Help digitise the mite collection
Looking for Citizen Rescuers!
Wouter Dekoninck, Entomology collection curator, needs your help to transcribe the labels of the mites in the Cooreman collection, which is part of one of the most complete mite collections worldwide. Many species in the collection are of medical importance as host or vector of parasites for humans and vertebrates. You will transcribe taxonomic information and data on their locality and how and on which host they were collected, which is crucial knowledge in health issues. So far more than 80.000 slides have been digitized and are available in our collection database. Another 30.000 are still to be done. Join the bug squad and help us to achieve this goal!
What happens to the data you transcribe? They will be imported into the DaRWIN collection database after review by the collection officer responsible for digitising the mite collection at KBIN. Shortly after being imported into DaRWIN, the slides will also be available for open consultation on our Virtual Collections website.
Project completed
Dataset name: The mite collection of the Institute of Natural Sciences, sub-collection Acari
Number of data points: 2374
Link: https://darwin.naturalsciences.be/
Visualize the dataset
1. Check the “Citizen Science” box in the public interface to view the data. No account is needed.
OR
2. Search for “CRESCO” under “Properties” in the management interface.
Request the dataset
Request the dataset by sending an e-mail to Wouter Dekoninck (wdekoninck@naturalsciences.be), Curator of entomological collections at the Institute of Natural Sciences.
What this project is about
Are you interested in science but have no formal scientific training? Would you like to contribute to scientific research while learning more about the world around you and meeting people with similar interests? Then join us on a journey of discovery and help us preserve our biological collections by contributing to research from home or at the museum itself. You can help by transcribing mite tags. Become a Citizen Rescuer and dive into the extraordinary world of the Institute of Natural Sciences!
What we ask you to do and why it is important
Wouter Dekoninck, curator of the Entomology collection, needs your help transcribing the labels of the mites in the Cooreman collection, which is part of one of the most complete mite collections in the world. Many species in the collection are of medical importance as hosts or vectors of parasites for humans and vertebrates. You will transcribe taxonomic information and data on their whereabouts and how and on which host they were collected, which is crucial knowledge in health issues.
What has already been done
So far, more than 80,000 slides have been digitised and available in the DaRWIN collection management database. Another 30,000 still need to be done. The images have been uniquely named based on where the slide is located in the collection (cabinet, box and number in the box).
What we offer online volunteers
We offer you free access to a social event and a behind-the-scenes visit to the collections at the Institute of Natural Sciences, where you will meet other volunteers and researchers and talk about your findings.
The event will take place between September and December 2023. For volunteers who complete at least 1,000 tasks, we offer an annual subscription to the Institute of Natural Sciences.
What we will do with the data
The intention is to publish the data produced during the project in the DaRWIN collection database system after review by the collection officer responsible for digitising the mite collection in the KBIN. This person has a great background knowledge of mite taxonomy and additional specific mite characteristics and notations on the slides. Shortly after import into DaRWIN, the slides will also be available for free consultation on our Virtual Collections website. The data will be published in HTML format, with links to images.
Personal data
The project will not process your personal data (name, e-mail, phone number) for the purposes described here. All personal data will be processed by DoeDat. We will communicate with you exclusively through DoeDat.
This is one of the citizen science projects of CRESCO (CRESCO Citizen REScuers for Collections). CRESCO has received funding from the IMPETUS consortium and is part of the IMPETUS Accelerator for Citizen Science program.
