17 January, 2012

Are you interested in being a Volunteer for Australia’s Biodiversity !

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), in partnership with the Australian Museum (AM), has developed an online Volunteer Portal for keen members of the community to help digitise, among other things, entomological collections of Museums. All from the comfort of your own computer.

See: http://volunteer.ala.org.au/

The aim of the project is to encourage online, or virtual, volunteers towork on the monumental task of transcribing specimen labels, field notes, and expedition diaries from various Australian museum collections, into digitised records. So far volunteers have completed 3500 individual tasks of around 6600 currently online.  More volunteers are needed so please sign up and lend a hand. Current projects involve transcribing labels for Cicadas and Hawk Moths, and field notes from the Scott Sisters, with projects for Leaf Hoppers and Plume Moths soon to be online.

Each of these projects tries to liken the experience to being out in thefield with the specimen collectors of over a century ago. The more work a volunteer does in transcribing labels or diary pages, the higher their standing in the expedition. They can move through the ranks of Technical Officer, Collection Manager, and Scientist to Expedition Leader. Images of expedition personal from the past enhance the reality of being one of the team and show the formal dress standards and personal grooming habits of the past!

For more information about joining the program, contact:
Paul Flemons
+61 2 9320 6343
Australian Museum
6 College Street Sydney NSW 2010 Australia
t 61 2 9320 6343 m 0413 458649 f 61 2 9320 6021
www.australianmuseum.net.au