This workshop on Digitization and Mobilization of biological data was held over three days from the 25-27th of January. The workshop was organised to equip participants with the skills relating to data digitisation, quality control and online publishing. It provided a key opportunity for the enhancement and expansion of the community of practice for biodiversity informatics in Africa.
The event was facilitated by Drs. Kemabonta (PI) and Onuminya (member of the research team). Prof Ogbogu, a member of the team, also gave a short talk on 'Why Odonata?'.
The workshop was declared opened by the Vice Chancellor of the University; the Dean of the Faculty of Science was the chief host, while the Head, Department of Zoology was the host of the workshop. Participants were invited from across both animal and plant biology backgrounds. In all, 47 participants (excluding those present at the opening ceremony) from 9 universities across the country, 2 research institutes and 4 officers from Ministry of environment (students, scientists, insectary/museum technicians and ministry of environment representatives) were in attendance.
Participants from the workshop were engaged with their own digitization and publication of data in the IPT. To refine knowledge based on the specialisms of participants, the group were day were divided into plant and animal sections and were taken to field sites for practical demonstrations of how to use GPS for georeferencing of their data.