Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers

1. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers Larry Gall Computer Systems Office Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

2. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers Different situations call for different solutions

3. Anthropology • Botany • Entomology • Invertebrate Paleontology • Invertebrate Zoology • Meteorites & Planetary Science • Mineralogy • Paleobotany • Scientific Instruments • Vertebrate Paleontology • Vertebrate Zoology ~12 million specimens

4. Anthropology 325,000 Lot Botany 400,000 Individual Entomology 450,000 Lot / Individual Invertebrate Paleontology 350,000 Lot Invertebrate Zoology 350,000 Lot Mineralogy 35,000 Individual Paleobotany 150,000 Individual Scientific Instruments 5,000 Individual Vertebrate Paleontology 125,000 Individual Vertebrate Zoology 185,000 Lot / Individual Peabody CollectionsCurrent Snapshot 12 million specimens yields 2.4 million items to catalog electronically

5. Anthropology 325,000 Lot Botany 400,000 Individual Entomology 450,000 Lot / Individual Invertebrate Paleontology 350,000 Lot Invertebrate Zoology 350,000 Lot Mineralogy 35,000 Individual Paleobotany 150,000 Individual Scientific Instruments 5,000 Individual Vertebrate Paleontology 125,000 Individual Vertebrate Zoology 185,000 Lot / Individual Peabody CollectionsCurrent Snapshot > 70% > 50% < 50% Items with an electronic record available (20 years’ effort): ~55 %

6. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers 1. Reflect, know thyself, context matters 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly

7. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers • Reflect, know thyself, context matters • 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled • 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating • 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks • 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise • 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing • 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly

8. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers • Reflect, know thyself, context matters • 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled • 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating • 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks • 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise • 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing • 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly One Shared History One Shared System

9. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers • Reflect, know thyself, context matters • 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled • 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating • 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks • 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise • 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing • 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly

10. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers • Reflect, know thyself, context matters • 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled • 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating • 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks • 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise • 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing • 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly

11. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers • Reflect, know thyself, context matters • 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled • 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating • 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks • 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise • 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing • 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly

12. Best Practices for Managing & Motivating the Digitizers • Reflect, know thyself, context matters • 2a. Create solutions that can be reused & recycled • 2b. … copying/stealing is quicker than creating • 3. Provide a tasty buffet of discrete/iterative tasks • 4. Always remain flexible as matters arise • 5a. Listen closely, users know what’s failing • 5b. … prepare to alter workflow, perhaps wildly

13. Vignette One Invertebrate Paleontology -- imaging 75,000 brachiopods Jess Utrup

14. Vignette One Invertebrate Paleontology -- imaging 75,000 brachiopods

15. catalog number view of specimen (dorsal, ventral, etc.) digital camera’s image number, minus the prefix (e.g., DSCN)

16. ~ 2x

17. “Hands free” voice-activated data capture Can you spot the differences between these two pictures ?

18. “Hands free” voice-activated data capture ~ 2x

20. Vignette Two Moving collections to Yale’s West Campus (2007-2009) Anthropology, Vertebrate Zoology, et al.

21. Vignette Two Moving collections to Yale’s West Campus (2007-2009) Anthropology, Vertebrate Zoology, et al.

22. Vignette Two Moving collections to Yale’s West Campus (2007-2009) Anthropology, Vertebrate Zoology, et al.

23. Yale Art Gallery Peabody Laptop, barcode printer, tethered scan gun – barcoding for tracking & inventory

24. Physical location barcode Container barcode Specimen barcode

25. Vertebrate Zoology -- couple staff, one room, little time pressure, cataloguing was rate limiting

26. Anthropology -- many staff, many rooms, heavy time pressure, packing/barcoding was rate limiting

27. We hired expert digitizers Anthropology -- many staff, many rooms, heavy time pressure, packing/barcoding was rate limiting

28. Ethafoam! Anthropology -- many staff, many rooms, heavy time pressure, packing/barcoding was rate limiting

29. tethered

30. wireless

31. No need to get to cart No need to login to EMu MC3090 scanner, simple CGI script, invokes existing database functionality

32. MC3090 scanner, simple CGI script, invokes existing database functionality

33. Set scanners on stun ! Aye, Captain !

34. Ethafoam Madness

35. Vignette Three 48 Yale student workers in Entomology (2007-present)

36. Student-Powered Paracurating Sort to Family then Subfamily (Larry) Sort to Genus then Species (Larry, students) Sort within Species by Collecting Event (students) Database (students)

37. Student-Powered Paracurating Schedule in overlapping timeslots, so students can work in groups

38. Student-Powered Paracurating First day on job – “invent & sort species of nymphalid butterflies”

39. Student-Powered Paracurating A True Ace … Nicole Palffy-Muhoray, grad. student in Linguistics

40. Student-Powered Paracurating Sorting within species to State/Province or comparably “digestible” geographic unit

41. Student-Powered Paracurating Geography, and the “Student Enforcers”

42. Student-Powered Paracurating Geography, and the “Student Enforcers”

43. Student-Powered Paracurating Geography, and the “Student Enforcers”

44. Student-Powered Paracurating

45. Student-Powered Paracurating “The Hot Hopper”

46. Student-Powered Paracurating

47. Student-Powered Paracurating

48. Student-Powered Paracurating 48 students 249,820 specimens 8,611 hours $109,088 total 27 specimens / hour $0.44 / specimen (2007 – present)

49. Student-Powered Paracurating 48 students 249,820 specimens 8,611 hours $109,088 total 27 specimens / hour $0.44 / specimen (2007 – present) $54,544 total $0.22 / specimen Provost’s Office program

50. Student-Powered Paracurating Gilene Young ‘07