What is SISRIS?

The project, "Supporting inclusive and sustainable research infrastructure for systematics (SISRIS) by connecting scientists and their specimens" is supported by a conference grant from the US National Science Foundation to Dr. Andrea Weeks (George Mason University; Ted R. Bradley Herbarium), and Drs. Shawn Zeringue-Krosnick and Twanelle Majors (Tennessee Tech University; Hollister Herbarium). It supports two US-based workshops and symposia at the 2023 annual meetings of the Association of Southeastern Biologists and Botany 2023. The purpose of the work is to share new practices that improve attribution of natural history specimens and highlight research advances in systematics that can be made as a consequence of improved people-data within biodiversity informatics databases.

How can I participate in SISRIS?

Workshop participation at either of the conferences is by application to this site: SISRIS WORKSHOP REGISTRATION. Workshop participants must also be registered conference participants in order to attend the events.

Participation stipends are available from the NSF award to defray the cost of attending the workshop. For ASB, these include 19 stipends @ $325 and 6 stipends @ $650, the latter designated to support individuals from groups underrepresented in science. For Botany, these include 22 stipends @ $500 and 8 stipends @ $1000. Limited funds should also be available to defray the cost of family dependent-care, if requested. All stipends are dispersed after workshop events.

Symposium attendance is open to any and all registered conference participants. Confirmed invited speakers and their titles are posted below. Inquiries about SISRIS may be directed to SISRIS2023[at]gmail[dot]com.

Workshops

ASB Workshop Schedule (Friday March 24, 2023; Winston-Salem, North Carolina) (in-person only)

1:30-1:40 pm: Welcome and logistics
1:40-2:00 pm: Introductory remarks
2:00–3:15 pm: Hands-on: Participants disambiguate names of collectors from underrepresented groups on the Bionomia platform
3:15–3:45 pm: Break
3:45–5:05 pm: Hands-on: Participants document their own expertise and research contributions to biological research collections using Bionomia, learn how to use additional tools to augment their curriculum vitae and future publications, and learn how to track collection-level research impact.
5:05–5:10 pm: Next steps and concluding remarks about how to amplify this effort after the workshop.
5:10–5:30 pm: Hands-on: Participants complete online workshop survey that will be emailed to each person.
5:30 pm: Adjourn

Botany Workshop Schedule (Sunday July 23, 2023; Boise, Idaho) (in-person and online participation opportunities)

8:00-8:10 am: Welcome and logistics
8:10-8:30 am Introductory remarks
8:30-9:45 am: Hands-on: Participants disambiguate names of collectors from underrepresented groups on the Bionomia platform
9:45-10:15 am: Break
10:15-11:35 am: Hands-on: Participants document their own expertise and research contributions to biological research collections using Bionomia, learn how to use additional tools to augment their curriculum vitae and future publications, and learn how to track collection-level research impact.
11:35-11:40 am: Next steps and concluding remarks about how to amplify this effort after the workshop.
11:40-12:00 pm: Hands-on: Participants complete online workshop survey that will be emailed to each person.
12:00 pm: Adjourn

Pre-Workshop Homework (estimated time for completion: 60 min)

Skim open-access paper Groom et al. (2020) for an overview of why disambiguating the names of collectors and identifiers of biological specimens is important for advancing scientific research and for increasing professional recognition of taxonomic expertise.
Watch first 31 minutes of a You-Tube video from a prior Bionomia workshop about bat specimens, as a case study explaining concepts and terminology in biodiversity informatics and Bionomia that relate to "people-data". This will allow you to hit the ground running in the upcoming workshop.
Set your ORCID profile to "Public".
Sign up as a user on Bionomia using your ORCID ID number.
Bring your laptop to the workshop.
Bring your questions.

Workshop Materials

Link to Our Data Set in an editable Google Sheet containing some names of historical botanical collectors in the US who have digitized specimen data posted to GBIF and who are available on Bionomia for disambiguation during the workshop. Note: this list is not exhaustive.
PDF of how-to directions that reiterate workshop workflow (e.g. historical attribution, claiming one's specimens, reporting institutional metrics, importing unique collector ID's back into your institution's DB). Zenodo DOI to latest version
Group Notes for ASB2023 SISRIS Workshop.

Invited Symposia

Presentations at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists (Saturday March 25, 2023; Winston-Salem, North Carolina)

Deborah L Paul (University of Illinois). "Discovering together "who dunnit?": building a borderless knowledge community."
David Shorthouse (Bionomia). "Connecting scientists and their specimens through Bionomia."
Shawn Zeringue-Krosnick (Tennessee Tech University), Olubunmi Aina, Adania Flemming, Molly Phillips, Jennifer Kovacs, Siobhan Leachman, and Makenzie E. Mabry. "Digital data sleuthing and storytelling as tools to engage students with the unsung heroes of natural history collections."
Andrea Weeks (George Mason University). "An exception proves the rule: Lena Artz (1891–1976) and her legacy of botanical specimens."
Carol Ann McCormick (The University of North Carolina). "Delving into the lives of herbarium collectors."
Daniel Koenemann (Claflin University), Janelle Burke. "Prolific plant collectors and the HBCU legacy: Charles Parker as a case study."
Pamela Puppo (Marshall University), Lori Thompson, and Lindsey Harper. "Uncovering hidden figures at the Marshall University Herbarium through inter-disciplinary collaborations."
Robin Lewis (Spartanburg Community College), Hannah Bendull, and Jessica Budke. "The State of Herbarium Backlogs: Perspectives from Bryophyte Collections."
Zack Murrell (Appalachian State Univerity), Michael Denslow, Herrick Brown, Andrea Weeks and Shawn Krosnick. "Strategies to enhance and sustain an established cyberinfrastructure."

Presentations at Botany 2023 (July TBD, 2023; Boise, Idaho), sponsored by the Society of Herbarium Curators within their Special Session of the conference program.

confirmed roster TBA by April.

dshorthouse/SISRIS