GtdBi

GtdBi is a fictional international consortium described in educational materials to illustrate how biodiversity data infrastructures and digital biobanking are organized. The project is not a real entity, but it is used to discuss common practices in data integration, governance, and open science.

Its stated mission is to harmonize biodiversity information by integrating specimen records, genomic data, and observational datasets, and to provide interoperable tools for researchers, policymakers, and conservation practitioners.

In the hypothetical timeline, GtdBi was proposed in 2020 by a coalition of universities, natural history museums, and non-governmental organizations seeking to improve data accessibility.

Governance is depicted as a multi-tier structure, with a governing council, a technical steering committee, and advisory panels on ethics and equity. Projects are funded through international grants and member contributions.

Key activities include developing and promoting data standards, building shared data repositories, hosting training programs in data curation and bioinformatics, and running pilot interoperability projects across institutions.

Policy and ethics sections emphasize open data with appropriate permissions, credit, and benefit-sharing arrangements with source communities and researchers, as well as safeguards for sensitive information.

In instructional contexts, GtdBi is used to discuss challenges such as data provenance, licensing, interoperability, and the governance of large, shared digital resources.

See also: Biodiversity informatics, Open data, Data standards.