MIDS: The digitisation standard for Natural Science collections

Abstract

The digitisation standard, MIDS (Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen), has been developed to provide a clear definition for the level of digitisation of the specimens held in natural science collections. The standard comprises three levels of digitisation: Level 1 (Basic) is equivalent to a virtual cabinet or drawer in the collection; Level 2 (Regular) provides information needed for most research; Level 3 (Extended) provides all information on the specimen itself as well as links to associated resources. Level 1 (Basic) is equivalent to a virtual cabinet or drawer in the collection; Level 2 (Regular) provides information needed for most research; Level 3 (Extended) provides all information on the specimen itself as well as links to associated resources. A pre-digitisation Level 0 (Bare) allows for the citation of the specimen and the attachment of additional information. The standard has been developed through the collaboration of people representing digitisation, curation, data management, software development and research. The development has been coordinated within the TDWG MIDS Task Group. The aim has been to develop a standard that will fulfill the needs of those managing digitisation programmes (e.g., estimating costs, priorities) as well as the users of the digitised specimens (e.g., informing potential data users of a collection’s data richness).