CETAF ISTC Wiki - User contributions [en]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:38:34Z

Wouter Addink: /* What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.

When paired with Digital Specimen DOIs, they provide dual-layered tracking. The CETAF URI drives semantic web integrations and localized lookups, while the DOI ensures that when a specimen is cited in an academic journal, data citations are automatically tracked, aggregated, and credited back to the home institution via cross-repository indexing (e.g., DataCite, Crossref).

Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])

{{color|green|✓}} (Recommended:) A Digital Specimen DOI is minted for the object by DiSSCo and bi-directionally linked within the RDF metadata once it exists.
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

=== Integrating Identifiers into Collection Management Systems ===

CRITICAL IMPLEMENTATION STEP: To ensure the integrity of both CETAF URIs and digital specimen DOIs, all identifiers must be stored directly within the primary Collection Management System (CMS) source systems (e.g., Specify, Axiell EMu, Brahms, Jacq, etc.).

* Source System as Single Source of Truth: Identifiers should never be generated ad-hoc during web publishing or aggregator exports. They must be generated or captured at the point of digitization or ingestion and written permanently into the local CMS database.
* Database Fields: Ensure your CMS schema contains dedicated, indexed fields for the CETAF URI and the Digital Specimen DOI. This guarantees absolute consistency across internal curation workflows, localized public portals, and external data pipelines. For the DOI there is a dedicated DarwinCore field dwc:digitalSpecimenID

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and digital specimen DOIs, and you want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue and global indexes, they need to be used as authoritative{{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.

* If Darwin Core (DwC) is used:
** Map the CETAF URI to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
** Map the digital specimen DOI to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/digitalSpecimenID digital specimen ID]
As a TDWG-ratified term under the `MaterialEntity` class, `digitalSpecimenID` is explicitly reserved to hold the persistent, FAIR Digital Object identifier (a DataCite DOI) that references the internet-based digital surrogate of the physical specimen.

For {{abbr|ABCD}}:
* The concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used for the primary identifier (CETAF URI).
* Use UnitGUID variations or specialized metadata elements to explicitly supply the Digital Specimen DOI.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations.

Under modern iterations of the profile, it is highly recommended to include standard properties to express alternate persistent identifiers. Specifically:
* prov:hadDerivation or dcterms:identifier should be utilized within the RDF metadata record to explicitly declare the digital specimen DOI associated with that specific URI, allowing semantic web harvesters to bridge the gap between the LOD web and DOI registries.

The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:37:19Z

Wouter Addink: /* What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.

When paired with Digital Specimen DOIs, they provide dual-layered tracking. The CETAF URI drives semantic web integrations and localized lookups, while the DOI ensures that when a specimen is cited in an academic journal, data citations are automatically tracked, aggregated, and credited back to the home institution via cross-repository indexing (e.g., DataCite, Crossref).

Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])

{{color|green|✓}} (Recommended:) A Digital Specimen DOI is minted for the object by DiSSCo and bi-directionally linked within the RDF metadata once it exists.
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

=== Integrating Identifiers into Collection Management Systems ===

CRITICAL IMPLEMENTATION STEP: To ensure the integrity of both CETAF URIs and digital specimen DOIs, all identifiers must be stored directly within the primary Collection Management System (CMS) source systems (e.g., Specify, Axiell EMu, Brahms, Jacq, etc.).

* Source System as Single Source of Truth: Identifiers should never be generated ad-hoc during web publishing or aggregator exports. They must be generated or captured at the point of digitization or ingestion and written permanently into the local CMS database.
* Database Fields: Ensure your CMS schema contains dedicated, indexed fields for the CETAF URI and the Digital Specimen DOI. This guarantees absolute consistency across internal curation workflows, localized public portals, and external data pipelines. For the DOI there is a dedicated DarwinCore field dwc:digitalSpecimenID

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and digital specimen DOIs, and you want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue and global indexes, they need to be used as authoritative{{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.

* If Darwin Core (DwC) is used:
** Map the CETAF URI to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
** Map the digital specimen DOI to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/digitalSpecimenID digital specimen ID]
As a TDWG-ratified term under the `MaterialEntity` class, `digitalSpecimenID` is explicitly reserved to hold the persistent, FAIR Digital Object identifier (a DataCite DOI) that references the internet-based digital surrogate of the physical specimen.

For {{abbr|ABCD}}:
* The concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used for the primary identifier (CETAF URI).
* Use UnitGUID variations or specialized metadata elements to explicitly supply the Digital Specimen DOI.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations.

Under modern iterations of the profile, it is highly recommended to include standard properties to express alternate persistent identifiers. Specifically:
prov:hadDerivation or dcterms:identifier should be utilized within the RDF metadata record to explicitly declare the digital specimen DOI associated with that specific URI, allowing semantic web harvesters to bridge the gap between the LOD web and DOI registries.

The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:34:22Z

Wouter Addink: /* Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.

When paired with Digital Specimen DOIs, they provide dual-layered tracking. The CETAF URI drives semantic web integrations and localized lookups, while the DOI ensures that when a specimen is cited in an academic journal, data citations are automatically tracked, aggregated, and credited back to the home institution via cross-repository indexing (e.g., DataCite, Crossref).

Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])

{{color|green|✓}} (Recommended:) A Digital Specimen DOI is minted for the object by DiSSCo and bi-directionally linked within the RDF metadata once it exists.
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

=== Integrating Identifiers into Collection Management Systems ===

CRITICAL IMPLEMENTATION STEP: To ensure the integrity of both CETAF URIs and digital specimen DOIs, all identifiers must be stored directly within the primary Collection Management System (CMS) source systems (e.g., Specify, Axiell EMu, Brahms, Jacq, etc.).

* Source System as Single Source of Truth: Identifiers should never be generated ad-hoc during web publishing or aggregator exports. They must be generated or captured at the point of digitization or ingestion and written permanently into the local CMS database.
* Database Fields: Ensure your CMS schema contains dedicated, indexed fields for the CETAF URI and the Digital Specimen DOI. This guarantees absolute consistency across internal curation workflows, localized public portals, and external data pipelines. For the DOI there is a dedicated DarwinCore field dwc:digitalSpecimenID

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and digital specimen DOIs, and you want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue and global indexes, they need to be used as authoritative{{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.

* If Darwin Core (DwC) is used:
** Map the CETAF URI to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
** Map the digital specimen DOI to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/digitalSpecimenID digital specimen ID]
As a TDWG-ratified term under the `MaterialEntity` class, `digitalSpecimenID` is explicitly reserved to hold the persistent, FAIR Digital Object identifier (a DataCite DOI) that references the internet-based digital surrogate of the physical specimen.

For {{abbr|ABCD}}:
* The concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used for the primary identifier (CETAF URI).
* Use UnitGUID variations or specialized metadata elements to explicitly supply the Digital Specimen DOI.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations. Its purpose is to provide a stable resource enabling preview functions in specimen portals. The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

Talk:CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:24:19Z

Wouter Addink: Created page with "There are alternatives for a CETAF URI, such as an ISGN (International Generic Sample Number). Should these be mentioned?"

There are alternatives for a CETAF URI, such as an ISGN (International Generic Sample Number). Should these be mentioned?

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:20:38Z

Wouter Addink: /* How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.

When paired with Digital Specimen DOIs, they provide dual-layered tracking. The CETAF URI drives semantic web integrations and localized lookups, while the DOI ensures that when a specimen is cited in an academic journal, data citations are automatically tracked, aggregated, and credited back to the home institution via cross-repository indexing (e.g., DataCite, Crossref).

Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])

{{color|green|✓}} (Recommended:) A Digital Specimen DOI is minted for the object by DiSSCo and bi-directionally linked within the RDF metadata once it exists.
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

=== Integrating Identifiers into Collection Management Systems ===

CRITICAL IMPLEMENTATION STEP: To ensure the integrity of both CETAF URIs and digital specimen DOIs, all identifiers must be stored directly within the primary Collection Management System (CMS) source systems (e.g., Specify, Axiell EMu, Brahms, Jacq, etc.).

* Source System as Single Source of Truth: Identifiers should never be generated ad-hoc during web publishing or aggregator exports. They must be generated or captured at the point of digitization or ingestion and written permanently into the local CMS database.
* Database Fields: Ensure your CMS schema contains dedicated, indexed fields for the CETAF URI and the Digital Specimen DOI. This guarantees absolute consistency across internal curation workflows, localized public portals, and external data pipelines. For the DOI there is a dedicated DarwinCore field dwc:digitalSpecimenID

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and yout want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue, they need to be used as {{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.
* If DarwinCore is used, the IDs must be mapped to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
* For {{abbr|ABCD}}, the concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations. Its purpose is to provide a stable resource enabling preview functions in specimen portals. The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:10:36Z

Wouter Addink: /* How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.

When paired with Digital Specimen DOIs, they provide dual-layered tracking. The CETAF URI drives semantic web integrations and localized lookups, while the DOI ensures that when a specimen is cited in an academic journal, data citations are automatically tracked, aggregated, and credited back to the home institution via cross-repository indexing (e.g., DataCite, Crossref).

Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])

{{color|green|✓}} (Recommended:) A Digital Specimen DOI is minted for the object by DiSSCo and bi-directionally linked within the RDF metadata once it exists.
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and yout want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue, they need to be used as {{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.
* If DarwinCore is used, the IDs must be mapped to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
* For {{abbr|ABCD}}, the concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations. Its purpose is to provide a stable resource enabling preview functions in specimen portals. The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:06:05Z

Wouter Addink: /* What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.

When paired with Digital Specimen DOIs, they provide dual-layered tracking. The CETAF URI drives semantic web integrations and localized lookups, while the DOI ensures that when a specimen is cited in an academic journal, data citations are automatically tracked, aggregated, and credited back to the home institution via cross-repository indexing (e.g., DataCite, Crossref).

Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and yout want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue, they need to be used as {{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.
* If DarwinCore is used, the IDs must be mapped to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
* For {{abbr|ABCD}}, the concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations. Its purpose is to provide a stable resource enabling preview functions in specimen portals. The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:03:49Z

Wouter Addink: /* How do CETAF Stable Identifier look like? */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifiers look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.
Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and yout want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue, they need to be used as {{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.
* If DarwinCore is used, the IDs must be mapped to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
* For {{abbr|ABCD}}, the concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations. Its purpose is to provide a stable resource enabling preview functions in specimen portals. The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

Main Page

2026-05-27T09:02:20Z

Wouter Addink: /* Important ISTC products */

<div class="noautonum">__TOC__</div>

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission (ISTC) =

'''''Developing technical services for our community'''''

The Information Science & Technology Commission (ISTC) facilitates dialogue and collaboration between the IT departments of CETAF member and non-member institutions to ensure institutional interoperability through the development of common infrastructures and standards. The group works towards compatibility of components for digital information exchange and sharing, through procedural changes and adaptations to IT systems.

