title: Enriched biodiversity data as a resource and service.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent years have seen a surge in projects that produce large volumes of structured, machine-readable biodiversity data. To make these data amenable to processing by generic, open source "data enrichment" workflows, they are increasingly being represented in a variety of standards-compliant interchange formats. Here, we report on an initiative in which software developers and taxonomists came together to address the challenges and highlight the opportunities in the enrichment of such biodiversity data by engaging in intensive, collaborative software development: The Biodiversity Data Enrichment Hackathon.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hackathon brought together 37 participants (including developers and taxonomists, i.e. scientific professionals that gather, identify, name and classify species) from 10 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. The participants brought expertise in processing structured data, text mining, development of ontologies, digital identification keys, geographic information systems, niche modeling, natural language processing, provenance annotation, semantic integration, taxonomic name resolution, web service interfaces, workflow tools and visualisation. Most use cases and exemplar data were provided by taxonomists. One goal of the meeting was to facilitate re-use and enhancement of biodiversity knowledge by a broad range of stakeholders, such as taxonomists, systematists, ecologists, niche modelers, informaticians and ontologists. The suggested use cases resulted in nine breakout groups addressing three main themes: i) mobilising heritage biodiversity knowledge; ii) formalising and linking concepts; and iii) addressing interoperability between service platforms. Another goal was to further foster a community of experts in biodiversity informatics and to build human links between research projects and institutions, in response to recent calls to further such integration in this research domain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Beyond deriving prototype solutions for each use case, areas of inadequacy were discussed and are being pursued further. It was striking how many possible applications for biodiversity data there were and how quickly solutions could be put together when the normal constraints to collaboration were broken down for a week. Conversely, mobilising biodiversity knowledge from their silos in heritage literature and natural history collections will continue to require formalisation of the concepts (and the links between them) that define the research domain, as well as increased interoperability between the software platforms that operate on these concepts.
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Rutger Aldo
authors: RA
authors: Vos
authors: Pensoft Publishers, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors: Jordan Valkov
authors: JV
authors: Biserkov
authors: Institute of Biomembranes and Bioenergetics, National Research Council, Bari, Italy.
authors: Bachir
authors: B
authors: Balech
authors: University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors: Niall
authors: N
authors: Beard
authors: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Blissett
authors: University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Brenninkmeijer
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Tom
authors: T
authors: van Dooren
authors: The Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, United States of America.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Eades
authors: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.
authors: George
authors: G
authors: Gosline
authors: Agentschap Plantentuin Meise, Meise, Belgium.
authors: Quentin John
authors: QJ
authors: Groom
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Thomas D
authors: TD
authors: Hamann
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Hannes
authors: H
authors: Hettling
authors: Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Hoehndorf
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Ayco
authors: A
authors: Holleman
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Hovenkamp
authors: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: Kelbert
authors: The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: King
authors: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.
authors: Don
authors: D
authors: Kirkup
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Youri
authors: Y
authors: Lammers
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Thibaut
authors: T
authors: DeMeulemeester
authors: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Mietchen
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Jeremy A
authors: JA
authors: Miller
authors: University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
authors: Ross
authors: R
authors: Mounce
authors: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Nicolson
authors: University Of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
authors: Rod
authors: R
authors: Page
authors: Software Sustainability Institute, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors: Aleksandra
authors: A
authors: Pawlik
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Serrano
authors: S
authors: Pereira
authors: Pensoft Publishers, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors: Lyubomir
authors: L
authors: Penev
authors: Biodiversity Informatics Consultant, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors: Kevin
authors: K
authors: Richards
authors: Plazi, Bern, Switzerland.
authors: Guido
authors: G
authors: Sautter
authors: Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, Montréal, Canada.
authors: David Peter
authors: DP
authors: Shorthouse
authors: University of Eastern Finland, Espoo, Finland.
authors: Marko
authors: M
authors: Tähtinen
authors: Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors: Claus
authors: C
authors: Weiland
authors: University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors: Alan R
authors: AR
authors: Williams
authors: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors: Soraya
authors: S
authors: Sierra
keywords: Biodiversity informatics; Data enrichment; Hackathon; Intelligent openness; Linked data; Open source; Semantic Web; Software; Taxonomy; Web services