Andrea Weeks (George Mason University), "Lessons learned from SISRIS, a US-based initiative to support inclusive and sustainable collections-based biodiversity research infrastructure."
The SISRIS initiative is a workshop and symposium series that trains people how to use biodiversity informatics tools to discover, curate and analyze people data within natural history specimen databases. In the context of a natural history specimen record or label, people data refer to the individuals noted within the “collected by” and “identified by” fields. When used accurately, people data from natural history collection specimens can help uncover the history of science, accelerate research about biodiversity, and enhance the sustainability of the systematic research enterprise itself by allowing the collectors and identifiers to get credit for their work. Today, freely accessible natural history specimen databases, such as gbif.org, host nearly 3 billion specimen records, which offer an unparalleled opportunity for scientists and historians to leverage the power of people data, at scale.
The name of the initiative, SISRIS, reflects our goal of effecting community-level change by sharing skills and practices that can support inclusive and sustainable collections-based research infrastructure for systematics. Central to the initiative is sharing with participants how and why the use of unique identifiers for collectors and identifiers can advance biodiversity research at a community level as well as improve one’s own professional recognition as a collector or identifier. During the presentation, we will discuss the learning objectives for SISRIS workshop participants, the longitudinal assessment of outcomes from 2023 and 2024 events that trained 80 plant biodiversity scientists and herbarium collections’ professionals, and our lessons learned from leading these events. We also reflect on why we believe SISRIS is an example of an effective strategy for building community capacity in biodiversity informatics that could be adapted successfully by other groups of collections-based researchers, including historians of science. To this end, we have developed a Git-hub repository of project materials for free reuse. SISRIS is supported by awards from the US National Science Foundation (2247631 and 2247632).
Suggested reading:
Weeks A, Collins E, Majors TW, Murrell ZE, Paul DL, Sheik M, Shorthouse DP, Zeringue-Krosnick S (2024) Workshop Report: Supporting inclusive and sustainable collections-based research infrastructure for systematics (SISRIS). Research Ideas and Outcomes 10: e126532. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.10.e126532
Participants:
Andrea Weeks (Presenting)
George Mason University, Department of Biology and the Ted R. Bradley Herbarium, Fairfax, Virginia, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-0000-4541; aweeks3@gmu.edu
Elizabeth Collins
George Mason University, Department of Biology and the Ted R. Bradley Herbarium, Fairfax, Virginia, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-0769
Twanelle W. Majors
Tennessee Technological University, Department of Chemistry, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-6043-0737
Zack E. Murrell
Appalachian State University, Department of Biology, Boone, North Carolina, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-6895-3161
Deborah Paul
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Prairie Research Institute, Illinois Natural History Survey, Species File Group, Champaign, Illinois, USA ORCID: 0000-0003-2639-7520
Matthew Sheik
Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colorado, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-9496-6898
David P. Shorthouse
Independent, Gatineau, Québec, Canada ORCID: 0000-0001-7618-5230
Shawn Zeringue-Krosnick
Tennessee Technological University, Department of Biology and the Hollister Herbarium, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-8027-5295
Bringing together curators, archivists, library professionals, and scholars representing fields across the sciences and the humanities, this working group takes an interdisciplinary approach to considering the history of collections, as well as associated debates surrounding the value and purpose of collecting. This group will grapple with the past and present role of collections, and consider questions such as the following: What kinds of objects, specimens, and artifacts are considered worth collecting and by whom? How can institutions continue to maintain and care for their collections? What kinds of information and/or data are stored within collections? How can new approaches to research, teaching, and public programs allow for objects to reach new audiences and/or provide new opportunities for reinterpretation?
Consortium Respectful Behavior Policy
Participants at Consortium activities will treat each other with respect and consideration to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment that is free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
Participants will avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or any other characteristic protected by law. Disruptive or harassing behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate or intimidating behavior and language, unwelcome jokes or comments, unwanted touching or attention, offensive images, photography without permission, and stalking.
Participants may send reports or concerns about violations of this policy to conduct@chstm.org.
Upcoming Meetings
Friday, February 7, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST
Friday, March 7, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST
Erin McLeary (Mütter Museum)
Friday, April 4, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
Pedro Raposo (The Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University) and Tiago Saraiva (Drexel University)
Teaching with Collections
Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
Reed Gochberg (Concord Museum)
Past Meetings
Maura C. Flannery, Professor Emerita, St. John's University, NY/Research Associate, A.C. Moore Herbarium, University of South Carolina, Columbia: "Can Digital Collections Bridge the Gap between the Humanities and Science?"
Jesse Smith, Research Curator at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, on “Instruments, Industries, and Invertebrates: Curating Water in the Public History of Science.”
Jesse will be giving us a brief virtual tour of the new “Downstream” exhibit at the Science History Institute and will talk through the process of its development. Then, we will turn to a broader discussion about the relationship between the history of science, public history, and museum exhibitions. Jesse has included two articles (attached) that offer some background about the collections and exhibitions at the Science History Institute.
Nushelle de Silva, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "Conditioning Art, Air, and Action: Exhibition Conservation in the Art Museum"
Anisha Gupta, American Philosophical Society: "Conservation is not neutral: an anti-colonial framework for collections care"
Nadine Löhr, Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities: "Collecting Arabic Scientific Manuscripts - Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos in Mashhad, Iran"
Alison Laurence, Stanford University: "The Quick and the Dead at La Brea: Affective Encounters with Ice Age Los Angeles"
Lukas Rieppel, Brown University: "Locating the Central Asiatic Expedition: Circulation and Accumulation in Early 20th Century Natural History"
Adrianna Link, American Philosophical Society: "Cultural Diplomacy, Conservation, and Computers: Designing an International Center in the Smithsonian Quadrangle"
Elaine Ayers, New York University: "Had There Been No Witnesses: Corpse Flowers, Monstrosity, and the Politics of Discovery in Early-Nineteenth Century Colonial Botany"
Group Conveners
Reed Gochberg
Dr. Gochberg is Associate Curator and Manager of Exhibitions at the Concord Museum, and she teaches in the Museum Studies program at Harvard Extension School. She holds a PhD in English from Boston University and is the author of Useful Objects: Museums, Science, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Adrianna Link
Dr. Link is Curator of History of Science at the American Philosophical Society's Library & Museum. She received her PhD in History of Science from The Johns Hopkins University and is interested in the history of anthropology and its relationship to collections and collecting practices.
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Jesse Smith
Jesse Smith is director of curatorial affairs at the Science History Institute, where he oversees exhibitions and other interpretive projects in the history of science. He is also associate editor of the journal History and Technology. Jesse earned his PhD in the history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania.