INTERDISCIPLINARY SHARING & USE OF DIGITAL FOSSIL DATA

Specimen imaging and metadata can be formatted to be useful to researchers in varioius fields of study. By including data relevant to more than one type of potential user, digital records can be made useful for a wide audience. For example, fossil specimens can be of interest to researchers outside geology.

Investigation of how specimens are used and described in different areas of study should precede the actual digitization process. By adding a few more photographs, or including data not normally of interest to geologists, the scientific value of a collection can be greatly enhanced.

To illustrate this, two specific examples will be described: Late Pleistocene vertebrate remains that are of interest to anthropologists and mammalogists, and fossil insects that are important to entomologists.