IBF Diversity Workbench and Data Repository
IBF Diversity Workbench and Data Repository has several administrative and service tasks which include the project management and coordination as well as the presentation of the project deliveries on the internet. For these purposes the Wiki technology is used. Within the IBF context the storage of digital data including multimedia data will to be reorganized and a new concept for data archival has to be developed.
A technical repository will make accessible
A software repository to administrate source codes, organize software releases and store schemas for data interchange will be set up and managed.
Furthermore, IBF Diversity Workbench and Data Repository aims to enhance the database framework Diversity Workbench with its currently 12 components. Diversity Workbench represents a modularized system for multiple scientific purposes concerning analysis and management of biological data, e. g. collection data, observation data, descriptive and ecological data, taxonomy, taxon-mediated checklist data, ecological plots, images and literature data. It is thereby flexible enough to build the software backbone for long-term institutional data repositories for biological data. Components optimized in the IBF context are DiversityCollection, DiversityTaxonNames, DiversityProjects, DiversityAgents, DiversityUsers and DiversitySamplingPlots with GIS functionality.
A large number of biodiversity research projects depend on field mapping and ecological data of high quality. Therefore it is necessary to link data sets gathered in the field to a central data storage system which may simultaneously be used by multiple participants. Additonal requirements are that the data should be available as stored datasets shortly after gathering and that every operation applied to data can be traced back ("data provenance"). For these goals, the local Diversity Workbench components are supplemented by a mobile application and complex synchronisation tools as described under IBF DiversityMobile and Data Synchronisation. To guarantee a consistent data flow from the mobile device to a data repository it is crucial that the central master database is set up at an institutional data center. Preferably it should act as GBIF data provider like the IT Center of the Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns. There the GUID created during the synchronisation process is connected with a persistent Uniform Resource Identifier(URI). The latter is published and accessed by global networks like GBIF.
Scientists in this workpackage: D. Neubacher, W. Reichert, Dr. D. Triebel, Dr. M. Weiss