National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian)
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/

Projects:

Tonia Schneider worked on two projects during her week at the National Museum of Natural History:

Botany Maps:  The Department of Botany has a collection of over 10,000 maps dating from the 1860s to the present.  Volunteer help has been organizing the maps, photographing them and entering them into a database.  Depending on the student's skills and interests, s/he would assist in identifying obscure maps, photographing maps, editing the photos, entering information about the maps into the database and/or cleaning up the database code and web interface.  The database is written in Microsoft Access and its primary user interface is in ColdFusion / HTML / SQL.

Ethnobotany Research: The Department of Botany is studying the ethnobotany of the border regions of the United States and Mexico, using historical specimens in the United States National Herbarium.  A preliminary step is to ascertain all available published, archival and online resources associated with the collecting of ethnobotanist Edward Palmer, the government funded Mexican Boundary Survey (1852-1855) and International Boundary Commission (1911).  The Spring Break student would assist the project researcher is assembling and organizing these references and, if time permits, begin the task of extracting specific botanical and ethnobotanical data from these references.

Paul Jordan assisted the Department of Paleobiology's scientific illustrator in the process of archiving and conserving the department's historical scientific illustrations.  He worked on processing high resolution digital images of the drawings and linking them into the Museum's database.

What Students Had to Say:

" First and foremost, the people and the opportunity the Smithsonian gave me to learn. I loved working at the Smithsonian..."

" I loved the people. The projects were great and I learned so much. I didn't like that the assignments were so short!! I would have stayed longer...if only Spring Break were 2 or 3 weeks long!"

"The Smithsonian is an incredible organization. The friendly, helpful people and the laid-back extremely productive atmosphere was very enlightening."

"The experience has strenghtened my self-confidence. I realized that I really have learned quite a bit at the School of Information!"

Original Projects:

1) 1.  Assessing the Value of a Science Publication
Staff Sponsor: Rick Wunderman
The Institution publishes information about erupting volcanoes in what is currently called the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.  This is available both in black-and-white as a paper copy, and as a pdf file, and it forms a key part of our website (www.volcano.si.edu/) where it is typically described as an 'activity report.'  We would like to find ways to evaluate the impact of the Bulletin on scientists and research.  The process is complicated by the fact that the name of the publication has changed several times since it began in 1968.  Furthermore, the publication is 'gray literature' that often gets cited in differing ways in various publications.  We are also uncertain whether investigators are clearly citing the data obtained from our website.  Still, we'd like to explore how we might establish a reasonable estimate of our "citation index."  Perhaps there are other indices that come into play in cases like this, in which case, we would like to learn more about the options for evaluating this publication.

In addition, various experiments and comparative tests can be made using citation indexing techniques.  If time is available, the student may wish to explore some of these (see http://scientific.thomson.com/free/essays/useofcitationdatabases/linking/).  Another related publication that we support, Weekly Reports on active volcanoes might also be the subject of a similar evaluation (that publication is just a few years old and only web based).

The results of these efforts will bear upon our planning, direction, and strategy.  How important is our work in current research and for future assessments and understanding of planet Earth?

2.  Databases for the Insect Zoo
Staff Sponsor: Nathan Erwin
The student would work closely with staff to create several data bases that would result in more efficient and effective management of the Insect Zoo’s finances, volunteer program, and animal husbandry program.  These data bases would be created in Microsoft Access.

Requirements/Qualifications

The student must have experience creating data bases and a working knowledge of Microsoft Access.

3.  Archiving Assessment of Historical Paleobiology Illustrations
Staff Sponsor:  Mary Parrish
The Department of Paleobiology's scientific illustrator is in the process of archiving and conserving the department's historical scientific illustrations.  She would be interested in having one (or two students working together) from the School of Information look at this project and it's challenges with fresh eyes and make recommendations (including a short 1-2 page written document) based on their studies at the University of Michigan.  Students will assist with hands-on work as time allows.

Requirements/qualifications: 

-- Interest in museum work  and training in one or more of the following areas: archives, electronic records management, digital access management, web skills.
-- Ability to work quietly and independently (after an orientation to the project and collection) and a willingness to share knowledge. 

