Peek of the dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore via a side street

The Biodiversity Information Standards group, also known as TDWG, holds an annual conference every year in a different city around the globe.  This year it was held in Florence Italy from October 28th 2013-November 1st 2013.  It was my first opportunity to attend the TDWG conference.   The conference theme was “virtual communities for biodiversity science” which spoke to me of the increasing opportunities in sharing and connecting biodiversity data via the semantic web environment.

I particularly enjoyed the keynote talk by Eric Meyer of the Oxford Internet Institute where researchers study the social implications of the Internet from different domain perspectives.  Meyer explained why science and research are growing more collaborative and computational due to funding, technology, and the growing complexity of tasks.  I also attended the Image Interest Group’s multimedia resources task group where the discussion was on the next steps for the Audubon Core data standard and its recent ratification by the executive committee.  Having been involved in data standards work for the past 10 years with the VRA Core data standard I can appreciate what a huge milestone that is.  I discovered some interesting parallels between the data models of Audubon Core and VRA Core.  For instance, Audubon Core models species which can have one or more multimedia resources (e.g. images, video, audio, etc.) while VRA Core models works (art objects) which can have 1 or more still images (i.e. various views or details of the object).

Interior of the dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (aka Il Duomo). Filippo Brunelleschi designed the dome, Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zucarri painted the dome with a representations from The Last Judgement.

A symposium on “Semantics and Biodiversity” was very useful to me.  This was a series of three 90 minute sessions of which I was able to attend only the first, related to “Technologies, reasoning, and annotation”  This session presented work on how to prepare Darwin Core encoded data, collection data, and specimen data to be more semantic web ready.  The symposium also included a “Primer on Semantic Technologies” –  a great overview of the practical underpinnings of the semantic web which can often feel very abstract and theoretical.

I was lucky to have had the opportunity not only to attend TDWG but to also to present as part of the symposium “Crafting the future of a global biodiversity library for diverse community’s needs”.  There I talked about the NEH-funded Art of Life project which is an effort to identify and describe the hidden visual images found within the pages of the BHL corpus. I gave an update on the progress of the project, details on the algorithms and schema, and explained the benefits to the biodiversity community.

Even though my experience overall of TDWG was positive I do have some suggestions for the program planners of the conference.  I would recommend providing opportunities for newcomers to ease their way into a new organization.  For example, give overviews or introductory sessions about the standards that TDWG creates and manages.  Many of the data standard discussions were at a very detailed level by folks who have been doing this work for years.  I would also suggest partnering newbies up with folks who have been long time attendees so that they can show them the ropes and give them an understanding of the workings of a fairly complex organizational structure.  They can also help introduce them to other participants.  Lastly, have the leadership provide a breakfast or coffee just for newcomers.  This makes them feel welcome and demonstrates that the leadership recognizes the importance of new voices and ideas for future sustainability of the organization.

Fresco from the basilica of San Miniato al Monte

I couldn’t imagine a better way to get introduced to TDWG than at a setting as enchanting as Florence Italy! It was a spectacular backdrop for a stimulating conference.   Admittedly it wasn’t always easy to sit through sessions and working group meetings all day long knowing just outside the hotel beckoned Renaissance art masterpieces from Michelangelo’s David to Brunelleschi’s dome for the Duomo.  But I managed to absorb as much of the conference as I could and still squeeze in some time for art, architecture, and the daily gelato.  It was a great experience and I hope to be back at TDWG next year for the conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

This summer, the Library of Congress hosted five-day Summer Teacher Institutes in Washington, DC.  As part of the most recent Institute, BHL shared an exhibit table on Science and Technology with the Library of Congress on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.  Carolyn Sheffield, of the Smithsonian Institution, shared information on BHL and distributed stickers, pins, and BHL business cards—complete with gorgeous illustrations from BHL.  Dr. Tomoko Steen, Research Specialist and Camron Lee, Junior Fellow, both of the Science, Technology, and Business Division of the Library of Congress, shared the table, helping to spread the word about BHL as well as sharing amazing education resources compiled by their Division.

