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Collection Level Data Problems. … & Suggestions for Avoiding Them. “Metadata” Sources. BioCase data is provided by NNs all over Europe. NNs use different styles to enter data in their collection level database (Nodit etc.)
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Collection Level Data Problems … & Suggestions for Avoiding Them
“Metadata” Sources • BioCase data is provided by NNs all over Europe. • NNs use different styles to enter data in their collection level database (Nodit etc.) • How can we preserve the clarity and uniformity of data so that users can easily locate the information they are searching for?
Data Structure • Capture the hierarchical structure of your organizations and collections. • Enter organization information in the database (Nodit etc.), and then enter the collections that belong to it. • For every organization, specify its type and the number of collections it contains.
Data Structure II • Do not enter “orphan” collections. “Orphan” collections are collections that are not connected to an organization parent. • Unsure how to classify an organization? Nodit has a list of organization classes!
Data Structure III • The Nodit list includes “independent expert”, “voluntary observer”, and “other” so you can even create organizations for collections that belong to individuals. • There is no need to ever enter standalone collections.
Collection Organization XXX Herbarium XXX Herbarium Collection Data Structure IV • Even if an organization only contains a single collection, enter them as 2 separate records. • Add the word “collection” to collection names if not already there. Ex – “algae collection” rather than simply “algae”.
Free Text Fields • Use English wherever possible in addition to other languages. • Avoid notes that the indexing tool cannot decipher. “For details see URL”, “data still incomplete ”, “unknown”. • Keep data in their proper fields. Town: “Jerusalem 92542” Town: “Jerusalem”; Zip: “92542”
Keywords • Longer free text descriptions such as a collection’s description, access restrictions, and purpose are helpful to users viewing full result sets. • However, searches use keywords to locate results. • Use keywords correctly so that searches locate your collections!
Keyword Tips • Keep keywords content-specific. “All” for taxon, geographic, timeperiod “world” or “worldwide” for geographic • Sometimes you may want to add some keywords to help a collection be located. “Kenya”… && … “Africa” “musci”… && … “plantae”
Keywords Tips II • Only use a single term for each keyword. Do not combine entries with “and” or “,”. “Butterflies and moths” “fungi, lichens, algae” Enter a separate keyword for each word.
Keywords Tips III • Using dates for time-period keywords: “last 300 years” or “18th century” or “about 1900” Use: “1975” “1700-1800” “1975+” “2000-” • If you are unsure of the exact year then estimate a brief interval.
Data Quality Reporting • A automatic mechanism for reporting data quality problems to NNs is being developed.