Distributed System of Scientific Collections
@dissco.bsky.social
DiSSCo is a new world-class Research Infrastructure for Natural Science Collections. It aims to create a new business model for one European collection that digitally unifies all European natural science assets under common access, policies and practices.
Join the @dissco.bsky.social x #WiNoDa hackathon on machine annotation services (MAS) next October 14-15th and learn how to develop and connect these services directly to DiSSCo. 📖 Info: lnkd.in/dzR3VWAF 📌 Registration (deadline is 31 August 2026): lnkd.in/dih-tGmg @disscoflanders.bsky.social
Our colleagues from @dissco.bsky.social-NL have launched De Kracht van Natuurwetenschappelijke Collecties in Nederland (The Power of Natural History Collections in the Netherlands) to defend the crucial scientific and societal impact of the unique Dutch NH collections: www.dissco.eu/natural-coll...
The power of Natural History collections in the Netherlands - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
Two jobs at @thebotanics.bsky.social (RBGE) - National Project Manager Scotland & National Data Manager Scotland - join us in delivering @dissco.bsky.social in the UK www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/job...
Vacancies | Working Here | What We Do
rbge.org.uk
The Unified Curation and Annotation System by @dissco.bsky.social, DiSSCover, has outgrown its "Proof of concept" phase and is ready to move on. Take a look at the latest developments! www.dissco.eu/maturing-dis...
Maturing DiSSCover to become a future-proof platform - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
Our colleagues from @meisebotanicgarden.bsky.social have just presented their science collection strategy for the coming decade. Guess what: @dissco.bsky.social plays a central role in it! You can take a look here: zenodo.org/records/1854... @disscoflanders.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social
Soulaine Theocharides, from @dissco.bsky.social tech team, attended @fosdem.org 26 to present #DiSSCover our platform for curation and annotation of #digitalspecimen for experts and AI systems. Watch the presentation: www.dissco.eu/dissco-fosde... @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org @disscoflanders.bsky.social
We brought DiSSCo's community curation to FOSDEM 2026 - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
🆕 Latest research in @dissco.bsky.social's #openscience collection illustrates a Machine Learning as a Service approach for quantitative analysis of #herbarium #specimens. 🌿 Subsequently, DiSSCO's models are used to calculate surface area of identified #plant organs. 🔓 See: doi.org/10.3897/rio....
🔎 Explore so far 10 #research outcomes by @dissco.bsky.social, i.e. proposals, research papers and project reports at: doi.org/10.3897/rio.... 🔓 👍 @dissco.bsky.social is a pan-European Research Infrastructure that aims to digitally unify #NaturalScience #collections to make them open & accessible.
Virtual collections allow users to digitally group specimens based on any chosen criteria, regardless of where the physical specimens are stored. Learn how @dissco.bsky.social builds them with #DiSSCover 👉https://www.dissco.eu/applications-virtualcollections/ #biodiversity @horizoneu.bsky.social
Notes on DiSSCo applications (IV): Virtual collections - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
Manual coordination of collections is hindering the efforts of the scientific community. To overcome this, @dissco.bsky.social proposes AI-based automation to expand access, annotate data, and integrate collections across institutions. Watch this demo to learn more www.dissco.eu/applications...
Notes on DiSSCo applications (III): Machine annotations - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
What we had until today: a fragmented model of access/request of specimens. What #ELVIS (European Loans & Visit System) already offers: a single entry point for estandardised practices across institutions, better discoverability and traceability. DEMO 👉 www.dissco.eu/applications...