Attendees included 25 teachers from primary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate programs from across the country.   The majority of attendees had not heard of BHL before and were delighted to learn of the free resources that BHL makes available.  Many attendees expressed enthusiasm for the content, especially the images on Flickr, and many said that they were to share the information about BHL’s free resources with their colleagues at their schools.

The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2013 Annual Conference occurred in Chicago, IL, July 7-12.  Tomoko Steen, of the Library of Congress, promoted BHL to conference attendees, including many scientists, teachers and experts in ecology and evolution.  Steen distributed pins and stickers and also posted a description of BHL, prepared by Grace Costantino, to the evoldirdirectory. Many attendees were interested to learn about BHL and several expressed interest in attending a BHL presentation at future conferences.

Left to Right: Grace Costantino, Carolyn Sheffield, Bianca Crowley

On Friday, January 25-Monday, January 28, 2013, BHL hosted a booth in conjunction with the Smithsonian Archive’s Field Book Project at the American Library Association (ALA) 2013 Midwinter meeting in Seattle, Washington. The booth was a chance to connect with the thousands of librarians and information professionals that attend ALA, introducing them to our open access initiatives and fantastic free resources.

BHL Collections Coordinator Bianca Crowley, BHL Program Manager Grace Costantino, and Field Book Project Manager Carolyn Sheffield, with support from BHL Program Director Martin Kalfatovic, Field Museum’s Technical Services Librarian Diana Duncan, and Smithsonian Libraries’ Metadata Librarian Suzanne Pilsk (both of whom regularly contribute to the BHL project), spoke with over a hundred people during the four exhibit days. Providing valuable project information (to many who had never before heard of BHL or the Field Book Project), booth staffers also gave out cool swag, including pens, brochures, stickers, buttons, book marks, and business cards, and conducted two raffles for prizes including books and greeting cards and matted prints gleaned from BHL’s fantastic Flickr site.

BHL and Field Book Project Swag at ALA booth.

In a sea of vendors attempting to sell an array of library-related products and services, BHL and the Field Book Project’s free resources were a breath of fresh air that attracted many curious and enthusiastic visitors. One particularly memorable encounter involved two librarians who, just a week before the conference, had an inquiry from a patron who wanted a digital version of Audubon’s Birds of America. At the time, they were unable to satisfy the request, but, upon learning of BHL, excitedly remarked that they could now fulfill their patron’s need. Another visitor, a blog writer, was especially attracted to BHL’s free images and expressed a desire to feature the project in a future blog post. A German librarian – who remarked after being introduced to BHL, “How do I not know about this?!” – asked what he could do to help tell others about the project. And, perhaps most rewarding for those at the booth, a visitor Saturday evening asserted that our project was “One of the more interesting things going on in this building.”

Carolyn Sheffield (left) and Bianca Crowley (center) with visitors at the ALA booth.

The conference in Seattle also provided BHL staff with another unique opportunity – to be interviewed for an upcoming BHL video produced by Lockheed Martin (a follow-up to the 2011 emmy-winning video about the Smithsonian Libraries). Interviewees included Martin Kalfatovic, Bianca Crowley, Grace Costantino, Carolyn Sheffield, and Nancy Gwinn (Smithsonian Libraries Director and BHL Executive Chair). The film crew also set up shop at the exhibit hall’s opening reception Friday night, shooting footage of booth visitors and conducting an impromptu interview with Rebecca Wilke (a BHL volunteer at the Field Museum working to improve BHL’s metadata) who serendipitously stopped by the booth. Check back on our blog, Twitter and Facebook for more information about the video’s future release.

The BHL button at the Public Market in Seattle.

Events like ALA provide an incredible opportunity for us to showcase the BHL project. It is not enough to make natural history literature freely available through BHL. We must also ensure that people are aware of the work we do. Presenting at conferences is an important piece of our outreach strategy. If you have any suggestions for conferences or venues we should be present at, please send us feedback or email us as [email protected]. Each digitized book and each user connection moves us closer to the day when the entire published record of biodiversity knowledge is available to everyone, everywhere.