All posts by Grace Costantino

Wiki projects, including Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, contain the information that powers the web. Wikipedia is the fifth most-visited website in the world. To edit a Wiki project is to contribute content that could, potentially, be viewed by thousands or even millions of people over time, both on Wiki sites and on sites like Google and Facebook, which harvest data, including media, from Wiki sites.

For the #HerNaturalHistory campaign, the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Libraries held three crowd-sourcing citizen science/citizen humanities events in March of 2019. These events were intended to bring new editors to Wiki projects, have editors add information about female scientists to Wikipedia, and have editors add information to BHL collections on Flickr and in Wikimedia Commons utilizing the Wikidata knowledge base/database/catalog.

Looking for a challenge? The Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Smithsonian Transcription Center are teaming up for a #HerNaturalHistory-themed transcription challenge. Starting today (8 March), help a team of #volunpeers transcribe field notes from conservation biologist Devra Kleiman and botanist Cleofé Calderon. Dive into observations of golden lion tamarins with Kleiman, who worked at Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park from 1972 to 2001. And head to South America with Calderón to collect grasses for Smithsonian’s Department of Botany.

Women have made remarkable contributions to biodiversity research. From collecting specimens and serving as scientific illustrators to conducting and publishing research, authoring natural history books, and more, women have overcome many social and cultural obstacles and gender barriers in what has historically been a male-dominated field to help further our understanding of the natural world. While the work of many remained unacknowledged or under-appreciated during their lifetimes, mounting initiatives to encourage and support women in the sciences have facilitated a growing recognition of the achievements of women in natural history — both past and present.

This Women’s History Month, we are excited to recognize and celebrate the contributions of women to natural history through an international social media campaign produced in collaboration with our partners — Her Natural History: A Celebration of Women in Natural History.

Kicking-off with an all-day social media blitz today, 8 March 2019 (International Women’s Day,) and continuing throughout the month, Her Natural History aims to increase awareness of and information about women in the biodiversity sciences.

March is Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating with an international social media campaign produced in collaboration with our partners highlighting women and their contributions to natural history — Her Natural History: A Celebration of Women in Natural History.

Kicking-off with an all-day social media blitz on Friday, 8 March 2019 (International Women’s Day) and continuing throughout the month, Her Natural History aims to increase awareness of and information about women in the biodiversity sciences.

This Women’s History Month, we invite you to join us in celebrating women in natural history as part of an international social media campaign produced in collaboration with our partners — Her Natural History: A Celebration of Women in Natural History.

Through social media and blog posts, interactive programming and citizen science opportunities, Her Natural History aims to increase awareness of and information about women in the biodiversity sciences.

The campaign will kick-off with an all-day social media blitz on Friday, 8 March 2019 (International Women’s Day) and continue throughout the month with additional posts and programming, including a Wikipedia Editing Workshop on 13 March. #HerNaturalHistory is also the @iglibraries #LibrariesOfInstagram challenge topic for March.

Vanity, an art installation by Joseph Gregory Rossano created for and with the support of the Museum of Glass (MOG) in Tacoma, Washington, tells the story of eleven species and subspecies, presumed extinct, presented through the lens of humanity’s role in their demise. The exhibition features historical accounts detailing each species’ “discovery” (collection date, type locality, collector, scientific illustrations, etc.), humanity’s role in its extinction, and the year it was declared “Extinct”. To produce these species tales, Rossano collaborated with Sandra I. Berríos-Torres, MD. Berríos-Torres served as author of the 11 historical accounts and as Editorial Director of the exhibition catalogue, on behalf of Joseph Gregory Rossano.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library was a crucial resource for Berríos-Torres. Consulting dozens of publications in BHL while conducting research for Vanity, she ultimately cited 16 of them in the historical accounts that were incorporated into the exhibition and catalogue.

Help us enhance information in Wikipedia about women in natural history during our Wikipedia Editing Workshop on 13 March in celebration of Women’s History Month!

In collaboration with Smithsonian Libraries and with support from Wikimedia DC, we’ll be hosting a Wikipedia Editing Workshop from 10am-2pm ET on 13 March to improve and create Wikipedia articles related to women in natural history. The workshop will be hosted by the Smithsonian Libraries in the National Museum of Natural History Library. There will also be virtual participation options. Registration is required.