4.  Contributions to the U.S. National Herbarium: two projects
Staff sponsor:  Rusty Russell
Botany Maps:  The Department of Botany has a collection of over 10,000 maps dating from the 1860s to the present.  Volunteer help has been organizing the maps, photographing them and entering them into a database.  Depending on the student's skills and interests, s/he would assist in identifying obscure maps, photographing maps, editing the photos, entering information about the maps into the database and/or cleaning up the database code and web interface.  The database is written in Microsoft Access and its primary user interface is in ColdFusion / HTML / SQL.

Ethnobotany Research: The Department of Botany is studying the ethnobotany of the border regions of the United States and Mexico, using historical specimens in the United States National Herbarium.  A preliminary step is to ascertain all available published, archival and online resources associated with the collecting of ethnobotanist Edward Palmer, the government funded Mexican Boundary Survey (1852-1855) and International Boundary Commission (1911).  The Spring Break student would assist the project researcher is assembling and organizing these references and, if time permits, begin the task of extracting specific botanical and ethnobotanical data from these references.

No specific experience or academic requirements required for either project.

5.  Human Studies Film Archives, Museum Support Center
Staff sponsor:  Pam Wintle
Student would work with HSFA staff to design an accession register database based on criteria developed by HSFA staff.  Student will enter at least one year’s worth of accessions as a test for the effectiveness of the database.

Requirements / Qualifications:  Experience using Microsoft Excel a must.  Knowledge of database functions and design a plus.  Knowledge of Filemaker Pro a bonus!!

6.  Invertebrate Zoology Catalog Ledgers Scanning
Staff Sponsor: Linda Ward
Project Description: Scanning of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology catalog ledgers for the Coelenterate, Echinoderm, Proifera and Tunicate collections to generate jpg’s of each page and a PDF file for each volume.  The ledgers are the original record for our cataloging activities prior to 1979 when the computerization of the collections began.  Many of the catalog lots recorded on these pages have yet to be entered in the computer even though they represent some of our oldest collections.  The ledgers have never been copied and are at risk for loss or damage.  The ledgers represent a valuable source of information which can be made available to a larger audience once they are in electronic format.  Seeking 2 student for this project to work together.

Requirements/ Qualifications: Scanning would be done in at the National Museum of Natural History in room W209A using the large format Zeutschel book scanner attached to a PC.  The book scanner allows us to scan the ledger from above so you just have to flip a page rather than having to lift the book off the scanner turn a page and replace the book back on the scanner as is done with a flatbed scanner.  This saves wear and tear on the book and makes it much easier for the person doing the scanning.  Once the job is set up for each volume one can control the entire process with foot pedals.  The requirements for the job are basic computer knowledge, such as how to open a program, edit data in a few fields, and a basic understanding of subdirectory/file structure on a computer so they can find the files they save.  We provide fully illustrated instructions and it should take less than an hour for the person to learn how to use the computer program that runs the scanner.  The only other requirement or qualification is a willingness to do a job that is repetitive and may be rather boring.

7. The World of Copepods Card Scanning Project
Staff Sponsor Chad Walter
Project Description: Started in the late 1800's by Charles B. Wilson, this library has the world's largest collection of literature (46,000) dealing with the crustacean group known as copepods.  One of the unique features of this library is the collection of approximately 40,000 3x5 cards.  Every known genus and species of copepod, including synonyms, has been assigned one or more cards.  The card or cards for each species or genus lists every published record for the species, and includes information such as where the specimens were collected and by whom, as well as the literature source.  The cards are an invaluable research resource, and historically are interesting because some cards were prepared over 100 years ago.   Many of these older cards are brittle and worn, and so are in need digitization in order to preserve the information.  We propose to scan this unique collection of cards, and then make the scanned images available on our website "The World of Copepods" (www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/copepod/).   We require a volunteer to use our high speed scanner which scans both sides of the card, creates and then saves a .jpg file to a folder on the computer.  This file then should be renamed following a specific protocol.  If time permits, we also propose to scan some of our older and more delicate publications whose paper is showing signs of deterioration.

8.  Reading German for the Tree of Life Project
Staff Sponsor:  Allen Collins
Do you read German?  Are you interested in contributing to the Tree of Life project?  We are in great need of someone who reads German well to assist with the Tree of Life database.  The Tree of Life Project is a collaborative effort of biologists from around the world.  On more than 4000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their evolutionary history (phylogeny), and characteristics.  Come help us out. 

