Taxacom: Basis of record terms

[Mary Barkworth]

I am attempting to list alternatives for the DWC term "basis of record" and would be interested in feedback. What is my purpose? Making it easier to categorize consistently the many sources of biodiversity data currently available. It is prompted, in part, by the discovery that an image-based record is a machineobservation.  I thought images recorded by a human being (not a camera trap) would be a "human observation"; those recorded by a camera trap would be a machineobservation.

Here is my current listing and information on how I currently interpret each alternative.
PreservedSpecimen [not fossil, preservation method not specified];
LivingSpecimen [examples include animals in zoos, plants in botanic gardens. Living specimens existing in the wild or on private property could be documented as recorded by a "machineobservation", or "materialsample". If there is no documentation, the record would be a "humanobservation".
FossilSpecimen [preservation method not specified];
Machineobservation [images, videos, audio];
MaterialSample [physical sample from which occurrence can be inferred, e.g., water sample, DNA, tissue, blood, seeds];
Materialcitation [publication record that cites, preferably accessible, preservedspecimens, machineobservation, or materialsample records];
Humanobservation [undocumented reports of any kind, including surveys].

Are there unlisted alternatives I have not thought of that  people find useful? Have I misinterpreted the alternatives I have listed?

Accessible? I interpret this as meaning the item is stored in an institution that maintains records of its holdings and makes them available, so far as that is feasible, for study.  But my interest here is only in how to categorize records consistently, not in issues of access.

Mary