Retreats

DigIn Retreat 2025

Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, CA

The DigIn team reunited at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, CA, from September 7–10, 2025, for the project’s third in-person retreat. Thirty participants gathered for this return to the site of DigIn’s inaugural meeting, bringing the project full circle. Unlike the first retreat, which centered on start-up needs and problem-solving, this final gathering focused on long-term professional and institutional sustainability beyond the six years of DigIn’s funded program.

Colleagues from across the U.S.  shared new successes in digitization workflows and exchanged updates on emerging initiatives, including a forthcoming book project. Discussions emphasized strategies for maintaining momentum across the newly built community of marine invertebrate collections professionals – particularly as the group prepares to transition into a post-DigIn landscape.

Together, attendees explored ways to strengthen connections among geographically dispersed institutions, sustain collaborative digitization practices, and ensure that the relationships, infrastructure, and expertise developed through DigIn continue to flourish. The retreat served not only as a capstone to the project but also as a launching point for imagining the future of marine invertebrate collections work, grounded in a community that has grown stronger with each gathering at Camp Ocean Pines.

DigIn Retreat 2024

Seahorse Key in Cedar Key, FL

The DigIn team gathered on Florida’s Gulf Coast for the 2024 in-person retreat, held March 5-8 at the University of Florida and UF’s Seahorse Key Marine Lab in Cedar Key. UF collections staff welcomed the group with a look inside their newly expanded and modernized facilities in Gainesville before the 29 participants made their way out to Seahorse Key for a three-night stay at the field station, settling into a mix of bunks and tents just steps from the island’s diverse marine habitats.

Building on DigIn’s ongoing monthly meetings, retreat sessions centered on troubleshooting collection-specific challenges, improving digitization workflows, and sharing solutions to maximize efficiency across partner institutions. Participants engaged in lively discussions about current and future collaborations, potential DigIn products, and long-term strategies for maintaining this vibrant community of marine invertebrate collections professionals beyond the formal end of the TCN.

A full working day on March 7 was devoted to collaborative problem-solving, notes, and assignments, with the evolving agenda reflecting the group’s dynamic exchange of expertise. The retreat culminated at low tide on March 8, when all DigIn members took to the island for an enthusiastic BioBlitz across multiple habitats. Attendees observed, documented, and collected marine invertebrates while strengthening scientific ties across institutions. Several participants returned home with small specimen collections from the effort, destined for accessioning into their respective museums.

The 2024 Seahorse Key retreat deepened connections, sharpened workflows, and reaffirmed DigIn’s collaborative spirit, all against the backdrop of one of Florida’s most unique coastal ecosystems.

DigIn Retreat 2022

Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, CA

The DigIn team joined forces in Southern California for an in-person retreat November 1-3, 2022. NHMLA gave a tour of their institution’s marine invertebrate collections and walked the 33 retreat attendees through their digitizing workflow. The group then made their way up the California coast to Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, enjoying LA’s finest Cuban food, Porto’s Bakery, along the way.

At camp, DigIn folks had a roundtable discussion on their triumphs and challenges and debriefed one another on where they are in the stages of data capture, functional databases, connecting to iDigBio, georeferencing, images, nomenclature, and agent synchronization. UF’s Gustav Paulay gave a lecture on Names, nomenclature, & synchronization, and MCZ’s Alan Rivera spoke to the group about recommendations for specimen and label imaging. The team began planning for the 2023 Educator Workshop and discussed 2023 SPNCH symposium contributions and DigIn published papers. Before heading home, they brainstormed on their aspirations for building a sustainable community of marine collections staff that would persist beyond the DigIn grant.

Branching out from their beloved spineless creatures, the invertebrate enthusiasts headed north to visit the elephant seal rookery in San Simeon and made a pit stop on their way back to LA to admire the sea otter pups in Morro Bay.