Organised by WeDigBio

Hear from diverse perspectives on the roles of hyperlocal natural history collections in energizing biodiversity understanding.

Friday, Oct 13, 14:00 ET

Hyperlocal collections invite individuals, families, communities, and organizations to a greater understanding of, and personal responsibility for, their local biotas. These collections document such things as a school or library campus, a park, a rural county, and similar. Fostering and deepening relationships between hyperlocal collections and biodiversity research professionals represents a critical opportunity for conservation. These collections represent potential pockets of very high quality biodiversity data, given the intense focus on one location, as well as mechanisms to change the ethical calculations that individuals and communities apply to biodiversity (what has been described as “biodiversity mainstreaming”). Join us to hear about examples of hyperlocal collections in several contexts (including a small arboretum, a high school, and a rural library) and to contribute to the conversation about the future of these important resources.

Schedule

• 14:00 ET Welcome
• 14:05 ET Curating a truly reciprocal resource: the Polly Hill Arboretum Herbarium leveragesits focus on local flora to foster mutual community support by Elizabeth Thomas of University of Georgia.
• 14:20 ET Building from your own backyard: Collections creation in high school as a foundation for research and museum science skills by Matthew Croxton of Lakeland Christian School's RISE Institute.
• 14:35 ET Opportunities for hyperlocal collections in libraries - energizing local enthusiasm for biodiversity using citizen science library kits by Amy Osboune of Suwanee River Regional Library and Austin Mast.
• 14:50 ET Panel Discussion.

>> Register on Eventbrite

About WeDigBio

Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections, or WeDigBio, is a global data campaign, virtual science festival, and local outreach opportunity, all rolled into one. The annual, 4-day WeDigBio events mobilize participants to create digital data about biodiversity specimens, including fish in jars, plants on sheets, insects on pins, and fossils in drawers. During a typical WeDigBio event, some participants are at onsite events hosted by museums, field stations, universities, science classrooms, or other organizations. Those onsite events provide opportunities for research talks or other interactions with those using the newly created data to benefit science and society. Other participants are distributed individually around the world.  For those, we offer a virtual meeting space, which contains live feeds from some of the onsite events and provides another way to interact with scientists and others.

>> Learn more

Photo by Olga Nayda on Unsplash