Notes on DiSSCo applications (II): ELViS - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
The @dissco.bsky.social tech team works with a small group of early adopters. They are the researchers, #taxonomists and collection managers of the "Users group". Find out the high-priority needs that we have identified through this collaboration 👉 www.dissco.eu/user-groups/ @horizoneu.bsky.social
Notes on DiSSCo applications (I): Users Group - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
Our @dissco.bsky.social partners from @nhmwien.bsky.social are organising the symposium #Museomics2026 focused on novel technical advances, historical #DNA, and the societal relevance of museum collections. More info and registration: www.nhm.at/en/museomics... @horizoneu.bsky.social #biodiversity
The pre-registration period for specimen datasets to join @dissco.bsky.social is almost done (Oct 31) but here is a funny fact: if you have a #DarwinCore archive already, it'll take you 15 minutes to fill in the form. We'll create only 20M #DOIs in 2025 so hurry! dissco.eu/ds-enrollment/
#LivingData2025 Sam Leeflang begins the session on openDS: Data model for global implementation of open #DigitalSpecimen & the status of specimen digitization @dissco.bsky.social 🧪🌏 #biodiversity #FAIRdata
"Towards a Common Language for Digital Specimens: Exploring the openDS Data Model". importance of links and relationships. #openDS #DigitalSpecimen @dissco.bsky.social 🧪🌏
#LivingData2025 I am talking about (virtually) "Building and Serving FAIR Terms and Vocabularies for open Digital Specimen" part of "Data model for global implementation of open Digital Specimen & the status of specimen digitization" #FAIRdata 🧪🌏 @dissco.bsky.social
Elspeth Haston talking about MIDS: Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen "What is the status of global digitisation? MIDS as an institutional & global digitisation standard" #LivingData2025 🧪🌏 @dissco.bsky.social
Mathias Dillen from Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium talking about "MIDS in practice": Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen www.tdwg.org/community/cd... @dissco.bsky.social @tdwg.org #LivingData2025. 🧪🌏
Our Wouter Addink at #LivingData2025 presenting the roadmap for @dissco.bsky.social's #digitalspecimen enrollment. His message: Join the future of #naturalhistory collections by getting onboard with DiSSCo. Deadline getting close! Free pre-registration 👉 dissco.eu/ds-enrollment/
The #LivingData2025 conference starts tomorrow and @dissco.bsky.social will be there! See below a summary of the DiSSCo-related sessions. More info: www.livingdata2025.com #biodiversity #bioinformatics #FAIRdata @disscoflanders.bsky.social
The pre-registration period for biological/geological specimen datasets to join the @dissco.bsky.social #DigitalSpecimen data infrastructure is open! Deadline for the 1st selection process: Oct 31st. Hurry! We will create only 20M #DOIs in 2025. Know more: www.dissco.eu/ds-enrollment/
We wouldn't have it any other way! @dissco.bsky.social participates in the OSCA (Open #ScientificCollections #Austria) Perspectives talks, hosted by our partners @nhmwien.bsky.social 👉https://osca.science/osca-veranstaltung-11-12-09-2025/ @disscoflanders.bsky.social @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org
Proud to announce a big milestone: over 5M digital specimens and digital media objects are now available in @dissco.bsky.social! You can either find out more about this 👉 dissco.eu/five-million... or go see them right now on our DiSSCover platform! 👉 disscover.dissco.eu Congrats, all!
Five million digital specimens and images in DiSSCo: millions more to come - DiSSCo
dissco.eu
Last June 26, our colleagues from @mnhn.fr conducted an online workshop on one of the flagship services of @dissco.bsky.social, the European Loans and Visits System, #ELViS. Watch the recording! 👉 youtu.be/hf49JuoCfFU Take a look! @horizoneu.bsky.social @disscoflanders.bsky.social #naturalshistory
Get to know the European Loans and Visits System for Natural History Collections (by DiSSCo)
YouTube video by DiSSCo RI
youtu.be
Check this out: SpLAT, @dissco.bsky.social's Specimen Label Automatic Transcription service, uses #AI to capture text from labels of #naturalhistory specimens. The text is formatted and added to the #DigitalSpecimen as an annotation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1gA... @horizoneu.bsky.social
Get to know SpLAT (Specimen Label Automatic Transcription Service) by DiSSCo
YouTube video by DiSSCo RI
youtube.com
Take a look at @dissco.bsky.social latest publication: "Extraction of Quantitative Specimen Data using Machine Learning as a Service in the DiSSCo Research Infrastructure" 👉 preprints.arphahub.com/articles.php...
As the private sector's dependence on biodiversity continues to grow, so does the need to invest in #biodiversity #data. Interesting article with participation of Veronika Johansson (manager of our Swedish node): doi.org/10.32942/X27... @horizoneu.bsky.social
See paper👇Physical evidence in museums are crucial as definitive reference points for species identification. Highly relevant for 'Digital Extended Specimen' work across projects @dissco.bsky.social @iboleurope.bsky.social @biogeneurope.bsky.social @arisenl.bsky.social 🧪🌏
Iker Irisarri@ikeririsarri.bsky.social · last yr.For about 2y, colleagues from @leibnizlib.bsky.social @sgn.one @univie.ac.at @mncn-csic.bsky.social met to discuss how to contribute to #biodiversity #taxonomy research by sequencing #genomes of type natural history #collection specimens. The result is published at @systbiol.bsky.social
The last of BioDT's webinars on 14 May will explore the essential role of Research Infrastructures (#RIs) in powering #biodiversity #DigitalTwins: biodt.eu/events/data-... Join us! @horizoneu.bsky.social #DigitalSpecimen #FAIRdata #machinelearning
