[Nhcoll-l] Notes From Nature Invitation

[Michael Denslow]

Dear Natural History Collection Community,


We are writing today to invite you to get involved in citizen science based
transcription of museum specimen labels. Notes from Nature
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.notesfromnature.org_&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=gF3d0c1jaN2ki3GtWD9r9yQWLpd_uvoZo3eOggiXIwA&s=KeptVhDBFz-Fldh6WRrq_3j7jZ2toWInW_HOajgzYOY&e= > is a citizen science based biodiversity
transcription project hosted on the premier citizen science platform, the
Zooniverse <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.zooniverse.org_about&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=gF3d0c1jaN2ki3GtWD9r9yQWLpd_uvoZo3eOggiXIwA&s=Q0w8h-XnbALlYSYsNtCY3yiwMkVfx87zu4KVGqkVYpM&e= >. Our focus is on
transcription of museum specimen labels by citizen scientists who gain
knowledge of biodiversity in the process. This innovative workflow has the
potential to increase digitization rates, promote STEM literacy and build
public support for natural history collections.

In the first three years since Notes from Nature launched, over 10,000
registered Zooniverse volunteers, as well as a larger number of
unregistered ones, have completed over 1.5 million transcriptions for the
natural history collection community. In turn, these volunteers have
learned about biodiversity, natural history collections and associated
research. The project first launched in 2013 and funding from the Natural
Science Foundation to the University of Florida and Florida State
University enabled Notes from Nature to conduct major upgrades and relaunch
a new site this past June.

One of the primary advantages of our new platform is that it makes it much
easier to bring new partners on board and offers flexibility with which
these partners can produce “expeditions.” Expeditions are relatively small
bundles of specimens (a few thousand) circumscribed to produce a compelling
theme of interest to volunteers. New integration with Biospex
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__biospex.org_&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=gF3d0c1jaN2ki3GtWD9r9yQWLpd_uvoZo3eOggiXIwA&s=C0lznEpWMyMliVHKY_iR6fL_9nyZYBv2r3c4QhuOpJI&e= > provides tools for provisioning, advertising, and
leading transcription expeditions. Biospex enables a smooth flow of
information (including data provenance) between specimen data management
systems and Notes from Nature. Examples of expeditions launched so far
include New World Swallowtail Butterflies, Bee Flies, Laurels of Florida -
Fight Laurel Wilt, and Ant Plants of Virginia.

We encourage you to check out all of the new features at Notes from Nature,
including the Talk platform, a user-specific field notebook that captures
volunteer effort and shows badges, and a new means to examine expedition
and overall site statistics. In the coming months, we anticipate rolling
out new tools for transcription reconciliations and data cleaning that will
ensure that the best quality entries return to your specimen data
management systems.

If you are interested in learning more, we encourage you to fill out the
short survey at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__goo.gl_forms_D8vS4lXgAP5467Sf2&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=gF3d0c1jaN2ki3GtWD9r9yQWLpd_uvoZo3eOggiXIwA&s=EApY392IVrn_SA_zE4LAwy5DSOY_tA6-9Bv6UhfUXEE&e= . We are especially
eager to add breadth to the available taxa and collection types at Notes
from Nature, so don’t worry if you don’t see a current expedition that is
similar to what you would like to do. We only ask that you be committed to
engagement with the community of contributing citizen scientists and to
broad online sharing of the data that they create for you.

Thank you for considering Notes from Nature as part of your collection’s
digitization workflow.  Think of it as a global stage for your natural
history collection.

Best,
The Notes From Nature Team
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20160808/48234124/attachment.html