Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study
Biodiversity informatics depends on digital access to credible information about species. Many online resources host species’ data, but the lack of categorisation for these resources inhibits the growth of this entire field. To explore possible solutions, we examined the (now retired) Biodiversity I...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pensoft Publishers
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Biodiversity Data Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/32765/download/pdf/ |
| _version_ | 1811312831331565568 |
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| author | Jarrett Blair Rodger Gwiazdowski Andrew Borrelli Michelle Hotchkiss Candace Park Gleannan Perrett Robert Hanner |
| author_facet | Jarrett Blair Rodger Gwiazdowski Andrew Borrelli Michelle Hotchkiss Candace Park Gleannan Perrett Robert Hanner |
| author_sort | Jarrett Blair |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Biodiversity informatics depends on digital access to credible information about species. Many online resources host species’ data, but the lack of categorisation for these resources inhibits the growth of this entire field. To explore possible solutions, we examined the (now retired) Biodiversity Information Projects of the World (BIPW) dataset created by the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG); this project, which ran from 2007-2015 (officially removed from the TDWG website in 2018) was an attempt at organising the Web's biodiversity databases into an indexed list. To do this, we applied a simple classification scheme to score databases within BIPW based on nine data categories, to characterise trends and current compositions of this biodiversity e-infrastructure. Primarily, we found that of 600 databases investigated from BIPW, only 315 (~53%) were accessible at the time of this writing, underscoring the precarious nature of the biodiversity information landscape. Many of these databases are still available, but suffer accessibility issues such as link rot, thus putting the information they contain in danger of being lost. We propose that a community-driven database of biodiversity databases with an accompanying ontology could facilitate efficient discovery of relevant biodiversity databases and support smaller databases – which have the greatest risk of being lost. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T10:43:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-43e3a6b0d52c416b822ca84a6264d853 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1314-2828 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T10:43:31Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biodiversity Data Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-43e3a6b0d52c416b822ca84a6264d8532022-12-22T02:49:51ZengPensoft PublishersBiodiversity Data Journal1314-28282020-03-01811210.3897/BDJ.8.e3276532765Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case studyJarrett Blair0Rodger Gwiazdowski1Andrew Borrelli2Michelle Hotchkiss3Candace Park4Gleannan Perrett5Robert Hanner6University of GuelphUniversity of Massachusetts AmherstUniversity of GuelphUniversity of GuelphUniversity of GuelphUniversity of GuelphUniversity of GuelphBiodiversity informatics depends on digital access to credible information about species. Many online resources host species’ data, but the lack of categorisation for these resources inhibits the growth of this entire field. To explore possible solutions, we examined the (now retired) Biodiversity Information Projects of the World (BIPW) dataset created by the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG); this project, which ran from 2007-2015 (officially removed from the TDWG website in 2018) was an attempt at organising the Web's biodiversity databases into an indexed list. To do this, we applied a simple classification scheme to score databases within BIPW based on nine data categories, to characterise trends and current compositions of this biodiversity e-infrastructure. Primarily, we found that of 600 databases investigated from BIPW, only 315 (~53%) were accessible at the time of this writing, underscoring the precarious nature of the biodiversity information landscape. Many of these databases are still available, but suffer accessibility issues such as link rot, thus putting the information they contain in danger of being lost. We propose that a community-driven database of biodiversity databases with an accompanying ontology could facilitate efficient discovery of relevant biodiversity databases and support smaller databases – which have the greatest risk of being lost.https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/32765/download/pdf/OntologyDatabaseDatabasesDatabase of Databas |
| spellingShingle | Jarrett Blair Rodger Gwiazdowski Andrew Borrelli Michelle Hotchkiss Candace Park Gleannan Perrett Robert Hanner Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study Biodiversity Data Journal Ontology Database Databases Database of Databas |
| title | Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study |
| title_full | Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study |
| title_fullStr | Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study |
| title_short | Towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases: An ontological case study |
| title_sort | towards a catalogue of biodiversity databases an ontological case study |
| topic | Ontology Database Databases Database of Databas |
| url | https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/32765/download/pdf/ |
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