Digitization PEN:Targeted Digitization to Expand and Enhance the PALEONICHES TCN

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的无脊椎动物和植物化石收藏记录了过去150年的地质研究。这400万块化石的年龄范围从前寒武纪到全新世，包括地质时间和地理区域的关键间隔以及某些经过充分研究的生物。如此庞大的收藏几乎没有价值，除非将这些对象以及相关的文档、图像和分析数据数字化，并使其能够在全球范围内访问。该项目将把来自这些UT收藏品的数字数据连接到作为Paleoniches TCN一部分的机构，并最终连接到国家数据资源(iDigBio.org)。已选定的地质“深部”时隙为寒武系-奥陶系、宾夕法尼亚系和古近纪-新近纪。生物的主要类群将是腕足类、棘皮动物和软体动物。数字记录将把标本的学名与其收集地点和地质时期联系起来。采集地点将被记录在现代和深部时间地理中，从而使研究人员能够从不同的“板块”配置的角度来研究生物。具有数字嵌入刻度的高质量多聚焦图像将为研究人员提供可以在开源软件中分析的功能图像。最终的数据资源将为未来对生命历史中广泛主题的分析研究提供一个更强大的数据库。该数据集将使生物的分布、迁徙和灭绝的重大全球变化产生明显的长期影响。使用一个允许移动平台的网络界面，这些丰富的地质记录将向研究人员、教育工作者和普通公众开放。该项目将为学生提供培训。该奖项是通过推进生物收藏数字化计划作为国家生物收藏数字化资源的一部分颁发的，由该奖项产生的所有数据将通过国家资源(iDigBio.org)获得。

The invertebrate and plant fossil collections of the University of Texas at Austin document geological research spanning the last 150 years. These four million fossils range in age from Precambrian to the Holocene, encompassing critical intervals of geologic time and geographic areas and certain well-studied organisms. Such huge collections are of little value unless the objects along with related documentation, images, and analytical data are digitized and made globally accessible. This project will connect digital data from these UT collections to institutions that are part of the Paleoniches TCN and ultimately to the national data resource (iDigBio.org). The geologic "deep" time slots that have been selected are the Cambro-Ordovician, Pennsylvanian and Paleogene-Neogene. The major groups of organisms will be brachiopods, echinoderms, and molluscs. The digital record will link the specimen's scientific name to its collection site and geological time period. The collection site will be recorded in current and deep time geography, thus allowing the researcher to examine organisms from the perspective of distinct "plate" configurations. High quality multi-focus imagery with digitally embedded scales will provide researchers with a functional image that can be analyzed in open source software. The final data resource will provide a more robust database for future analytical studies on a broad range of topics within the history of life.This data set will make visible long-term effects of major global changes in the distribution, migration, and extinction of organisms. Using a web interface that will allow for mobile platforms, this rich geological record will become available to researchers, educators, and the general public. The project will provide training for students. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the national resource (iDigBio.org).