We are big fans of citizen science! Of course, science is always cool, and STEM/STEAM projects are an increasing part of everyone’s work and school experiences. So understanding how science works is not just fun, but a good way to understand what is going on in the world around us all.
So we are sharing some neat science you can do, contributing toward large projects, and learning new things. Maybe you can use this today; maybe you will save it for later. As long as you enjoy some exploration and learning new things – citizen science is for you! And it is definitely something you can use to bring some good programming to your library.
Check out this project from SciStarter:
| Presented By | Australian Museum and Atlas of Living Australia |
|---|---|
| Goal | Contribute to biodiversity knowledge for research and planning |
| Task | Login, join an expedition and start transcribing. |
| Where | View map… |
| Description | DigiVol is an online citizen science project which allows people all over the world to participate in unlocking biodiversity data from a wide range of historic and contemporary museum, herbaria and research collections. Different types of data resources include: museum and herbarium collection labels; the field notebooks of explorers, ecologists and surveyors; hard copy field data sheets; camera trap images; and more. Many people find the digitisation process to be fun, interesting and educational. Have a go and join an expedition today! Data transcribed in DigiVol has many uses, including: understanding the relationships between species (important in determining potential agricultural pests or potential medical applications); the distribution of species (for understanding how best to conserve individual species or ecosystems); identification of species from morphological or genetic characters (for example being able to identify birds involved in aircraft incidents). By helping us capture this information into digital form you are helping scientists and planners better understand, utilise, manage and conserve our precious biodiversity. This data, once captured, becomes available through a broad range of mechanisms that make it accessible to the scientific and broader communities. These mechanisms include websites such as : Individual institutions collections and associated databases The Atlas of Living Australia The Global Biodiversity Information Facility See less |
| How to get started | Go to DigiVol.org, register, join an expedition and start transcribing. Transcribe one or as many items as you like. Join as many expeditions as you like. Come and go as often as you like. If you have data resources that you would like to have digitised, you can also submit your project for consideration to become an expedition in DigiVol. |
| Social Media | Follow DigiVol on Twitter Find DigiVol on Facebook |
| Total expense | 0.00 |
| Special Skills | Attention to detail |
| Ideal Age Group | College, Graduate students, Adults, |
| Spend the time | Indoors |
| Ideal Frequency | Per week |
| Average Time | |
| Type of Activity | At night, At home, At school, Exclusively online, |
| Topics | Ecology & Environment, Animals, Nature & Outdoors, Computers & Technology, Insects & Pollinators, Climate & Weather, Biology, Ocean, Water, Marine & Terrestrial, |
| Training Materials | http://volunteer.ala.org.au/tutorials/index |
| Media Mentions & Publications | Accelerating the Digitization of Biodiversity Research Specimens through Online Public Participation Transcribing between the lines: crowd-sourcing historic data collection Nicole Kearney, Museum Victoria, Australia, Elycia Wallis, Museum Victoria, Australia |
| Tags | australia, biodiversity, collections, crowdsourcing, digitisation, digitization, expedition, field notes, insects, international, moths, science, transcription, volunteer, whale sharks, |
| Sustainable Development Goals | Relevant Sustainable Development Goals, identified by  ?:Life on Land Zero Hunger Life Below Water |
| Website | DigiVol |
And if you want to bring in a few of these ideas to your library, it is useful to have a variety of different program strategies to help share this project. We have a few suggestions to help you get started:
- What types of animals are in your area? How many of them have you see? Find some pictures of them.
- What is your favorite type of animal?
- Draw a picture of a plant. How many different plants can you find in your neighborhood? What makes them different from each other (leaves, stems, etc.)?
- Find a chart of animal biodiversity. Draw your own chart with different animals.
- Write a story about at least two different life forms – real or imaginary