The Biodiversity Collections Network will convene a workshop at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois in September 2015. This meeting will bring together institutional leaders, communication experts, and scientists to:
1) Identify opportunities and barriers to communicating the benefits of natural science collections to decision-makers and the public;
2) Explore the opportunities provided by national digitization initiatives to engage new stakeholders;
3) Identify existing communication resources and consider the development of new resources; and,
4) Explore the development of a networked community of communications professionals that could collaborate to deliver a proactive message about biodiversity and natural science collections to the public.
This is an invitation-only working meeting. The outcomes of this workshop will be shared with the broader community, which will have an opportunity to comment on these documents via this website.
Individuals interested in participating in this workshop should contact rgropp@aibs.org by June 15, 2015. Please send your name, institution, contact information, and a 500 word (maximum) description of your experience and interest in communicating biodiversity and natural science collection information to non-technical audiences.