Join us for an end-of-year special technical support hour for GBIF nodes on December 4th, 2024, at 4 pm CET, where we will cover some of the more curious cases and questions we have received in helpdesk, during the last year. We will show examples and provide tips and tricks on how to deal with strange issues and give you the top 5 of the most common questions or feedback we have received.
We will be happy to answer any question relating or not to the topic and welcome your input on some of the stranger things you have had to deal with as node staff. Please feel free to post questions in advance in this thread or write to helpdesk@gbif.org.
There will be no recorded video of this session since we expect to have a more interactive version with a game – only the Q&A transcript will be provided.
Here is a transcript of the questions and answers during the session:
How do you publish data to the OBIS network via GBIF?
Data shared with GBIF will not automatically go to OBIS even though you add the OBIS network in the IPT.
It will be added to a backlog in OBIS (a GitHub ticket is created) and from there the dataset will have to be manually added to OBIS by crawling the dataset endpoint. You can also notify OBIS of the publication if you want. Please be aware that OBIS has different term requirements and recommendations than GBIF: 13.4 Maintaining and sharing published data | The OBIS Manual.
Is The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) sharing data with GBIF?
Yes, some data from ICES is shared with GBIF through the OBIS network via EMODnet. However, the GBIF Secretariat is assisting ICES in potentially updating their data flow to GBIF.
A publisher is sharing a well-curated checklist of vernacular names, including synonyms, but has noticed that other checklists share less well-curated vernacular names, which are also showing up on GBIF.org. When the xRelease checklist on Checklistbank becomes the GBIF backbone, will it be possible to choose which checklist should provide vernacular names to GBIF.org?
Currently, the vernacular names on GBIF.org do not necessarily come from the GBIF backbone. The portal shows all vernacular names shared in checklists, not only those from the checklists that are integrated into the backbone.
It is not possible to say which vernacular name for a taxon is correct or the official name. Vernacular names can be different between communities and regions, and in some cases, may be wrongly applied to a taxon or used for several different taxa.
If the community believes that authoritative checklists could be shared or wrong vernacular names should be flagged, then we encourage you to create an issue for Checklistbank.
Have local communities ever applied to be publishers on GBIF.org or do you have examples of local communities or indigenous groups which are publishers?
It is under the discretion of the individual nodes to endorse publishers by adhering to the endorsement guidelines: Endorsement guidelines. The guidelines state that:
The publisher has or will have datasets of potential scientific interest consistent with GBIF’s mission
The publisher has either the technical capacity or access to technical capacity to ensure that the datasets are available online in standard formats
The publisher can be expected to respond to requests for further information or feedback relating to the data they publish
“GBIF endorses only institutions or organizations known to exist. Societies and networks qualify to be treated as organizations.
Individuals are not currently eligible for registration but they can publish through an institution/organization or network, and should be properly credited and cited as the owners or authors of the respective datasets. Knowing the address of the institution and the appropriate contacts will facilitate communication and networking, for example in dealing with queries and feedback on data quality.”
Here are some examples of Indigenous communities as publishers on GBIF:
Who is the data publisher on GBIF? Is there a definition?
It might be worthwhile to distinguish between data publishers and data hosts:
Publisher: a registered institution/organization/etc. that puts data online to make them accessible - either through their own installation or through services provided by another publisher.
Host: a Publisher that provides a specific service to other Publishers by making their datasets technically accessible.
How should datasets coming from national aggregators be published when some institutions or collections want to be the publishers of the data they contributed to?Can you create several layers of publishers or link a single dataset to several publishers?
The current option available on GBIF is to set up networks of datasets where publishers can then individually provide datasets to GBIF that can be searchable through the network. Alternatively, you can also link datasets under the same funder by sharing funding information in the EML.
Nodes interested in discussing the issue of multiple publisher attribution for a single dataset should bring the issue to their regional representatives/Node Steering Group committee.