.
    De Smedt, S.
    Engledow, H.
    Ertz, D.
    Fabri, R.
    Godefroid, S.
    Hanquart, N.
    Mergen, P.
    Ronse, A.
    Sosef, M.
    Stévart, T.
    Stoffelen, P.
    Vanderhoeven, S.
    Groom, Q.
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    Discipline
    Biological sciences
    Computer and information sciences
    Subject
    Invertebrates
    Audience
    Scientific
    Date
    2017
    Publisher
    Pensoft
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Description
    The digitization of herbaria and their online access will greatly facilitate access to plant collections around the world. This will improve the efficiency of taxonomy and help reduce inequalities between scientists. The Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium, is currently digitizing 1.2 million specimens including label data. In this paper we describe the user requirements analysis conducted for a new herbarium web portal. The aim was to identify the required functionality, but also to assist in the prioritization of software development and data acquisition. The Garden conducted the analysis in cooperation with Clockwork, the digital engagement agency of Ordina. Using a series of interactive interviews, potential users were consulted from universities, research institutions, science-policy initiatives and the Botanic Garden Meise. Although digital herbarium data have many potential stakeholders, we focused on the needs of taxonomists, ecologists and historians, who are currently the primary users of the Meise herbarium data portal. The three categories of user have similar needs, all wanted as much specimen data as possible, and for those data, to be interlinked with other digital resources within and outside the Garden. Many users wanted an interactive system that they could comment on, or correct online, particularly if such corrections and annotations could be used to rank the reliability of data. Many requirements depend on the quality of the digitized data associated with each specimen. The essential data fields are the taxonomic name; geographic location; country; collection date; collector name and collection number. Also all researchers valued linkage between biodiversity literature and specimens. Nevertheless, to verify digitized data the researchers still want access to high quality images, even if fully transcribed label information is provided. The only major point of disagreement is the level of access users should have and what they should be allowed to do with the data and images. Not all of the user requirements are feasible given the current technical and regulatory landscape, however, the potential of these suggestions is discussed. Currently, there is no off-the-shelf solution to satisfy all these user requirements, but the intention of this paper is to guide other herbaria who are prioritising their investment in digitization and online web functionality
    Citation
    Vissers, J.; Van den Bosch, F.; Bogaerts, A.; Cocquyt, C.; Degreef, J.; Diagre, D.; de Haan, M.; De Smedt, S.; Engledow, H.; Ertz, D.; Fabri, R.; Godefroid, S.; Hanquart, N.; Mergen, P.; Ronse, A.; Sosef, M.; Stévart, T.; Stoffelen, P.; Vanderhoeven, S.; Groom, Q. (2017). Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal. , PhytoKeys, Vol. 78, 37-57, Pensoft, DOI: doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936.
    Identifiers
    uri: https://orfeo.belnet.be/handle/internal/11916
    doi: http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936
    url: http://phytokeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=10936
    Type
    Article
    Peer-Review
    Yes
    Language
    eng
    Links
    NewsHelpdeskBELSPO OA Policy

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