MIDS Element - PreparationType

[hardistyar]

MIDS information element	PreparationType
Definition	General terms for the classification of curated objects according to the way they have been prepared. In combination with ObjectType - hierarchical; a more specific classification than described by ObjectType.
Purpose	to enable curators to determine equipment/method/cost of imaging the specimen, to enable researchers to determine equipment/method required for viewing/analysing the specimen, to enable curators/researchers to know in which collection/location the specimen is held.
DwC term (latest, 2014-11-08)	preparations
ABCD term name (3.0)	Unit/SpecimenUnit/Preparations/Preparation/PreparationType
Applicable standard(s)/recommendation(s)
Element identifier
Required	Yes
Repeatable	No
Constraints	Controlled vocabulary. Preparation Type should be set in conjunction with ObjectType, as each ObjectType has specific Preparation Types.
Examples	To be added
Element specification status	agreed; accepted in specification. Created following TG mtg. no. 7.
Notes	Same interpretation as cd:preparationType. Must not be used for classifying objects by taxon. Definition of the controlled vocabulary is still needed.

[smrgeoinfo]

preparationType doesn't seem like a categorization for a kind of object. Isn't it a categorization for things we do to objects (specimens) to make them useful for whatever they were collected for. Preparation is a procedure, preparation type should be a kind of procedure. A specimen has an object type, and one of the properties of that object is how it was 'prepared'. In this view, we'd probably have to consider 'preparation' to be anything that was done to collect, process, or preserve the sample, from the event of its original collection.

[cboelling]

preparationType doesn't seem like a categorization for a kind of object. Isn't it a categorization for things we do to objects (specimens) to make them useful for whatever they were collected for. Preparation is a procedure, preparation type should be a kind of procedure. A specimen has an object type, and one of the properties of that object is how it was 'prepared'.

My understanding is that when there is talk about preparations (in this domain) then often actually the objects that are the result of preparation processes are referred to, and indeed different types of prepared objects can be distinguished (e.g., preserved in ethanol, plastinated, dried), and this is what the current definition of this element seems to convey. I think your point is valid though, as "preparation" can also have a processual meaning (see here, meanings 1 and 4)

In this view, we'd probably have to consider 'preparation' to be anything that was done to collect, process, or preserve the sample, from the event of its original collection.

I think that the actual usage of the term "preparation" in the process-meaning is more narrowly defined in this domain - but I do agree that multiple individual preparation processes (however they are delineated, possibly nested) are part of the series of interactions from collection to the current state of an object.

[wouteraddink]

We might need to find a better name to make clear this is about the prepared objects and not about the procedure. PreparedObjectType or PreparationResultType perhaps?

[smrgeoinfo]

Seems to me like it would be logically more coherent to consider the object type to be limited to 'what kind of thing is it'-- a piece of tissue, body part, whole organism, bio aggregation, piece of rock, fluid (necessarily in a container), artifact. That object has a 'preparation procedure' -- the series of interactions from collection to the current state of an object.

If the preparation procedure changes the kind of object, is it still the same sample or is it a new 'child' sample derived from the original object? Example-- whole organism --> tissue from that organism --> microscope mount of slice of that tissue or --> DNA extract from that tissue. How many distinct material samples are there in this processing chain?

[wouteraddink]

Each new sampling event results in a new (sub) sample, so 4 in your example.

[emhaston]

Purpose: to enable curators to determine equipment/method/cost of imaging the specimen, to enable researchers to determine equipment/method required for viewing/analysing the specimen, to enable curators/researchers to know in which collection/location the specimen is held.

[emhaston]

Discussion from TDWG Task Group meeting (5 May 2022)

Is this element required at MIDS-1 or should it be moved to MIDS-2?

[emhaston]

It is proposed to transfer the "general term to describe a specimen" part of this element into #44 ObjectType and consider using this element more for additional information about how the specimen has been prepared/mounted etc.

This element in now included in MIDS 2 and 3 only.

[emhaston]

Potentially for future version of MIDS