Naturalis' virtual biodiversity house
'Towards a biodiversity house with windows for each target group' - an interview
In 1998, when Naturalis opened the gates of its brand new museum building, the organisation opened a digital gateway as well. Besides its own naturalis.nl, there are currently 13 other websites in operation, acting as windows to the biology and geology of the Netherlands as well as far-off places for various target groups. For this purpose, Naturalis not only draws on its own collections and databases, but also those of other organisations. Together, all these fragments of data make up a beautiful story on biodiversity, one that Naturalis would love to share with a broad audience.
Dirk Houtgraaf, deputy director of Audience, and Kees Hendriks, head of Information Services, are closely involved in Naturalis' activities within the digital domain. Why has the museum made such an emphatic choice for collaboration with other institutions and does it like to play a pioneering role in this area?
A central focus on target groups
'Most museums think from the perspective of their collections. They digitise their collections and publish them on the web,' comments Dirk Houtgraaf. 'Naturalis works in exactly the opposite way. Our starting point consists of the target groups and their need for the type of information that Naturalis and its partners are able to organise. The collection plays a supporting role in this respect.Kees Hendriks adds: 'Take the website walvisstrandingen.nl, for example. Whenever whales are beached on the Dutch coast, there will be newspaper coverage and the Jeugdjournaal (children's news) will send a camera crew. This coverage generates a lot of questions. People will want to know more about previous instances of beached whales. This is why we have put our database online, dressed it up and made it available through walvisstrandingen.nl. Although the website is not in tip-top shape yet - various additional tools can still be added, which we certainly intend to do at a later stage - but first of all we want to have the website live to cater for the current demand. Funnily enough, the technology, which helps us project reports that have been validated by us onto a map of the Netherlands, can also be put to other uses. Simultaneously with walvisstrandingen.nl, we have developed an application related to coin findings in collaboration with the Geldmuseum (Money Museum).' Naturalis caters for the demands of various target groups, including high school students who are preparing for an assignment or a class talk and want to know something about topics related to biology or geology. They can consult natuurinformatie.nl, an encyclopaedic data silo filled by 21 organisations. Kees Hendriks explains: 'Naturalis has little in-house knowledge to offer on some subjects. However, other parties do. And they love to work with us, because they are well aware that we are able to present these subjects in a very attractive way. Consequently, new sites are created every time. We currently have 13 websites, and this number will definitely increase. Together, these websites form the building blocks of a biodiversity house that offers special views for each target group, from high school students and beachcombers to bird watchers and scientists.'
Biodiversity: a hot topic
Dirk Houtgraaf: 'Biodiversity is currently receiving a lot of attention. Just look at the media coverage regarding the new species that was discovered last June. There is much active debate is going on about the way in which society should treat the earth, both now and in the future. Museums, and natural-historical museums in particular, tend to look back in time. They focus on heritage, and in the case of natural heritage, on that which is dead and gone, but should be conserved. However, our in-house knowledge on biodiversity is not just an instrument that can be used to explain the past. It is also relevant for the future. We want everybody to know that Naturalis is a party that is not to be overlooked in the debate on current and future biodiversity.' Kees Hendriks: 'As I mentioned earlier, we do not have all the knowledge in-house. A lot of expertise is present in the Netherlands. For this reason, we are expressly seeking out new partners for collaboration. Our chief role lies in organising data, telling stories, and translating scientific insights into a medium that can be used to inform a broad audience in a lively and engaging way.We try to cater for new trends with new projects. Examples are the growing importance of the use of interaction and visual material in communication and the priorities set by the government, such as a full presentation of species with a special policy status, enabling us to quickly attract parties that want to contribute their content and time. And financiers, obviously. This approach has allowed Naturalis to build up a high level of credibility. Parties such as the Mondriaan Stichting, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries and Senter Novem are prepared to make an investment now they have noticed the success of our projects, as well as the fact that we do not work in a haphazard way.'
A large virtual building
Kees Hendriks: 'Our intention is to create a large virtual building that houses all the relevant data on the Dutch subsoil and biodiversity and that is available to various target groups. The websites that we build form the building bricks of that house. We want to build websites that run the entire gamut from drillings, soil profiles, geographical monuments, landscapes to the animals that can be found about one's house. Naturalis forms the cement in this context.This house is still under construction, we haven't reached the completion stage yet. The modules are semi-finished products. All sorts of tools can be invented around these modules, such as training programmes and teachers' manuals. We have chosen to make these modules operational as quickly as possible. We want to put that data silo live on the Internet first.And our approach works. We attract over 2 million annual visitors. Anyone who uses Google to search for the "butskop" (the bottle-nosed whale) will find 43,300 pages with relevant hits. The first sites listed in the search results will be natuurinformatie.nl and walvisstrandingen.nl. That is how visitors find their way to our websites. Not through naturalis.nl or the website homepages, but directly through Google. We are currently making modifications in order to retain their interest for a longer period and to make them aware of our broader information portfolio, of the fact that you can click on to much more information on the website.'
Under the hood
Our ambition is not to have just that one website. We are interested in an information structure, which requires links between the databases of various parties as well as smart search structures allowing viewers to obtain the right information from the large data silo, so that users can quickly find their way around.The website's interface, the user-facing end, the story: that is something that we can develop by ourselves. However, the things that are present under the hood, such as the links and the way that databases become accessible, for these things we rely on the help of companies such as Trezorix. The ultimate solution has not been found yet, and it never will be. What we are looking for is a compromise between flexibility, time, costs etc. However, the search for the right solution is important. This is why we are also interested in projects such as RNA and CATCH. How can you link various databases in an intelligent way? How can you automate this process wherever possible? How can you make all the information available to the various target groups? The answers to these questions are highly relevant to us.'
Wednesday, August 15, 2007