• Why digitise? • Digitisation in Australian insect collections • The importance of workflow • Imaging methods • Prioritising metadata capture • Using the ALA for data/collection management Talk Outline
• Provide virtual access to specimens and data. • Encourage remote curation of unsorted specimens. • Deliver specimen metadata. • Assist with loan requests. • Provide a method for auditing the collection. • Permit morphometric analysis of specimens. • Encourage public engagement. Why digitise?
Current rates of digitisation 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Digitisation rates of Australian entomological collections (data extracted from ALA Collectory 4 June 2013) Records available in ALA Total collection records
– Bees and cicadas. – Leica M205 + BK Passport. – Dataset available though the ALA. ANIC HT imaging underway. Imaging methods Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 9
intercept traps etc. Stored in ethanol. AM & ANIC: – DSLR on copy stand & SatScan system. – Image tagging useful even at Family level. Unlocking information: – Diversity at sites. – Record of taxa before destructive analysis. Imaging methods Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 10
In-museum databasing: Slow. Resource limited. Images and online repositories: Flickr & (?) Morphbank. How to link with in-museum systems? Avoiding repetition of data entry effort. Placing information access in the hands of the user. Acquiring metadata