This workshop engages various Namibian stakeholders, including environmental consultants, ecologists, researchers/academics, heads of research institutes, and conservationists with an interest in biodiversity data use and generation.
In the previous workshop, many of these technical level and higher-level stakeholders were introduced to the new National Node, the aims, structure and operations of GBIF, and to the idea of a national network to build up the body of biodiversity data use and production. Since then, several stakeholders had expressed their interest in becoming more involved in the node's activities including producing data for publication, and making use of the growing body of available data.
In this workshop, these stakeholders will be taken through worked examples of downloading data from GBIF for various uses and shown how to look out for various levels of data-quality. Then will follow a briefing on GBIF data publication: the motivations, process, and some institutional considerations or technicalities on how to become a publishing institution, or even just how to generate data of the quality and standard needed for a GBIF publication.
Concepts of data reusability (even data not gathered for a general purpose), the use of DarwinCore terms, and the idea of institutional workflows that can lead to quality publications in future, will be worked through with the participants. Some discussions based on the specific contexts of the stakeholders are also included.