For centuries, scientists exploring and documenting the natural world have sent billions of specimens to museums, universities and field stations. Now, UC Berkeley and other institutions across the globe want to make that information available to the public.

From October 22-25, members of the public are invited to participate in the digital data blitz, one of the many transcription parties that will be held this week during WeDigBio — Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections. WeDigBio is a four-day event that aims to transform the cryptic data on the labels of plant, insect, fish, and fossil specimens into an open, globally accessible, digital resource.

WeDigBio emerged within the museum community to accelerate the rate of digital data creation about the approximately 9 million species on Earth.

This one-of-a-kind event will be held from October 22-25 at 30 locations across the globe. While the UC Berkeley event offers a social setting where people can contribute and learn about the entomology museum and local insect diversity, members of the public can contribute at anytime from anywhere during the event at one of the participating online transcription platforms. The major online transcription platforms include:

– Notes from Nature (USA)

– Smithsonian Transcription Center (USA)

– Symbiota (USA)

– DigiVol (Australia)

– Herbaria@Home (UK)

– Les Herbonautes (France)

More information about the WeDigBio event can be found at https://www.wedigbio.org.

The UC Berkeley transcription blitz will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, in the BioScience Library of the Valley Life Science Building. More information is available on the Essig website. RSVP to essig.museum@gmail.com.

In addition to the WeDigBio event, members of the public can help the Essig Museum any time. Click here to find out how, or watch the video below: