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Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal

(2017) PHYTOKEYS. 78. p.37-57
Author
Organization
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Botanic garden, collections, database, data sharing, digitization, science infrastructure, HISTORY, DIGITIZATION, COLLECTIONS, SPECIMENS, ECOLOGY

Citation

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MLA
Vissers, Jorick, et al. “Scientific User Requirements for a Herbarium Data Portal.” PHYTOKEYS, vol. 78, 2017, pp. 37–57, doi:10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936.
APA
Vissers, J., Van den Bosch, F., Bogaerts, A., Cocquyt, C., Degreef, J., Diagre, D., … Groom, Q. (2017). Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal. PHYTOKEYS, 78, 37–57. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936
Chicago author-date
Vissers, Jorick, Frederik Van den Bosch, Ann Bogaerts, Christine Cocquyt, Jerome Degreef, Denis Diagre, Myriam de Haan, et al. 2017. “Scientific User Requirements for a Herbarium Data Portal.” PHYTOKEYS 78: 37–57. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Vissers, Jorick, Frederik Van den Bosch, Ann Bogaerts, Christine Cocquyt, Jerome Degreef, Denis Diagre, Myriam de Haan, Sofie De Smedt, Henry Engledow, Damien Ertz, Regine Fabri, Sandrine Godefroid, Nicole Hanquart, Patricia Mergen, Anne Ronse, Marc Sosef, Tariq Stevart, Piet Stoffelen, Sonia Verhoeven, and Quentin Groom. 2017. “Scientific User Requirements for a Herbarium Data Portal.” PHYTOKEYS 78: 37–57. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936.
Vancouver
1.
Vissers J, Van den Bosch F, Bogaerts A, Cocquyt C, Degreef J, Diagre D, et al. Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal. PHYTOKEYS. 2017;78:37–57.
IEEE
[1]
J. Vissers et al., “Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal,” PHYTOKEYS, vol. 78, pp. 37–57, 2017.
@article{8519424,
  abstract     = {{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.}},
  author       = {{Vissers, Jorick and Van den Bosch, Frederik and Bogaerts, Ann and Cocquyt, Christine and Degreef, Jerome and Diagre, Denis and de Haan, Myriam and De Smedt, Sofie and Engledow, Henry and Ertz, Damien and Fabri, Regine and Godefroid, Sandrine and Hanquart, Nicole and Mergen, Patricia and Ronse, Anne and Sosef, Marc and Stevart, Tariq and Stoffelen, Piet and Verhoeven, Sonia and Groom, Quentin}},
  issn         = {{1314-2011}},
  journal      = {{PHYTOKEYS}},
  keywords     = {{Botanic garden,collections,database,data sharing,digitization,science infrastructure,HISTORY,DIGITIZATION,COLLECTIONS,SPECIMENS,ECOLOGY}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{37--57}},
  title        = {{Scientific user requirements for a herbarium data portal}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.78.10936}},
  volume       = {{78}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}

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