9.  Wield the Power of RSS
Staff Sponsor:  Dennis Hasch
The RSS, the Really Simple Syndication XML format is among the fastest growing internet technologies to distribute, expose, and share online information. It is also growing as one of the best ways to promote museum websites and dynamically changing and rich museum web content. The NMNH Web Branch seeks to take advantage of the established RSS technologies and utilize its power and trend in support of the new NMNH Web Site which is about to be launched in the Spring of 2006 as well as for the promotion of existing websites, exhibits, and other promotional venues.  The technical focus of this opportunity is to work with the NMNH IT Web Branch and/or internal content providers and web managers to develop and implement the required RSS XML templates, usage standards, guidelines, and documentation for multiple museum RSS feeds through which to distribute and promote museum information. If necessary, this opportunity would require ample research (if not already known) into RSS industry standards and best practices from which the museum can take full advantage.  Since the NMNH web sphere is emerging deeper into the Smithsonian’s utilization of Interwoven TeamSite/OpenDeploy, our Web Content Management (WCM) system, this internship opportunity also offers the advantage of gaining valuable experience by working with a powerful and industry standard, enterprise wide WCM.

This opportunities best suited for candidates with basic or advanced levels of web development and especially those with a good or aspiring understanding of XML and RSS and those that are interested in working within an industry standard WCM.  Moreover, good communication skills, dynamic initiative, creativity, and thorough follow-up with solid documentation skills would also be important to find success with this opportunity.

10.  Power to the Podcasters!
Staff Sponsor:  Dennis Hasch
Podcasting, like RSS (Really Simple Syndication), is among the fastest growing internet audio visual technologies to syndicate and distribute online information. Likewise, it is growing as one of the best ways to promote museum events and dynamically changing and rich audio and video museum content. NMNH seeks to take advantage of established Podcast technologies and inexpensive tools to utilize its power and trend in support of the new NMNH Web Site which is about to be launched in the Spring of 2006 as well as for the promotion of museum events, new exhibits, online websites, and other museum promotional venues.  The technical focus of this opportunity is to work with the NMNH IT Web Branch and/or internal content providers and web managers to develop and implement an easy-to-use Podcast toolbox, establish usage standards, audio encoding guidelines, and documentation for multiple and/or custom museum Podcast feeds through which to distribute and promote museum audio or visual information. If necessary, this opportunity would require ample research (if not already known) into Podcast standards and best practices from which the museum can take full advantage.  Since the NMNH web sphere is emerging deeper into the Smithsonian’s utilization of Interwoven TeamSite/OpenDeploy, our Web Content Management (WCM) system, this internship opportunity also offers the advantage of gaining valuable experience by working with a powerful and industry standard, enterprise wide WCM.

This opportunities best suited for candidates with basic or advanced levels of audio and video web development and especially those with a good or aspiring understanding of Podcast technologies and associated encoding and RSS formats, and those that are interested in working within an industry standard WCM.  Moreover, good communication skills, dynamic initiative, creativity, and thorough follow-up with solid documentation skills would also be important to find success with this opportunity.

11.  Fantastic Flash Development and Educational Flash Interactives
Staff Sponsor:  Dennis Hasch
Flash has been called the industry standard for creating high-impact interactive web presentations, and this description fits well for many museum virtual efforts, online exhibits, and educational and informative interactives. As with other museums and public educational institutions, the use of Flash at NMNH has paralleled the industry trends. This Flash based internship opportunity offers 2 optional directions: a) The firsts is to work with the NMNH IT Web Branch or NMNH Content Providers and implement a small collection of Flash based applications that use the "scribble" coloring book Flash interactive application technology, which basically allows web users to color or draw on a selection of images. The Smithsonian has complete usage rights to these tools and various implementations are already in use at a few other Smithsonian museums.  Specifically, the intern(s) would assist in choosing and editing optimal natural history related images (dinosaurs, gems, animals, plants, etc.), work with Flash and code configurations, upload, test, and document the steps and procedures.  An example of the “Scribble” Flash application can be seen in use at the Smithsonian’s Postal Museum: http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/activity/coloraway/index.html.  b) The second opportunity is to develop a less specific Flash based interactive that would allow the intern to come up with and implement his or her own idea for an educational or edutainment oriented Flash interactive that makes innovative use of our rich online educational and collections content.

