VOA Reports on the Digitization of Museum Specimens in the U.S.

From the Voice of America:

Technology may be advancing rapidly in many fields, but many museums worldwide still do not have their collections of fossils easily searchable on-line. Specimens, called “dark data” are left in drawers, virtually hidden. There is an effort in the U.S. to bring this “dark data,” as it’s called, into the light through digitizing museum collections.
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Integrated Digitized Biocollections or iDigBio is the central portal that digitally collects biodiversity data from museums. iDigBio’s Gil Nelson said there is a change in philosophy among scientists.
“I think the idea of open access data and data availability is becoming a little more common. There are still folks who would rather not share their data but I think those are becoming fewer and fewer and I think open access is becoming more and more the mode of operation these days,” Nelson said.

Read the Complete Article (approx. 650 words)
See Also: iDigBio on Twitter
See Also: NSF Awards Fifth Round of Grants to Enhance America’s Biodiversity Collections (August 20, 2015)
See Also: Museum Specimens Find New Life Online (via NY Times, October 20, 2015)

Filed under: Awards, Data Files, Digital Preservation, Funding, News, Open Access, Reports