large-scale digitisation options at the natural history museum, london
DESCRIPTION
An invited presentation to the Science Information Committee of the Natural History Museum, London, UK. November 6, 2009.TRANSCRIPT
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“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices”
E. O. Wilson | Harvard University
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500 Years to digitise - forget it!
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We need some fresh thinking
Stop thinking about individual specimens (especially types)!
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We need to standardise & simplify
Focus on whole collections that have a standard form, e.g. draws & slides
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Metadata capture is rate limiting• Surrogate and metadata don’t need to be captured together• Tie them back together with identifiers as required• Engaging the public (mechanical turk) with metadata capture• Its metadata capture we prioritise• We should digitise everything at low resolution• Low resolution images tell us 75% of what we want to know
Separate metadata capture from digitisation. Metadata is what you prioritise
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Barcode Everything
No metadata recorded. We just add a standard number to specimens
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SatScan Collectionsby smartdrive
High Resolution - Low Distortion
• LOW COST• Fast to use• UK company
Low tech reliable equipment
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1mm Fossil zoomed in from imaged 500x500mm samples draw
Single moth from a 500x500mm display case imaged in full at 1000 DPI
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Images are “good enough”
• High resolution• No distortion(No parallax or edge effects)
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Indexing Conveyor
Inspection Module
Museum Trays
Camera
Loading / Unloading AreaLoading / Unloading Area
1.2 Mtr 1.2 Mtr
1 Mtr
700 mm
All dimensions are approximate – do not scale
SmartDrive TrayScan System with Infeed / Outfeed ConveyorConcept Illustration
Positioning Guides (Flites)
Conveyor approach for draws
Digitise whole collections quickly
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SmartDrive MicroScan System with Microscope Slide Tray Loader on Gliding FrameworkConcept Illustration
Slide Tray Glide Mechanism
Inspection Module
SlideTrays with 'Locations'
Fibre Optic Illuminator
500mm
1200mm
All dimensions are approximate – do not scale
Conveyor approach 1 for slides
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Conveyor approach 2 for slides
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Metadata capture
• This is what we prioritise• Focus on topics - not taxa• We need to be innovative• Engage the public
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Innovative metadata capture
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Guiding Principles 1. “No specimen left behind” (for collections being digitised)2. Everything has a barcode (unique identifier)3. Universally agreed across NHM digitisation projects
Further issues • This approach is not appropriate for everything, but works for most!• Digital storage - NHM is not thinking clearly about this • Separating images of specimens from the main image• Moving specimens (see above)• Adding new specimens (temporary draws digitised) • Private or EU funding (its not science, however…)
Research on issues (handling, processing, storage) Public / wider engagement - mechanical turk aspects
Much less than 500 Years!
We need to build up the WHY case - what are the benefits
Summary
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“Why Case” - Examples
• Supporting the monitoring of environmental change…
• Supporting biodiversity conservation…
• Supporting the sustainable economic use biodiversity…
• Supporting the preservation and use of biological collections…
• Supporting biodiversity research communities and networks…
• Supporting education and training activities…
We should prioritise metadata capture around these issuesWhere possible we should digitise (create surrogates of) everything
Controversially, I think digitisation should EVENTUALLY be part of our core business. Metadata capture is NOT part of our core business (it is externally fundable)
Also metadata capture is hard to predict - see Ed. Wilson’s quote
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“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices”
E. O. Wilson | Harvard University