If you transcribed herbarium specimens in the Notes from Nature – Plants of Arkansas project before March 4, 2020, your work is part of a newly published journal article by ANHC botanist, Diana Soteropoulos, and project founder, Dr. Travis Marsico (Arkansas State University). The article, entitled “Community Science Success for Herbarium Transcription in Arkansas: Building a Network of Students and Volunteers for Notes from Nature,” published online through the journal Castanea this month.

Through Notes from Nature project transcription, information on natural history collection specimen labels is typed into standardized data fields, such as locality, collector, and collection date, making this data available to researchers. The Castanea article briefly describes transcription and the Notes from Nature platform. However, the main focus is the development of a network of people to support transcribing herbarium specimens housed in Arkansas herbaria or collected from Arkansas.

The Arkansas network includes three main groups. The ANHC leads the Notes from Nature – Plants of Arkansas project and coordinates with the other groups. Universities house seven of the herbarium collections that provide specimen images for the Notes from Nature project and involve transcription in classroom assignments. The third group, service organizations, includes Arkansas Master Naturalists, Arkansas Master Gardeners, and Arkansas Native Plant Society members who are interested in plants and nature.

The Castanea article discusses the first 136,146 transcriptions completed on the Notes from Nature–Plants of Arkansas project and which groups contributed. Notes from Nature has been included in university classroom assignments at three Arkansas schools: Arkansas State University, Hendrix College, and University of Arkansas-Monticello. Students have transcribed thousands of specimens, contributing 10% of the total transcriptions. Central Arkansas Master Naturalists are the lead Arkansas group, contributing almost 13% of the total transcriptions.

You might have read about the Notes from Nature–Plants of Arkansas project in previous ANHC blog posts, including the post about ANHC Herbarium volunteer and Central Arkansas Master Naturalist, Angela Corlett, transcribing the one millionth specimen on the Notes from Nature platform. Her transcription happened to be the rare Ozark endemic corn-salad (Valerianella ozarkana). Many of the ANHC’s blog posts have also featured the Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) event, during which volunteers transcribe as many specimens as possible in a four-day window. One post included the record-breaking day of 3,197 transcriptions, which still stands.

If you’re interested in supporting this project and helping to set a new record for Arkansas transcription during WeDigBio, you’re in luck! Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 7 through Sunday, April 10 for the next event, and check out the blog, “What Will You Find While Transcribing Herbarium Specimens?” for some thoughtful questions to consider. Visit the ANHC Calendar of Events for more information about dates, times, and presentations during the event.



Photos and images:
Photo 1 — Northwest Arkansas Notes from Nature workshop participants study herbarium specimens in Arkansas at Northwest Arkansas Community College. Photo by Jennifer Ogle.
Image 2 — Collage of herbarium labels and specimens used by the Notes from Nature Plants of Arkansas project. 
Photo 3 and Main Photo — ANHC Herbarium volunteer and Central Arkansas Master Naturalist, Angela Corlett, works on transcription at the ANHC office.
Image 4 — WeDigBio logo.