The ninth annual Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) Summit was held October 1-3, 2019, in Gainesville, Florida. The ADBC Summit brought together representatives from Thematic Collections Networks (TCNs), Partners to Existing Networks (PENs), the National Science Foundation (NSF), iDigBio, and other initiatives related to the NSF’s effort to digitize biodiversity collections through the ADBC program. The Summit’s aim was to inspire collaboration and facilitate discussions on shared goals, challenges, and opportunities.
Day one of the Summit was dedicated to welcoming new partners to the ADBC community. The morning began with an orientation to the ADBC organized by the iDigBio Core team. iDigBio gave a series of presentations about resources, how to get involved, and what is expected of TCN and PEN award recipients. After a catered lunch, new TCNs had their individual kick-off meetings and iDigBio’s External Advisory Board held its annual meeting.
Day two of the Summit started with opening remarks from Gil Nelson, iDigBio Director, and NSF Program Officer Reed Beaman, followed by logistics from iDigBio Project Manager, David Jennings. The rest of the morning and early afternoon was dedicated to TCN project update presentations. You can find these presentations on the Wiki. After an afternoon 
break, there was a TCN panel discussion facilitated by Barbara Thiers. The day concluded with a six concurrent discussion sessions on topics ranging from the iDigBio Search Application Programing Interface (API) to research and education uses of the data. That evening, a reception was held at the Florida Museum of Natural History. NSF Program Director and Bio Centers science advisor, Roland Roberts, welcomed everyone to the event and invited speaker, Brett Woods, spoke about the importance of inclusion and how we as faculty and mentors could support inclusion through cultivating a growth mindset.
Day three began with two inspiring keynotes: Siobhan Leachman addressed “Why Natural History collections should engage with Wikipedia, Wikicommons and Wikidata”, and Cassandra Quave presented “Cures from herbs? The role of ethnobotany and herbaria in driving the discovery of new drugs from nature”. Concurrent sessions continued in the afternoon. Day three concluded with a Q&A discussion session with NSF program officers Roland Roberts, Reed Beaman, and David Cantella.
Find more images from the Summit here.
The 2020 ADBC Summit will be integrated into the Biodiversity Summit 2020 conference, September 20-25 in Alexandria, VA. iDigBio will be partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, GBIF and TDWG for the joint 2020 event.
