The Geological Curators’ Group is a partner in the JISC funded
project GB/3D type fossils online (JISC was previously known as the
Joint Information Systems Committee, and it runs the JANET computer network to
which all .ac.uk domains belong).
Other partners include:
·
British Geological Survey
·
National Museum, Cardiff
·
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
·
Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge
Other collaborating
organisations to date include the Natural History Museum, London and a number
of local museums.
The ICZN and the International Code
of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants require that every species or
subspecies of organism (living & fossil), should have a type or reference
specimen to define its characteristic features. These specimens are held in
collections around the world and must be available for study. Many of the UK
type fossil specimens were first described over a century ago, and with the
passage of time and the transfer and amalgamation of collections, their present
location is uncertain.
The project partners are busy
photographing all their UK macro-fossil type specimens, including close-ups and
labels. In most cases they are also taking stereo-pairs for anaglyph
production. They are laser scanning about 10% of the specimens to produce
downloadable digital models. Please see the project blog for the background to
the project and for some free downloadable digital models - http://gb3dtypefossils.blogspot.co.uk/
. Next year a web portal will be released, linking all the fossil registration
details (including identification, locality, age, registration number,
repository, etc.) to the images, stereo-anaglyphs and 3D digital models.
The Geological Curators’ Group is now trying to track down
the UK type macro-fossils held in other collections and museums around the
country. We would like to visit as many collections as possible with our mobile
cameras and laser scanner to photograph and record all the available types, and
make them available through the web portal. All the material will be clearly
badged with the holding institution’s logo, which will link to contact details
and access information, thereby helping to open up the collection for worldwide
study. At a time when collections are being increasingly required to justify
their existence, this is a good way of raising their profile and demonstrating
the international scientific importance of material they hold. All collections
will be provided with copies of the photographs and digital models of their
material to do with as they wish; the images and models on the web portal will
be available for free download under a Creative Commons – Attribution –
NonCommercial – ShareAlike licence.
We would like to hear from any museums and collections
interested in joining the project. We also have a budget available to help
cover the cost of the collection staff involved (£200 per day, on a first-come
first-served basis). Please email me (GB3D-Fossils@bgs.ac.uk
) with information about the types you hold, including the approximate number
of specimens, or if you wish to receive further information. Where a collection
has just a few types, and they are considered safe to travel, we would ask you
to consider loaning the material to BGS for the work to be done in Keyworth.
Please consider joining what is becoming a very exciting
development.
Kind regards,
Mike Howe
Project leader & Chairman GCG.
