A collaboration in creating digital natural history collections: A case study of Alberta native bees
Date
2021-10-16
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Abstract
At the University of Calgary, a collaboration among staff and students in the Department of Biological Sciences, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Libraries and Cultural Resources, sought to explore how we could make our Biological Sciences natural history collections (invertebrate, vertebrate, and herbarium) accessible to a range of diverse stakeholders interested in biodiversity conservation. Using native bees as a case study, we digitized over 230 species of bee, producing 368 public records that includes three photographs of each bee specimen: lateral, anterior, and dorsal, along with associated metadata. This work involved the launch of a biodiversity website and digital collections where these photographs and student-created natural history illustrations are now available as open educational resources. Our digitization work is continuing for bees as well as other insect groups, and we are currently expanding our digitization capabilities to create 3D models. These 3D models will be annotated for students in biology and engineering courses, and used to train both students and citizen scientists in insect identification. Our collaboration has generated campus-wide interest in bees, with recent collaborations with the Office of Sustainability leading to the University of Calgary becoming a BeeUniversity and the start of the Calgary pollinator Count citizen-science initiative.
Description
Keywords
invertebrates, bees, experiential learning, digital collections, digitization
Citation
Alexander, R., Ruddock, K., & Summers, M. (2021, October 15-16). A collaboration in creating digital natural history collections: A case study of Alberta native bees [Presentation]. The Entomological Society of Alberta Annual Meeting, Alberta, Canada.