Standardised Globally Unique Specimen Identifiers

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards

article

Anton Güntsch¹  Quentin Groom²  Roger Hyam³  Simon Chagnoux⁴  Dominik Röpert¹  Walter G. Berendsohn⁵  Ana Casino⁶  Gabriele Droege¹  Willfred Gerritsen⁷  Jörg Holetschek¹  Karol Marhold⁸  Patricia Mergen²  Heimo Rainer^1,10  Vincent Stuart Smith^1,11  Dagmar Triebel^1,12 

[1] Freie Universität Berlin;Botanic Garden Meise;Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh;Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle;Freie Universitaet Berlin;CETAF c/o Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences;Naturalis Biodiversity Center;Slovak Academy of Sciences;Royal Museum for Central Africa;Naturhistorisches Museum Wien;The Natural History Museum;SNSB IT Center and Botanische Staatssammlung München

关键词: specimen identifier;    collection management;    linked open data;   

DOI  :  10.3897/biss.2.26658

来源: Pensoft

【 摘 要 】

A simple, permanent and reliable specimen identifier system is needed to take the informatics of collections into a new era of interoperability. A system of identifiers based on HTTP URI (Uniform Resource Identifiers), endorsed by the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF), has now been rolled out to 14 member organisations (Güntsch et al. 2017).CETAF-Identifiers have a Linked Open Data redirection mechanism for both human- and machine-readable access and, if fully implemented, provide Resource Description Framework (RDF) -encoded specimen data following best practices continuously improved by members of the initiative. To date, more than 20 million physical collection objects have been equipped with CETAF Identifiers (Groom et al. 2017).To facilitate the implementation of stable identifiers, simple redirection scripts and guidelines for deciding on the local identifier syntax have been compiled (http://cetafidentifiers.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Main_Page). Furthermore, a capable "CETAF Specimen URI Tester" (http://herbal.rbge.info/) provides an easy-to-use service for testing whether the existing identifiers are operational.For the usability and potential of any identifier system associated with evolving data objects, active links to the source information are critically important. This is particularly true for natural history collections facing the next wave of industrialised mass digitisation, where specimens come online with only basic, but rapidly evolving label data. Specimen identifier systems must therefore have components for monitoring the availability and correct implementation of individual data objects. Our next implementation steps will involve the development of a "Semantic Specimen Catalogue", which has a list of all existing specimen identifiers together with the latest RDF metadata snapshot. The catalogue will be used for semantic inference across collections as well as the basis for periodic testing of identifiers.

【 授权许可】

Unknown