The fifth annual iDigBio Summit was held on November 4-6, 2015, at the Hilton Hotel, Arlington, Virginia.
General information about the Summit, the agenda, and recordings of the event can be found on the iDigBio wiki: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/IDigBio_Summit_2015
One hundred thirty six scientists and students from 60 institutions representing 33 national and international biodiversity digitization initiatives participated.
A highlight of the summit was when the 15 Thematic Collections Networks (TCNs) supported by the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) program presented their reports. The reports underscored digitization progress, data accessibility and research accomplishments.
This year’s summit also engaged the participants in discussions focused on increasing mobilization of data, data use in research, long-term sustainability of the networks, products and cyberinfrastructure associated with digitization, and coalescing education and outreach efforts across ADBC-funded projects and the wider biodiversity collections community.
Here are some additional highlights as shared by participants on Twitter:
Related NSF Press Releases:
NSF awards fifth round of grants to enhance America’s biodiversity collections (PR 15-092)
NSF Awards Third Round of Grants to Advance Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (PR 13-135)
NSF Awards Second Round of Grants to Advance Digitization of Biological Collections (PR 12-082)
NSF Awards Grants to Advance Digitization of Biological Collections (PR 11-136)
Related media coverage:
Museum Specimens Find New Life Online, The New York Times Science, Oct. 19, 2015
BIO BUZZ 