I attended the Workshop on Machine Learning on Images of Natural History Collections, part of the COST Action Mobilise – CA17106 (8-10 September 2021), at the Herbarium of the University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences. There, I had the opportunity to present some of my work related with ML in music, but also on solving other problems with ML and software engineering. The workshop goal was to discuss how technology can be used to address existing issues with natural history collections (1) open to the world, 2) open inovation, 3) open access).

The presentation is available here (2D html presentation, use both left/right and up/down), while the text from the news item posted on the COST Action website is available below.

Workshop on Machine Learning on Images of Natural History Collections

Workshop on Machine Learning on Images of Natural History Collections (Cost Action Mobilise – CA17106). Coimbra, 8-10 September 2021, Herbarium of the University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences.

An interdisciplinary team of 19 researchers from seven European countries discussed machine learning solutions to extract information contained in the world’s natural history collections. Machine learning will allow us to collect data faster, but may also allow the collection of new types of data.

On the first day there were 11 presentations, four remotely, on use cases and practical applications. There was a wide range of topics from workflows and accelerating collection digitisation, to metadata extraction, training datasets and trait recognition. On the second day there was a brainstorm for a SWOT analysis of a machine learning strategy. New ideas gathered during the workshop were incorporated into the skeleton of a paper on an infrastructure to support image analysis across collections.

After a long period of lockdown, it was an enriching experience to be able to see each other eye to eye, exchange ideas, and share laughter at the social events.