Canadensys-UC Berkeley Biodiversity Databases Business Plan
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Canadensys-UC Berkeley Biodiversity Databases Business Plan Abstract Databases of biological collections and associated biodiversity informatics research tools are essential components of the worldwide race to inventory life on Earth. They are vital infrastructures for a wide range of research endeavors and other activities grouped under the sustainability banner from policy development to assessments of potential and actual impacts of human activities on the environment. The need to increase access to and use of various types of primary biodiversity data by orders of magnitude has been widely acknowledged. Achieving this requires funding and coordinating digitization efforts in a wide variety of biological collections; developing strategies for the streamlining of data capture, amalgamation and integration; developing analytical tools appropriate for a wide range of users and uses; and focusing on key issues that will answer to the needs of researchers as well as government and industry decision-makers. By developing a business plan together, we aim to 1) identify funding sources available in the U.S., Canada or both that are appropriate for large-scale collaborative efforts in biodiversity information databasing, management, analysis and usage; 2) put in place the research and development, training and management plans needed for the large and detailed proposals to be written; 3) develop a concerted networking strategy for the funding applications including links with other potential partner institutions in biodiversity informatics in North America; and 4) develop key biodiversity informatics tools needed to maximize fitness for use of the data and ensure its usefulness to a broad spectrum of stakeholders; in particular, a much-needed upgrade of the georeferencing software BioGeomancer and its integration in CollectionSpace, a new collection management software package. These tools will useful to the entire biodiversity informatics community. Canadensys collections will benefit particularly from the BioGeomancer upgrade in their efforts to collaboratively georeference large numbers of specimen records. Demonstrating the usefulness and actual usage of the data is an essential component of successful funding applications and the georeferencing effort is a critical step in this demonstration. Key UC Berkeley – Canadensys initiative participants will meet during the year of the business plan development project. The final business plan report will outline the planning and written material to be applied to network and collaborative research proposals and include a description of the partnership links already established and being planned with other key stakeholders. The report will also describe the funding proposals that may have already been made by UC Berkeley, Canadensys or both, and the ones that will be made in the near future; as well as the software tools developed, their applications and usefulness for the funding proposals.