CNI: Coalition for Networked Information

  • About CNI
    • Membership
    • CNI Collaborations
    • Staff
    • Steering Committee
    • CNI Awards
    • History
    • CNI News
  • Program Plan
    • Current Program Plan
    • Program Plan Archive
  • Topics
  • Events & Projects
    • Membership Meetings
    • Workshops & Projects
    • Other Events
    • Event Calendar
  • Resources
    • Publications by CNI Staff
    • Program Plan
    • Pre-Recorded Project Briefing Series
    • Videos & Podcasts
    • Follow CNI
    • Historical Resources
  • Contact Us

Extending the Lifecycle of Scientific Field Notes: Making Hidden Collections Reusable

Home / Project Briefing Pages / CNI Fall 2014 Project Briefings / Extending the Lifecycle of Scientific Field Notes: Making Hidden Collections Reusable

December 6, 2014

Extending The Lifecycle Of Scientific Field Notes: Making Hidden Collections Reusable from CNI Video Channel on Vimeo.

Riccardo Ferrante
Director of Digital Services, Archives
Smithsonian Institution

Rusty Russell
Program Director for Collections and Informatics, Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution

 

Scientific field notes and field books dating well back into the 19th century house a trove of valuable information. They often remain undocumented, the potential of their scientific record barely tapped, their information lifecycle limited and research communities the poorer for it. Since the Field Book Project’s start in 2008, it has worked to bring these hidden collections to light, establishing access to thousands of field books through an online catalog and digitized collections. A joint effort of the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Project has added additional access to its digital collections through the Digital Public Library of America and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Its most recent inroad, crowd-sourced transcriptions, provides the most granular access including use of these primary sources as open data. The lifecycle of this valuable information has been extended in ways that make it accessible to 21st century research methodology.

 

http://www.mnh.si.edu/rc/fieldbooks/

https://transcription.si.edu/browse?filter=collection%3A6&sort=&showcompleted=1

http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/browse/collection/smithsonianfieldbookcollection

Presentation

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: CNI Fall 2014 Project Briefings, E-Science, Project Briefing Pages, Scholarly Communication, Special Collections
Tagged With: cni2014fall, Project Briefings & Plenary Sessions, Videos

Last updated:  Friday, July 22nd, 2022

 

Contact Us

21 Dupont Circle
Suite 800
Washington, DC, 20036
202.296.5098

Contact us
Copyright © 2023 CNI

  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map

Keeping up with CNI

CNI-ANNOUNCE is a low-volume electronic forum used for information about the activities and programs of CNI, and events and documents of interest to the CNI community.
Sign up

Follow CNI

  • View cni.org’s profile on Facebook
  • View cni_org’s profile on Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo

A joint project