Species Data Chit-chat

We might be in a new year, but the data has kept on coming! 2023 turned out to be a record-breaking year with 584 data sets being sent to or acquired by TVERC and 2024 has got off to a brisk start. So, keeping up with this has been a challenge and the fact that we have done so (more or less!) is largely due to a small but dedicated band of data volunteers who check and format raw data (whatever the format it arrives in) ready to be imported into our database. As I write, the number of records in our database has risen to nearly 4.7 million. A little over 350k records were added in 2023.

Improve quality

It's not all about numbers though. Something else we are keen to do is to improve the quality of the records we hold. Of course, we are always handling our records and keeping a critical eye on them. However, QA also relies on our data users reporting things they notice back to us. When they do, we always investigate, and make changes if we find things amiss. Often, we can follow the “paper trail” (not always strictly speaking “paper”) back to original records to help our investigations. So, if you spot something, don’t feel shy!