Members of the ISTC officially represent IT or Biodiversity Informatics departments of [https://cetaf.org/ CETAF] institutions. The group was established as a technical working group of the EU-funded project European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy ([https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/18340 EDIT]) and was integrated into CETAF in 2011.

== Who we are & how we collaborate ==
[[Members]] 
[[Working Group Charter]] 
[[Meetings]] 

== ISTC Subgroups ==
Natural Science Collections and AI 
[[Collection Management Systems]]

== Important ISTC products ==
[[CETAF Stable Identifier Guide|CETAF Stable Identifier Guide]] 
[[IIIF]] Recommendation 
[https://botanypilot.bo.berlin/ Botany Pilot]

== Other activities ==
[[Research Data Management in CETAF member organisations]] 
[[Storytelling with IndExs]]

CETAF Stable Identifier Guide

2026-05-27T09:00:38Z

Wouter Addink: /* {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative */

<big>'''CETAF Stable Identifier Guide'''</big>

== {{abbr|CETAF}} {{abbr|ISTC}} Stable Identifier Initiative ==

The Stable Identifiers of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) are globally unique, consistent and reliable identifiers for specimens in natural history collections. These identifiers are used in the world wide web to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects and to integrate them with the semantic web.

To align with modern global data infrastructures (such as DiSSCo and the Digital Specimen Architecture), CETAF strongly recommends provisioning for Digital Specimen DOIs. While CETAF URIs serve as the foundational, actionable Linked Open Data network entry points, Digital Specimen DOIs offer a globally recognized, persistent, and cross-disciplinary citation standard.

== How do CETAF Stable Identifier look like? ==

[[File:Stable identifier example.png|thumb|Example for the syntax of a CETAF Stable Identifier.]]
The {{abbr|CETAF}} identifier system is based on {{abbr|HTTP}}-{{abbr|URIs}} and Linked Data principles. It is simple and future-proof.
Each collection object as well as its associated information resources (e.g. multimedia, {{abbr|RDF}}, webpages) are identified by stable HTTP-URIs that will never change. The URI Syntax for the objects is chosen and maintained by the institution owning them. This flexibility is one of the main advantages of the CETAF Stable Identifier system as it allows e.g. to include branding and local scope identifiers into the CETAF Stable Identifier URI. There are however some [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]. Examples are:

: [http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113 http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100277113]
: [http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339 http://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000005516339]
: [http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509 http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00421509]

== How are CETAF Stable Identifiers resolved? ==

[[File:Resolving-cetaf-istc stable identifiers.png|thumb|Resolving {{abbr|URI}}-based collection identifiers using standard HTTP-redirection mechanisms.]]
A CETAF Stable Identifier allows the access of information about the corresponding collection object in various ways.
If a human user tries to access a collection object by typing it’s CETAF Stable Identifier into a web-browser, he will be redirected to a human-readable representation (e.g. html web-page) of it.
If a software-system tries to access the collection object via the same identifier, it will be redirected to a machine-processable {{abbr|RDF}}-encoded metadata record. The identifier is therefore integrated with the semantic web and can also be used in other {{abbr|RDF}} representations to link to the belonging collection object.

== What can CETAF Stable Identifiers be used for? ==

As described above, CETAF Identifiers can first of all be used to redirect users and systems to images, websites and metadata of the physical objects they belong to.
They can also be used to precisely reference specimens needed in scientific studies and serve as basis for data retrieval, integration and reproducibility of data experiments.
Additionally, the stable identifiers enable new applications in the semantic web domain. An example for this is the Biology Pilot. The [https://www.bgbm.org/ Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin], [https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/ Meise Botanic Garden] and other collections annotated thousands of specimens with the [https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html HUH] and [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page WikiData] IDs of their collectors. The CETAF Stable Identifiers of the annotated specimens are available on [https://www.gbif.org/ GBIF] and a server is crawling the identifiers to organize the RDF information in a Blaze Graph triple store. This graph enables us to search for specimen by their collector {{abbr|ID}} of {{abbr|HUH}} or WikiData, which is invariant to the different spelling variants the individual institutions may be using. The query will return all relevant specimens available in the joined set of specimens regardless of their origin institution. If the number of institutions using stable identifiers grows and the amount of machine readable annotations increases, this technology could be used to basically create a “google for specimens”.

== How can I implement CETAF Stable Identifiers for my collection? ==

The CETAF Stable Identifiers can be implemented in three levels. They are described in detail in [http://herbal.rbge.info/md.php?q=documentation herbal.rbge.info’s documentation].

