[Nhcoll-l] how should we encode vague dates in specimen database?

[Carla Cicero]

We use Arctos which has 3 collecting event date fields: verbatim date,
begin date, end date.

Verbatim is the original text string.

Begin and end dates are ISO-formatted. In MVZ, we use the following
convention for vague dates:
http://mvz.berkeley.edu/Locality_Guidelines_CollEvents.html

I hope this helps.

Best,
Carla

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 6:21 PM Schultz, Eric <eric.schultz at uconn.edu>
wrote:

> We are cleaning up entries in a legacy database so that our data can be
> imported into a properly configured collections database.  Exact dates will
> be imported in a text string mm/dd/yyyy.  But how to render a vague date
> referring only to season, such as ‘Spring 1984’, or if only the year was
> recorded? Is it better to record as missing data, record as an erroneous
> but exact date such as 01/01/1984, or place at the midpoint of the season?
> Whatever we do we will have a ‘verbatim’ field that preserves the original
> entry, but we want to have a version of collection date that is useful and
> searchable.  Thanks for any assistance!
>
>
>
> Eric T. Schultz
>
> Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
>
> Coordinator, Joint BS-MS Degree in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
>
> Director, Vertebrate Biodiversity Collections
>
> Chair, General Education Oversight Committee
>
> University of Connecticut
>
> Storrs, CT 06269-3043
>
> eric.schultz at uconn.edu
>
> 860.486.4692
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Carla Cicero, Ph.D
Staff Curator of Birds
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3160
TEL: (510) 642-7868
FAX: (510) 643-8238

http://mvz.berkeley.edu
https://carlacicero.net
http://vertnet.org
https://arctosdb.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_collections
http://americanornithology.org/ <http://www.americanornithology.org/>
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