Celebrating Africa Month Through our Collections
๐ฆ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐๐บ. ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐๐บ:
I am in charge of data management in the Department of Natural Sciences. I work with data from a variety of collections such as the Entomology (Insects), Oligochaetes (earthworms) and Mollusca (snails and slugs). These specimen are either kept as dry or wet collections and they have been preserved using these techniques for years.
Museums are looking to digitize these collections and thatโs were my work comes in. I make sure the collections are digitize by either capturing data or importing data to a program used by many museums in South Africa called Specify. This is beneficial in the sense that if anything happens to the physical collections, institutions will have a digital backup and nothing will be lost.
Data in Specify must then be constantly maintained/updated, cleaned, standardized as some of it is published through data open access platforms such as GBIF, our data is also used by researchers and scholars from around the globe.
This is beneficial for a continent like ours Africa, as a 3rd world country we have a lot of challenges such as travelling to other institutions or doing field work. So data thatโs is digitized can be accessed by almost everyone in the continent by simply going to data open access platforms or sending me an email, there is no need for one to travel.
๐โ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ก, ๐กโ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ก. ๐ท๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฆ๐กโ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐๐ , ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (๐กโ๐๐๐ข๐โ ๐๐๐๐๐ ), ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐. ๐ธ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ข๐โ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ 3๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ก, ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐คโ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ (4๐กโ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ข๐ก๐๐๐) ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐, ๐ค๐ ๐กโ๐ข๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ค๐๐กโ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐.
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