{| class="vertical-align-top booktable"
|+ Following conditions have to be met to reach the corresponding implementation levels
! Level 1 … !! → Level 2 !! → Level 3 !!
|-
| style="width:40%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you assigned a stable URI to each object of your collection, which will be never changed and preferably follows the [[Best_practices_for_stable_URIs|best practices for stable URIs]]

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a human-readable representation (web-page) for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a user trying to access a collection object by typing the stable URI of it into a web-browser will be redirected to the human-readable representation (web-page) of the object (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 1''

{{color|green|✓}} there exists a machine-readable RDF metadata record for each of your collection objects

{{color|green|✓}} a machine trying to access a collection object via its identifier with <code>application/rdf+xml</code> header will be redirected to the objects machine-readable RDF metadata record (you can test this by using the [http://herbal.rbge.info/search.php CETAF URI Tester])
| style="width:30%" |
{{color|green|✓}} you reached ''Level 2''

{{color|green|✓}} the machine-readable RDF metadata record of each of your collection objects encodes application specific data (e.g. is compliant to the [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile—CSPP]])
|}

=== HTTP vs. HTTPS versions of CETAF {{abbr|URIs}} ===

As far as the Semantic web is concerned ''<nowiki>http://xyz</nowiki>'' and ''https://xyz'' are different things because they are different {{abbr|URIs}}. The recommendation for new implementations should be just to use HTTPS. If you have only HTTP or HTTPS versions, ''or'' want to change it you should take notice of the following:

{| class="booktable"
|-
! HTTP !! HTTPS
|-
| You
* have issued ''only HTTP'' versions of CETAF URIs and want to keep it that way
* have nothing to add technically, just have the usual 303 HTTP redirect to RDF or HTML resources in place
|You
* have issued ''only HTTPS'' versions of CETAF URIs
* don’t need to resolve then HTTP if you have never issued any, because they aren’t out there to be resolved.
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | Want to change HTTP to HTTPS
|-
| colspan="2" | You
* have issued HTTP versions of CETAF URIs but want to change to HTTPS
* have to keep resolving with a 303 redirect to HTTPS of the RDF or HTML resources. The RDF should contain an <code>owl:sameAs</code> assertion linking the HTTP and HTTPS versions of the {{abbr|URI}}, therefore only minor configure stuff for providers and transparent for users.
* could change to telling people to cite HTTPS rather than HTTP for your specimens but it shouldn’t matter too much as these things are linked together. The recommendation would be to cite as HTTPS if you have it implemented as at some point in the future a client may refuse to trust even a redirect from an HTTP URI (which is a bit paranoid but may happen).
|}

== Publishing CETAF IDs to {{abbr|GBIF}} ==

If your institution is using CETAF IDs and yout want them (and potential Specimen RDF) to be included into the CETAF Specimen Catalogue, they need to be used as {{abbr|GUIDs}} in the specimen data fed to GBIF. As described in [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]], the GBIF Index is used to discover CETAF IDs.
* If DarwinCore is used, the IDs must be mapped to [http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID occurrence ID].
* For {{abbr|ABCD}}, the concept [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:UnitGUID UnitGUID] should be used.

== How can I discover specimens with CETAF IDs and corresponding Linked Open Data ({{abbr|LOD}})? ==

You can discover specimens of institutions of the Stable Identifiers Implementers Group by using the [[CETAF Specimen Catalogue]] maintained at the {{abbr|BGBM}}, which offers a web service for getting a list of valid CETAF IDs. For implementers of level 2, who provide {{abbr|RDF}} representations of their specimens, a cache triple store with a {{abbr|SPARQL}} access point will be available soon.

== What data fields or elements are recommended or standardized? ==

The [[CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]] is developed as a minimal set of agreed ({{abbr|RDF}}) collection metadata elements implemented consistently across {{abbr|CETAF}} organisations. Its purpose is to provide a stable resource enabling preview functions in specimen portals. The {{abbr|CSPP}} is not meant to be comprehensive, which means that Linked Open (collection) Data implementations of CETAF institutions will usually provide much richer metadata with additional RDF-elements.

== Further Questions ==

See on [[Questions, problem solutions and further discussions (Guide of best practices)]] and in general also in [[:Category: Discussion]].

== Useful Links ==

* [[Best practices for stable URIs]]
* [[CSPP|CETAF Specimen Preview Profile (CSPP)]]—A set of standard data components for data exchange
* [https://git.bgbm.org/cetaf/stableidentifiernegotiation Source code and example documents (git.bgbm.org)]
* [http://herbal.rbge.info/ CETAF URI Tester (herbal.rbge.info)]
* [[Standards_compliance_dashboard|The Standards Compliance Dashboard]] of collaborating institutions
* [[:Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]—Collection of pages related to this guide or handbook

== Further reading ==

<div class="hanging-indent compact-references">
''Kuzmova, I.'' ‘Pro-IBiosphere - Stable Identifiers for Specimens – A CETAF ISTC Initiative Supported by pro-IBiosphere’. ''EUBON''. 1 July 2013. URL: https://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/news/4296_stable_identifiers_for_specimens_-_a_cetaf_istc_initiative_supported_by_pro-ibiosphere/.

''Güntsch, A.'' et al., ‘Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects’, ''Database (Oxford)'', vol. 2017; Jan. 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bax003.

''Groom, Q.'' et al., ‘Stable Identifiers for Collection Specimens’, ''Nature (Correspondence)'', 546.7656 (2017), 33; URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/546033d

''Hardisty, A.'' ‘Natural Science Identifiers & CETAF Stable Identifiers’. DiSSCoTech (blog). 28 May 2020; URL:https://dissco.tech/2020/05/28/natural-science-identifiers-cetaf-stable-identifiers/.

''Hyland, B.'' et al. ‘Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data.’ World Wide Web Consortium, 9 Jan. 2014; http://www.w3.org/TR/ld-bp/.

''Wouter, A.'' ‘Identifiers for Our Institutes – GRID and ROR’, DiSSCoTech (blog), 11 April 2020; https://dissco.tech/2020/04/11/identifiers-for-our-institutes-grid-and-ror/.