These opportunities are best suited for candidates with basic or advanced levels of Flash experience, but aspiring Flash developers are also welcome.  Moreover, good communication skills, dynamic initiative, creativity, and thorough follow-up with reasonable documentation would also be important to find success with these opportunities.

12.  Internal Navigation and Emerging Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) Development
Staff Sponsor:  Dennis Hasch
NMNH is among the largest and most complex museums in the world. As the Web Branch moves forward to support the web and online needs of our web visitors and professional associates, we also must provide an efficient internal (intranet) web presence to meet the growing needs of internal communication and information sharing. Traditionally, the museum intranet space as been a disparate collection of various office and departmental spaces without a necessary logical structure that supports the internal museum structure. Efforts to consolidate our intranet resources into the Smithsonian’s enterprise wide web content management system (WCM) are already underway. The Smithsonian uses Interwoven TeamSite/OpenDeploy among the most powerful and industry standard WCM systems.  The focus of this opportunity is to work with the NMNH IT Web Branch and internal content providers to build and implement a more solid navigational foundation and structure for museum internal resources within the Intranet WCM and assist in the migration of disparate intranet content sources into the new proposed structure and system. Because new NMNH Intranet efforts are moving to CSS functionality, it will also be important to implement a dynamic and changeable format for the navigation that takes advantage of style sheet functionality, from which the NMNH Web Branch has already started to build and manage.

This opportunities best suited for candidates with basic or advanced levels of web development and especially those with a good understanding of CSS and those that are interested in working within an industry standard WCM. Moreover, good communication skills, dynamic initiative, creativity, and thorough follow-up with reasonable documentation would also be important to find success with these opportunities.

13.  Imaging 100 years of Collection Acquisitions
Staff sponsor name:  Carol R Butler
NMNH’s Office of the Registrar is seeking a bright, self-motivated individual with strong Microsoft Access skills to conduct a pilot study on imaging and databasing its card files.  These ca. 1.1 million cards serve as the sole index to primary documentation of more than 100 years of collections acquisitions, disposals, and loans, in addition to associated correspondence.  The index is critical for access to the documents, and the pilot project will be the first step towards development of an electronic search capability and a backup system.  Successful completion of the pilot project will position the NMNH to consider options for full implementation of this imaging and databasing project that might include work by future interns and contractors.  

Requirements / Qualifications: Persons involved with this project must have strong Access skills, document management skills, experience using document scanners, ability to analyze workflow and make recommendations, ability to enter data using a PC, and willingness to follow office procedures regarding the handling and organization of critical office documents.  Archival experience is a plus, as is knowledge of old geographic names.   Project will be performed in various office settings.

14.  Coordinate the Week: suggest and arrange tours, prepare a web page
Staff Sponsor:  Mary Sangrey
Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. between the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) inspires curiosity, discovery, and learning about the natural world through its pre-eminent research, collections, exhibitions, and education.  Established in 1910, today the Museum supports an academic community of over 1,500 and is the largest Smithsonian museum and research unit, as well as the most visited natural history museum in the world, welcoming over six million visitors each year. The Museum is increasingly focused on strengthening the visibility, value, and impact of its science by integrating research, collections, exhibitions and education, providing leadership for the wider community of natural history museums.  At the center of NMNH research are the Museum's expertly documented collections: more than 126 million natural science specimens and cultural artifacts, the largest of its kind.  Through the University of Michigan Alternative Spring Break Program we will offer students placement throughout our diverse complex, providing a project that contributes to our mission as well as delivers a quality learning opportunity for the student.  But, we can’t invite you into our Museum community without also providing an opportunity for you to see some of our unique resources kept behind public view. 

We are seeking a student to help us coordinate the week by working with us to decide on key collections, locations, and laboratories to visit as well as help organize the tours.  We have already scheduled a special viewing for the group to visit the Cullman Library (http://www.sil.si.edu/libraries/cullman/index.htm) - Smithsonian's collection of rare books in anthropology and the natural sciences. Its world-class collection contains approximately 10,000 volumes published before 1840.  In addition to helping us select and schedule enrichment events, the student will also prepare a web page of the week’s activities including individual pages for each student joining us this year through this program.