Digitisation / Cataloguing of non-textual objects: A standardised and optimised process for data acquisition from digital images of herbarium specimens

该项目将开发并记录一个软件驱动的标准流程，用于从植物标本馆标本（即干燥压榨的植物或安装在纸板上并储存在自然历史收藏中的植物部分）的图像中提取元数据。我们将处理大量的科学收藏：德国大约有2200万份植物标本馆标本作为植物参考对象，全世界大约有5亿份。元数据，如植物名称、采集地点和日期、收集者、登记号码等，也被平贴在薄片上，从而在标本图像上可见。到目前为止，大多数数据捕获都是手动输入到收集数据库中，但越来越多地采用成像技术（也确保可以验证在线元数据）。标准流程应尽可能取代或增加人工数据输入。图像处理软件检测数字化记录上的物体并对其进行分类。使用文本挖掘算法将文本对象转换为结构化信息。对于手写，尝试识别作者。该计划将评估和加强现有软件，使其符合标准接口，并根据已建立的资讯科技标准，将其整合为一个整体开放的软件架构。最后，过程的需求将被制定为标准，实际的应用将被记录下来。

The project will develop and document a software-driven standard process for extracting metadata from images of herbarium specimens (i.e. dried pressed plants or plant parts mounted on cardboard and stored in natural history collections). We will address a large proportion of science collections: approximately 22 million herbarium specimens exist as botanical reference objects in Germany, about 500 million worldwide. Metadata like plant name, collection site and date, collector, accession numbers, etc. are also glued flat on the sheet and thus visible on the specimen image. Up to now most of the data capture is manually fed into collection databases, but increasingly, imaging techniques are employed (also to ensure that the on-line metadata can be verified). The standard process shall replace or add to the manual data input as much as possible. Image processing software detects objects on the digitized record and classifies them. Text objects will be transformed into structured information using text mining algorithms. For handwriting, author identification is attempted. The project will evaluate and enhance existing software to conform to standard interfaces and integrate it into an overall open software architecture on the basis of established IT standards. Finally, the requirements for the process will be formulated as a standard and the actual application will be documented.