E-Type Initiative
One of the key components for both taxonomic research and for the online Encyclopedia of
Life Web page for each species is to have a detailed, accurate, image of the primary
type specimen that represents a particular species. New photographic processes permit
astoundingly precise and informative digital images to be made quickly, cheaply, and
without damaging the specimen. In many cases a digital image of a specimen will reveal
information that was not apparent in the often fragile, protected, or small specimen. A huge added
advantage is that many people can be inspecting the same electronic image at once, which is decidedly
not true with physical specimens.
ALL has instigated an "E-Type Initiative" to expedite the digital imaging of 50 percent of the
estimated 1.7 million primary type specimens currently in collections within the next 5 years.
Enabling global electronic access to the approximately 850,000 images of primary type specimens
will provide the rest of the world immediate access to collections that preside predominantly in
North America and Europe. The benefits of the E-Type Initiative will be the standardized, easy
access to quality type specimen data, and the repatriation of those data to countries where the
specimens were originally collected. In some instances, these images will provide the first real
access for many researchers located outside of North America or Europe to information about primary
types of their native faunas and floras.
As part of an on-going relationship with the California Academy of Science (CAS), ALL Species
arranged to have Syncroscopy's cutting edge digital imaging workstation provided on a short-term
loan to CAS. A workshop was held to demonstrate the technology and was led by Piotr Naskrecki of
Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology who has pioneered the use of digital imaging (Orthopterans).
Thirty-nine scientists from the CAS and surrounding academic institutions attended the
workshop where many brought their own "hard-to-image" specimens to test the equipment. With the
incredible images produced by Syncroscopy's equipment, some researchers saw colors and aspects of their
specimen that they had never before seen. Commonly held notions about barriers to imaging "difficult"
taxa had vanished by the end of the day.
Due to persistent and creative negotiation on the part of CAS entomologist Brian Fisher,
the loan period for the equipment has been extended. In addition to the extension, Syncroscopy
has agreed to research the performance of at least a dozen different cameras in their lab and
provide us with results of the experiment. This will be invaluable information for the E-type Initiative.
The E-Type Initiative concept was recently introduced by ALL Species at GBIF's DIGIT
subcommittee meeting in Washington DC on 5 June. The DIGIT subcommittee is not focusing
on type specimens and welcomed ALL's leadership role with regards to the E-Type Initiative.
ALL Species then co-hosted with the Smithsonian Institution a luncheon meeting on 6 June between the
GBIF meeting and the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NSCA) meeting that was attended by 31 people
interested in learning about the initiative. During the luncheon, there was unanimous agreement about the
need for such an initiative and an ad hoc committee was formed to help move the concept forward. A list
serve discussion has begun among the members of the ad hoc committee to identify goals, challenges, and the
agenda of a strategic fall workshop.
In conjunction with Brian Fisher of the CAS, a grant proposal has been written seeking NSF
supplemental funds to host the Strategic Workshop for the E-Type Initiative in fall of 2002 at the
Smithsonian Institution, co-convened by Scott Miller, Acting Chairman, Department of Systematic
Biology, National Museum of Natural History.
In cooperation with GBIF, a prototype online survey has been conducted by the ALL Species Foundation to
understand broad baselines relative to the type and scope of collections at both large and small institutions
around the globe. The results from this e-survey will be analyzed and prepared as part of the pre-strategic
workshop research and planning efforts and the e-survey may be refined and distributed to a wider group.
Original Descriptions
Preliminary investigations are underway into the complex issues relative to location,
access, and electronic distribution of original species descriptions. Several repositories
have been identified already in various stages of implementation of a complete database for
their taxa of interest, (i.e., mammals or carnivorous plants, etc.). Some repositories are in
different stages of making that information accessible via the Web. In some cases, copyright issues
may become a particular challenge to web distribution of these documents. Initial dialog has begun
with representatives from The Academy of Natural Sciences, said to hold copies of almost all of the
world's original descriptions, to foster the training of student interns from megadiverse countries
in the scanning of these documents. This training in the handling and scanning of important and rare
documents would not only help to repatriate data but could also increase taxonomic capacity building
for those countries.
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