The Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) MaterialSample Task Group is making progress toward a proposal for a clarification of the dwc:MaterialSample class with its own properties. The Task Group expects the outcome of this process to be a standard for sharing more complete information about biological specimens, including their physical properties and associations with each other, organisms, and research products. At the same time, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is exploring a Grand Unified Model (GUM)*1 that will allow for sharing more complex and rich data than is currently possible. The combination of a more robust dwc:MaterialSample class and the GBIF GUM may create both opportunities and challenges for managing collection data and for publishing that data in a way that takes advantage of proposed new functionality in Darwin Core and GBIF. More importantly, it will require those managing collection data to think more deeply about the objects they manage and to see the importance of information beyond the initial collection occurrence, the first event in the 'life' of a museum object. This presentation will touch on some expected challenges and opportunities for collection data management using the new dwc:MaterialSample class.
