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Issue 2 July 98
ARKive Update and Progress Report
Research Shows Widespread Interest:
Nation-wide market research is revealing more about the different groups of people who might want to use ARKive - and how.
Members of the general public gave a very positive response to a questionnaire published in BBC Wildlife Magazine (to whom, grateful thanks).
Over a third expected to use ARKive weekly(!). Interestingly, the three most frequent requirements were wanting to use ARKive for educational
purposes, wanting access to specialist information, and wanting world-wide species as well as British - all features already being included in
the project's design and development.
As well as Paul Shabajee's work with Bristol primary schools, WWF UK and the Institute of Biology kindly helped with a nation-wide survey of
both primary and secondary schools, which showed 94% of responding teachers want to use ARKive to support pupil research. The survey gave us
useful feedback on the importance of ARKive being able to cater for a range of ages and educational abilities, and offering good support to teachers.
It also signalled that integrating with the national curriculum is not nearly as high a priority for teachers as we originally envisaged
Scientists and academics were also questioned, with surveys issued to two biodiversity initiatives, representing a wide range of environmental
organisations and universities throughout the country. Only 3% thought they would never use ARKive and 87% stated that they planned to use ARKive
for teaching purposes. With the increasing trend towards computer- assisted teaching materials and tutorial packages, ARKive�s images could
provide a valuable complementary resource for tertiary education programmes.
These surveys, and the ongoing evaluation and consultation, are all giving us very useful feedback helping us with the design and development of
ARKive, in order to make it as useful and useable as possible.
Experts agree contents:
There has been another meeting of the ARKive Accessions Advisory Panel - a group of eminent biologists, conservationists and
broadcasters who set the criteria for what should be archived. They have already agreed the format for the Species Holdings (audio-visual
"time capsules" for every endangered species); they are now working on the Complete Productions section of ARKive which will
preserve a selection of full-length wildlife and environment films, videos and television productions, deemed of historic, aesthetic, or scientific
importance.
British Chapter progress:
More species will be added to the database at the end of the summer, possibly starting with the 58 species of British Butterflies (four of
which have become extinct this century). At the same time, a local company has expressed an interest in sponsoring a section of ARKive featuring the
endangered plants and animals found in the Wessex region.
Going Global:
A Foundation will have to be set up to fund the long-term research and compilation of images and recordings of the world�s endangered species.
At Chris Parsons'last meeting with the Smithsonian Institution, Tom Lovejoy who is now Biodiversity Advisor to the World Bank, offered to endorse an
ARKive proposal to the Turner Foundation.
At the same time, it is envisaged that the British Chapter of ARKive will act as a model or template for other sections around the world thereby
creating a global resource. The Head of the natural history unit of ABC, Australia's broadcasting company tells us "the ARKive project is
arousing great interest in Australia from a number of government and semi-government agencies....and we share your vision of creating a number of
satellite ARKive projects around the world, including Australia"
Funding News:
At long last, the new guidelines for the Heritage Lottery Fund are out, so it is full steam ahead with our application which we
hope to submit shortly. At the same time, a meeting is being arranged with Jeremy Newton, the Chief Executive of NESTA (National Endowment
for Science, Technology and the Arts) - the new lottery funding body that is being ratified this summer, which is interested in multi-media
educational outreach programmes. Discussions are also well underway with two major hardware and software suppliers with a view to a possible
sponsorship deal.
New branding unveiled:
The new brand name for the Bristol 2000 development was announced, with a huge press launch on July 14th. From now on, the whole
development will be called " @ Bristol", with ARKive's headquarters renamed as Wildscreen @ Bristol. Here, schools
and the general public will be able to access the ARKive holdings via computer terminals in the classroom (or 'Learning Resource Centre' as it is
currently being called). There will be further specialist research facilities on the first floor of the Leadworks Building for individuals.
Additionally the 80-seat ARKive video theatre will offer daily screenings of some of the complete films held in ARKive, including Wildscreen
Festival prize-winners.
Education links forged:
Paul Shabajee (ARKive's educational researcher at the University of the West of England (UWE))has set up a Teacher Focus Group with 15 teachers
from 9 local schools. Three very successful and productive meetings have been held to discuss the design and content of ARKive�s teaching resources
and the "staff room" area on the web site, and two more meetings are already planned for the new academic year.
ARKive has recently joined the Avon Environmental Education Liaison Group (AEELG) which is made up of local organisations and council representatives
who work in the field of environmental education. Paul has attended two meetings and is pleased with the links he has made with local groups. He is
also working with members of the group to help them produce a World Wide Web site for AEELG to promote its work.
Paul is also working closely with Wildscreen @ Bristol's new Head of Education, Dr Anne Finnie (who joins us from the Hawk and Owl Trust), to ensure
an integrated approach to the schools' programmes for both Wildscreen and ARKive. Paul and Anne have just attended the Consultation Seminar on
"Making Biodiversity Happen", held by the Council for Environmental Education (CEE) in Reading, where they participated in discussions
about how the environmental education community in the UK can ensure that educational initiatives on biodiversity are as effective as possible. As
a result of this seminar, Paul and Anne will now be joining the CEE's Biodiversity Education Working Group, which reports to the government's
steering group on sustainable development education.
Meetings and VIP Presentations:
Sir Robert May (Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government and also delivering the Peter Scott Lecture at this year's Wildscreen Festival) met
with Chris Parsons this month, to learn more about ARKive. He already has a close association with two of ARKive's collaborators, Hewlett Packard
and the University of the West of England (UWE), and was interested to hear about ARKive's progress.
Michael Meacher appeared very impressed by the presentation of Wildscreen and ARKive, and spent more than an hour discussing the projects in
some detail during his visit to Bristol earlier this year.
JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee) have had more meetings with us, to discuss the ways in which the proposed National Biodiversity
Network will link with ARKive. ARKive's images will complement its mainly text-based resource, with hot links between the two web sites, as well
as possible integration with its "electronic field guides" being designed for logging species distribution in the field.
*
If you would like more information, please contact
Harriet Nimmo, ARKive Development Officer, PO Box 366, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS99 2HD,UK.
tel +44 (0)117 9096303, fax +44 (0)117 9095000
email: [email protected]> or
Paul Shabajee, ARKive�s educational researcher,Faculty of Education, University of the West of England (UWE), Redland Hill, Bristol. BS6 6UZ
tel: + (0)117 976 2149
email: [email protected]
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