T77 Improving the Accessibility of Natural History Collections

Tuesday, 27 October 2020
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Meeting Rooms

BRINGING A PLEISTOCENE TAR SEEP COLLECTION TO PUBLIC AUDIENCES VIA DIGITAL ACCESS TO COLLECTIONS AND WEB MODULES: THE UC MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY MCKITTRICK FOSSIL COLLECTION FROM THE CENTRAL VALLEY OF CALIFORNIA

Paper number: T77-16
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 5:05 PM – 5:15 PM

Authors

Abstract

Sharing specimen imagery and basic collection data is increasingly commonplace for research collections. However, these efforts have largely been directed at the research community or focus on particular groups of organisms with less emphasis on sharing the context of these discoveries with broader audiences. The University of California Museum of Paleontology's collection of Pleistocene to Holocene fossils from the McKittrick tar seeps present a unique opportunity to digitally showcase a discrete collection for both the public and research communities. Collected in the 1930's but largely overlooked in the 20th century, the collection was recently rehoused and digitized, with specimen data shared both in our own online database as well as other data aggregators. In addition to specimen information, more than 4800 images of fossils are shared via the CalPhotos database and are incorporated in a new UCMP educational website on the McKittrick site. Through incorporating simple web applications and graphics on the website, we showcase a rich community of fossil vertebrates, plants, and insects from the McKittrick region on an interactive food web exercise where users can drag and drop icons to show how the organisms are related to each other and by the food they consume. The food webs showcase a range of animals (mammoths, horses, bobcats, saber-tooth cats, bears, wolves, sloths, eagles, gophers and rabbits) and are the backdrop for a series of modules where users can explore the skeletal morphology of the animals, compare extinct and modern animals, and learn how changing climate and shifting environments in the Central Valley of California impacted this community of animals and plants 11,000 years ago.

For more than 25 years the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) has designed and disseminated online materials, paleontological resources, and informational tools supporting the UCMP research and educational missions. As the UCMP continues to grow its digital specimen records and capture taxonomic and contextual data as part of rehousing and collection curation projects, we are increasingly mindful of the need to reach broader and more diverse audiences by providing multiple options to share museum research across a variety of platforms easily accessible by the public.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 52, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-359903

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