Suggested ornithology schema

Discipline Hangouts Ornithology
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Hi, all,

My museum is preparing to move our bird collection over to Specify, and we are interested in not only moving over the information on our physical collection as it is, but expanding and improving how we record data. I was wondering if any other ornithological collections would be willing to share what schema they are using?

Our database catalog for our physical collection is currently a handful of basic fields, and a lot of more complicated data shoved into “notes,” which clearly needs to change. In working to modernize, we’d be interested to see how other people are keeping track of complex variables, like age as determined by feather wear, or all the details relating to reproductive condition, if not just a bunch of separate strings, (which feels like splitting one big “notes” into a bunch of little “notes” (which would still be an improvement)). We’re also curious about simpler issues, like seeing just what specimen information other institutions are choosing to track.

We’d like to start using Specify to centralize information from surveys, bird counts, and all manner of other projects. What schema are people using to curate and maintain these sorts of non-physical collections?

I’d love it if this turned into an open sharing of bird-based schema concerns and solutions. However, if it doesn’t, my next plan is to start directly contacting institutions and poking at them until they share their secrets.

1 Like
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Hey there,
One thing I’d recommend in terms of “expanding how you record data” is to use the DwC Excel Template Generator to create a template of DWC fields you might want to include in your database, and then map them to the Specify Schema. The Template Generator is really helpful because it creates an excel file with the fields you select, and each field has the DarwinCore field definition listed as a “note” on the cell. It means you can quickly reference the meanings of fields without having to toggle back and forth between your schema and the Darwin Core Quick Reference Guide - Darwin Core.

As for existing schemas for non-physical collections, I think the principal way to do that would be to organize those observational data into a different “collection” in Specify.

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Thanks! I hadn’t found that on my own.