''McMurry, J. A.'' et al., ‘Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data’, ''PLOS Biology'' 15(6):e2001414 June 2017; URL:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001414.

<div style="margin-top:2ex;" ></div>

Poster: [http://www.cetaf.org/sites/default/files/cetaf-istc_stable_identifiers_poster50x70.pdf CETAF stable identifiers for specimens (1.4MB, www.cetaf.org)]
</div>

== Meetings ==
* [http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/3846 Edinburgh Meeting (June 2013)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200318235750/https://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshop_Berlin_1:_How_to_improve_technical_cooperation_and_interoperability_at_the_e-infrastructure_level_Minutes Joint ISTC/pro-iBiosphere workshop Berlin, October 2013 (archived version)]
* [[Geneva_meeting|Geneva Meeting (October 2015)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2016_Bratislava#Minutes|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (May 2016)]]
* [[ISTC_Meeting_Spring_2017_Stuttgart|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (March 2017)]]
* [[IDs_and_LOD_Discussion|(Virtual) LOD Hackathon (October 2017)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2018_Copenhagen|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_QoS_Workshop_Copenhagen_2018|ISTC QoS Workshop Copenhagen (June 2018)]]
* [[ISTC_DWG_Meeting_Spring_2019_Vienna|Joint CETAF-ISTC / CETAF-DWG meeting (February 2019)]]

[[Category: Guide for CETAF Stable Identifiers]]

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-21T11:06:56Z

Wouter Addink: /* Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Tiny URL for taking notes ==
https://tinyurl.com/ym56b6p9

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Francis Strobbe (RBINS, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)
* Wouter Addink (Naturalis, NL)
* Sam Leeflang (Naturalis, NL)
* Patricia Mergen (MeiseBG, RMCA,BE)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "AI & Robotics for Collections" 
- Talk on Digitisation and DiSSCo EU / UK updates by Maarten Trekels & Arianna Salili-James 
- Talk on DiSSCo Annotation Model implementation by Sam Leeflang 
- Group workshop on AI and CMS Best Practices 
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)" 
- Results Group workshop on AI and CMS Best Practices 
- Talk on Changing CMS: feedback from MNHN, an approach focused on change management. by Maxime Griveau
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:10 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template (Wouter Addink) [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MS0xllA7aECa82JfRkn1SPwiiUbAv7kKcaPRyQaxHlk presentation] 
- Update of the CETAF Stable Identifier Guide with Digital Specimen DOIs (Wouter Addink) [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F1ui33ZT_tOZaXSxDGuSrj58DMvz7hGqID-7d9_DxJk presentation] 
|-
| 12:10 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-21T11:06:06Z

Wouter Addink: /* Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Tiny URL for taking notes ==
https://tinyurl.com/ym56b6p9

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Francis Strobbe (RBINS, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)
* Wouter Addink (Naturalis, NL)
* Sam Leeflang (Naturalis, NL)
* Patricia Mergen (MeiseBG, RMCA,BE)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "AI & Robotics for Collections" 
- Talk on Digitisation and DiSSCo EU / UK updates by Maarten Trekels & Arianna Salili-James 
- Talk on DiSSCo Annotation Model implementation by Sam Leeflang 
- Group workshop on AI and CMS Best Practices 
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)" 
- Results Group workshop on AI and CMS Best Practices 
- Talk on Changing CMS: feedback from MNHN, an approach focused on change management. by Maxime Griveau
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:10 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template (Wouter Addink) [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MS0xllA7aECa82JfRkn1SPwiiUbAv7kKcaPRyQaxHlk presentation] 
- Update of the CETAF Stable Identifier Guide with Digital Specimen DOIs (Wouter Addink) [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F1ui33ZT_tOZaXSxDGuSrj58DMvz7hGqID-7d9_DxJk link] 
|-
| 12:10 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-20T15:09:19Z

Wouter Addink: /* Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Francis Strobbe (RBINS, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)
* Wouter Addink (Naturalis, NL)
* Sam Leeflang (Naturalis, NL)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "AI & Robotics for Collections" 
- Talk on Digitisation and DiSSCo EU / UK updates by Maarten Trekels & Arianna Salili-James 
- Talk on DiSSCo Annotation Services by Wouter Koch (update, WA: I think this should be Talk on DiSSCo Annotation Model implementation by Sam Leeflang) 
- Group workshop on AI Best Practices 
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)"
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:10 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template (Wouter Addink) 
- Update of the CETAF Stable Identifier Guide with Digital Specimen DOIs (Wouter Addink) 
|-
| 12:10 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-20T15:06:09Z

Wouter Addink: /* Participants */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Francis Strobbe (RBINS, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)
* Wouter Addink (Naturalis, NL)
* Sam Leeflang (Naturalis, NL)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "AI & Robotics for Collections" 
- Talk on Digitisation and DiSSCo EU / UK updates by Maarten Trekels & Arianna Salili-James 
- Talk on DiSSCo Annotation Services by Wouter Koch 
- Group workshop on AI Best Practices 
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)"
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:10 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template (Wouter Addink) 
- Update of the CETAF Stable Identifier Guide with Digital Specimen DOIs (Wouter Addink) 
|-
| 12:10 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-19T07:42:07Z

Wouter Addink: /* Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "Natural Science Collections & AI"
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)"
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:00 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- National campaign for the annotation of biodiversity data (Anton Güntsch) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template (Wouter Addink) 
- Update of the CETAF Stable Identifier Guide with Digital Specimen DOIs (Wouter Addink) 
|-
| 12:00 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-19T07:41:20Z

