Proposal for a new RDA/TDWG WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation

1. Proposal for a new RDA/TDWG WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation

2. Proposal for a new WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation Opening-up Research data from Collections • Collection holders: • natural history specimens • archaeological artifacts • digital images • historical documents Natural History collections > 3 Billion specimens 10% catalogued <1% digitised

3. Proposal for a new WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation Opening-up Research data from Collections Digitisation is not only a technological challenge. It is predicated on our scientific capacity to extract, quality-control and annotate data. A resource-intensive process that requires institutional, curatorial and technological investments

4. Proposal for a new WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation Opening-up Research data from Collections • Barriers for opening up Collections data: • Lack of both institutional and curatorial investment in digitisation and data sharing • Incentives at institutional level • Incentives for curators of both physical and digital objects Today we are missing a commonly agreed upon harmonised standard (incl. data schema) that will improve Museums’ capacity to capture all curatorial actions in the process of physical to digital transformation Credit giving but also quality assurance (data provenance)

5. Proposal for a new WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation Opening-up Research data from Collections The WG goal Provide a clear, well documented and easily implemented mechanism to capture, at the needed level of granularity, all curatorial actions and permanently link them to the DO.

6. Proposal for a new WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation Opening-up Research data from Collections • How? • Work with the communities. Define early on case studies and engage with beneficiaries • Work along existing efforts. In particular ensure all technical work is interoperable with existing data Standards • Work towards the official ratification of the Standard. Initiate the TDWG process

7. Proposal for a new WG Attribution Standards for Data Object Curation Opening-up Research data from Collections • Improved recognition of the immense effort required for maintaining, curating, and digitizing collections, which is likely to lead to increased funds for these activities • Establish a rigorous mechanism for data provenance • Underpin crowdsourcing as a model for building collaborative research resources • Provide metrics for institutions to monitor their collection impact to science and society through monitoring curators’ affiliations