Wouter Addink: /* Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "Natural Science Collections & AI"
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)"
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:00 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- National campaign for the annotation of biodiversity data (Anton Güntsch) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template 
- Update of the CETAF Stable Identifier Guide with Digital Specimen DOIs 
|-
| 12:00 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

Members

2026-05-12T12:36:32Z

Wouter Addink:

== Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Berlin, Germany ==
* Anton Güntsch
* Dominik Röpert

== CETAF Secretariat ==
* Laura Tilley
* Alessio Glorioso

== Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Bonn, Germany ==
* Peter Grobe
* Björn Quast
* Cristina Garilao
* Birgit Rach

== Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, Belgium ==
* Quentin Groom
* Mathias Dillen
* Maarten Trekels

== Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research, Berlin, Germany ==
* Sabine von Mering
* tbc

== Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, France ==
* Maxime Griveau

== Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium ==
* Francis Strobbe

== Senckenberg - Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Frankfurt, Germany ==
* Jonas Grieb
* Anke Penzlin

== Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, Munich, Germany ==
* Stefan Seifert

== Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium==
* Kenzo Milleville
* Dilara Ağacık

== Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands ==
* Wouter Addink

2026 Spring Meeting

2026-05-12T12:31:48Z

Wouter Addink: /* Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2026 Meeting =
'''Meise, May 21-22 2026'''
== Venue ==
Meise Botanic Garden 
Nieuwelaan 38 
1860 Meise, Belgium

The meeting will take place in the Bouchout Castle, room Musa. '''Please register your attendance in the form below.''' A couple of days in advance of the event, you will receive an entrance ticket that allows you to enter the botanic garden.

== Registration Form ==

https://forms.gle/gc2W8DiezxDGfWpB6

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Maarten Trekels (MeiseBG, BE)
* Robert Cubey (RBGE, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Maxime Griveau (MNHN, FR)
* Peter Grobe (LIB, DE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, DE)
* Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)
* Kenzo Milleville (UGent, BE)
* Dilara Ağacık (UGent, BE)

== Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - May 21 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 15:00 || Subgroup "Natural Science Collections & AI"
|-
| '''15:00 - 15:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:30 - 17:00 || Subgroup "Collection Management Systems (CMS)"
|-
| 17:00 - 18:30 || Guided tour
|-
| '''18:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:30 -'' || ''Dinner at '''To Be Announced''' (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - May 22 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || Type specimen initiative
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || TETTRIs Experts and Services Marketplace (Laura Tilley)
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:30''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:30 - 12:00 || Presentations of ISTC-relevant projects and initiatives 
- Enhancing Earth Science specimen data (Laura Tilley) 
- National campaign for the annotation of biodiversity data (Anton Güntsch) 
- Roadmaps for community review of a draft DiSSCo Annotations Acceptance Framework and draft Service Level agreement template 
|-
| 12:00 - 12:30 || Research Data Management in CETAF Member Organisations 
Round-table discussion of RDM documentations from CETAF organisations that can be compiled and made available in the ISTC wiki (see [https://istc.cetaf.org/Research_Data_Management_in_CETAF_member_organisations]).
|-
| 12:30 - 13:00 || Funding opportunities (Patricia Mergen)
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting and opportunity for a light lunch'''
|}

== Minutes ==
=== Day 1 ===
=== Day 2 ===

== Logistics ==
=== Directions ===
'''Arriving by bus'''

You can easily reach us by De Lijn buses. Line '''R50''' (Brussels-North - Meise - Londerzeel) stops right in front of the main entrance (stop Plantentuin Meise).

There is a bus service every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. Plan your route here.

Payments can be made contactless on the bus, or you can download the De Lijn app and purchase your ticket(s) in advance. The app also offers (most of the time) live tracking of the bus, in case you are afraid of missing the bus stop.

For more information go to https://www.delijn.be.

'''Arriving by train'''

Take the train to Brussels-North or Londerzeel station.

Go to the NMBS website (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en) for the most recent travel information or use the NMBS app.

At the station, take bus R50, which will take you to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

'''Arriving by car'''

Meise Botanic Garden is situated along the A12 (Brussels-Antwerp). Take exit 3 Meise. Parking is available at the Empress Charlotte entrance.

The parking fee is €7. Exit tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

* at the ticketmachine in the parking lot
* at the ticketmachine on the Welcome Square
* at the ticket counter
* via contactless payment at the barrier upon exiting
Upon presentation of your parking ticket, you will receive a 3.5 euro discount in the Garden Shop (with a minimum purchase of 5 euros).

Short-term parking of up to 45 minutes is free. License plate recognition will automatically open the barrier when exiting within this time.

Our parking area offers 18 charging stations for electric vehicles, allowing you to conveniently recharge your car during your visit.

'''International visitors'''

From Brussels Airport we can be reached by a direct De Lijn bus connection (Zaventem-Merchtem line 21).

If you arrive by international train into Brussels-Midi, first take the train to Brussels-North where you will then take a direct bus connection (Line R50) to the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

=== Hotels ===

Some suggestions of Hotels and BnBs are given here (will be updated later on). Using the bus to reach the botanic garden, you can also look for a hotel closer to the city center of Brussels (e.g. close to the 'Tour&Taxis' area).

'''Hotels'''

Thermae Hotel (**), Wolvertemsesteenweg 92, 1850 Grimbergen

Hotel Ibis Brussels Expo (**), Romeinse Steenweg 572, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

Holliday Inn Garden Court Brussels Expo (***), Keizerin Charlottelaan 6, 1020 Laken

Alfa Rijckendael Hotel (***), Luitberg 1, 1853 Strombeek-Bever

https://www.booking.com

'''Bed & Breakfasts'''

Sterckxhof, Kardinaal Sterckxlaan 17, 1860 Meise

Time to Escape, Humbeekstraat 29A, 1860 Meise

Het Lavershuis, Zavelberg 32, 1780 Wemmel

Green Cottage, Smidsestraat 14, 1785 Brussegem

't Verreveld, Heerbaan 132, 1840 Londerzeel

2025 Spring Meeting

2025-04-08T09:27:34Z

Wouter Addink: /* Draft Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2025 Meeting =
'''Bonn, April 7-8 2025'''
== Venue ==
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change 
Museum Koenig 
Raiffeisenhaus 
Adenauerallee 127 
53113 Bonn, Germany
(First floor, on the right. Please follow the signs!)

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* David Fichtmüller (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Quentin Groom (Meise Botanic Garden, BE)
* Mathias Dillen (Meise Botanic Garden, BE)
* Maarten Trekels (Meise Botanic Garden, BE)
* Jiri Frank (NM, CZ)
* Adam Cironis (NM, CZ)
* Wouter Addink (Naturalis, NL)
* Dagmar Triebel (SNSB, DE)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Caitlin Thorn (MfN, DE)
* <s>Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)</s>
* Claus Weiland (SGN, DE)
* <s>Anke Penzlin (SGN, DE)</s>
* André De Mûelenaere (Africamuseum, BE)
* Franck Theeten (Africamuseum, BE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, Bonn, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, Bonn, DE)
* Cristina Garilao (LIB, Hamburg, DE)
* <s>Laura Tilley (CETAF, BE)</s>
* Ana Casino (CETAF, BE)
* Glorioso Alessio (CETAF, BE)
* Nicky Nicolson (Kew, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Theary Ung (MNHN, Paris, FR)
* Laurent Gohy (ULiège, BE) - first day

== Draft Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - April 7 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 14:00 || The new ISTC Wiki and future ISTC documentation
|-
| 14:00 - 15:15 || CMS Subgroup - Introduction of the new subgroup - Presentations of CMS-related activities in CETAF collections * Frank Theeten * Maarten Trekels * Stefan Seifert * <s>Jonas Grieb</s> * Dominik Röpert - Discussion of possible activities of the CMS subgroup and structuring of the collaboration
|-
| '''15:15 - 15:45''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:45 - 17:00 || [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UdHPtT6nYadYRgZjgOPMgDlTksrdO-CrbhMgFswh2YM/edit?usp=sharing/ AI, Robotics and Digital Collections Subgroup] - Introduction of the new subgroup - Examples of currently ongoing initiatives - Discussion of possible activities of the AI subgroup and structuring of the collaboration
|-
| 17:00 - 17:30 || Cancelled: <s>Establishment of a new Center for Knowledge Literacy and Biodiversity Informatics at the LIB (Peter Grobe)</s>
|-
| '''17:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:00 -'' || ''Dinner at Tuscolo, [https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=50.73294&mlon=7.09964#map=16/50.73294/7.09964 Gerhard-von-Are-Straße 8], 53111 Bonn (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - April 8 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gnCnZgJml1dKllMoK62A8l5x93Hpmbse9Cd80TVzl98/ Type specimen initiative]
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || Guided tour
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:20''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:20 - 12:20 || Misc presentations (projects, initiatives, ideas, ...): - Indexing of research expeditions and linking to semantic entities (Sabine von Mering) - Cancelled: <s>Enhancing geological specimen data (Laura Tilley)</s> - [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jQp0TKJhnbKCG_IHmNmQaIHOKTQIN7GAbQbsMx-The8/edit?usp=sharing Update on MAS development in DiSSCo] (Wouter Addink) - Exsiccata series in botanical and mycological collections: Part of a shared history - [http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de/ IndExs] demo (Dagmar Triebel)
|-
| 12:20 - 12:45 || Funding opportunities
|-
| 12:45 - 13:00 || AOB
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting (and packet lunch)'''
|}

== Logistics ==
=== Hotels ===
* ACHAT Sternhotel Bonn, Markt 8, 53111 Bonn, 90€
* IntercityHotel Bonn, Quantiusstraße 22, 53115 Bonn, 100€
* Hotel Motel One, Am Hauptbahnhof 12, and Berliner Freiheit 36, 53111 Bonn, 100€
* Hotel Kurfürstenhof, Baumschulallee 20, 53115 Bonn, 90€
* Beethoven Hotel Dreesen, Bonngasse 17, Zentrum, 53111 Bonn, 90€
* My Südstadt Bonn, Kaiserstraße 221, 53113 Bonn, 90€> (very close to Museum Koenig, but rooms are very noisy towards Kaiserstraße)
* For those who like it unusual: BaseCamp Hostel Bonn, In d. Raste 1, 53129 Bonn, 70€

Hotels on a map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/c6P5W2taKKTZD8HJ6

2025 Spring Meeting

2025-04-08T09:26:01Z

Wouter Addink: /* Draft Agenda */

= CETAF Information Science & Technology Commission - Spring 2025 Meeting =
'''Bonn, April 7-8 2025'''
== Venue ==
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change 
Museum Koenig 
Raiffeisenhaus 
Adenauerallee 127 
53113 Bonn, Germany
(First floor, on the right. Please follow the signs!)

== Participants ==
* Anton Güntsch (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Dominik Röpert (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* David Fichtmüller (FUB-BGBM, DE)
* Quentin Groom (Meise Botanic Garden, BE)
* Mathias Dillen (Meise Botanic Garden, BE)
* Maarten Trekels (Meise Botanic Garden, BE)
* Jiri Frank (NM, CZ)
* Adam Cironis (NM, CZ)
* Wouter Addink (Naturalis, NL)
* Dagmar Triebel (SNSB, DE)
* Stefan Seifert (SNSB, DE)
* Sabine von Mering (MfN, DE)
* Caitlin Thorn (MfN, DE)
* <s>Jonas Grieb (SGN, DE)</s>
* Claus Weiland (SGN, DE)
* <s>Anke Penzlin (SGN, DE)</s>
* André De Mûelenaere (Africamuseum, BE)
* Franck Theeten (Africamuseum, BE)
* Björn Quast (LIB, Bonn, DE)
* Birgit Rach (LIB, Bonn, DE)
* Cristina Garilao (LIB, Hamburg, DE)
* <s>Laura Tilley (CETAF, BE)</s>
* Ana Casino (CETAF, BE)
* Glorioso Alessio (CETAF, BE)
* Nicky Nicolson (Kew, UK)
* Arianna Salili-James (NHM, UK)
* Theary Ung (MNHN, Paris, FR)
* Laurent Gohy (ULiège, BE) - first day

== Draft Agenda ==
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 1 - April 7 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| '''12:00 - 13:00''' || '''Arrival and lunch'''
|-
| 13:00 - 13:30 || Welcome, introduction of participants, agenda, logistics
|-
| 13:30 - 14:00 || The new ISTC Wiki and future ISTC documentation
|-
| 14:00 - 15:15 || CMS Subgroup - Introduction of the new subgroup - Presentations of CMS-related activities in CETAF collections * Frank Theeten * Maarten Trekels * Stefan Seifert * <s>Jonas Grieb</s> * Dominik Röpert - Discussion of possible activities of the CMS subgroup and structuring of the collaboration
|-
| '''15:15 - 15:45''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 15:45 - 17:00 || [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UdHPtT6nYadYRgZjgOPMgDlTksrdO-CrbhMgFswh2YM/edit?usp=sharing/ AI, Robotics and Digital Collections Subgroup] - Introduction of the new subgroup - Examples of currently ongoing initiatives - Discussion of possible activities of the AI subgroup and structuring of the collaboration
|-
| 17:00 - 17:30 || Cancelled: <s>Establishment of a new Center for Knowledge Literacy and Biodiversity Informatics at the LIB (Peter Grobe)</s>
|-
| '''17:30''' || '''End of day one'''
|-
| ''19:00 -'' || ''Dinner at Tuscolo, [https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=50.73294&mlon=7.09964#map=16/50.73294/7.09964 Gerhard-von-Are-Straße 8], 53111 Bonn (self paid)''
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2" | ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - April 8 ------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| 9:00 - 10:00 || [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gnCnZgJml1dKllMoK62A8l5x93Hpmbse9Cd80TVzl98/ Type specimen initiative]
|-
| 10:00 - 11:00 || Guided tour
|-
| '''11:00 - 11:20''' || '''Coffee break'''
|-
| 11:20 - 12:20 || Misc presentations (projects, initiatives, ideas, ...): - Indexing of research expeditions and linking to semantic entities (Sabine von Mering) - Cancelled: <s>Enhancing geological specimen data (Laura Tilley)</s> - Update on MAS development in DiSSCo [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jQp0TKJhnbKCG_IHmNmQaIHOKTQIN7GAbQbsMx-The8/edit?usp=sharing] (Wouter Addink) - Exsiccata series in botanical and mycological collections: Part of a shared history - [http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de/ IndExs] demo (Dagmar Triebel)
|-
| 12:20 - 12:45 || Funding opportunities
|-
| 12:45 - 13:00 || AOB
|-
| '''13:00''' || '''End of meeting (and packet lunch)'''
|}

== Logistics ==
=== Hotels ===
* ACHAT Sternhotel Bonn, Markt 8, 53111 Bonn, 90€
* IntercityHotel Bonn, Quantiusstraße 22, 53115 Bonn, 100€
* Hotel Motel One, Am Hauptbahnhof 12, and Berliner Freiheit 36, 53111 Bonn, 100€
* Hotel Kurfürstenhof, Baumschulallee 20, 53115 Bonn, 90€
* Beethoven Hotel Dreesen, Bonngasse 17, Zentrum, 53111 Bonn, 90€
* My Südstadt Bonn, Kaiserstraße 221, 53113 Bonn, 90€> (very close to Museum Koenig, but rooms are very noisy towards Kaiserstraße)
* For those who like it unusual: BaseCamp Hostel Bonn, In d. Raste 1, 53129 Bonn, 70€

Hotels on a map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/c6P5W2taKKTZD8HJ6

2025 Spring Meeting

2025-03-24T07:51:20Z

Wouter Addink: /* Draft Agenda */

2025 Spring Meeting

2025-03-24T07:49:46Z

Wouter Addink: /* Draft Agenda */

2025 Spring Meeting

2025-03-24T07:43:12Z

Wouter Addink: /* Participants */