Overview
Botany through Web 2.0 (or “Bot 2.0”) is an innovative technological approach to retaining student interest in the biological and botanical sciences and addresses the lack of diversity in the student population pursing the botanical sciences. The project involves introducing students from area universities and community colleges to a curriculum that weaves together four key themes – botany, environmental conservation, the use of social technologies and metadata literacy.
Bot 2.0, funded by the National Science Foundation, held its first BotCamp in the summer of 2008 with a class of 14 students. Using digital cameras and camera phones to capture images of plants and trees in the field, the campers downloaded their photos to Web 2.0 social computing technologies similar to Facebook and YouTube. In the classroom, they focused on using metadata tagging for classification of each image.
Overview
Botany through Web 2.0 (or “Bot 2.0”) is an innovative technological approach to retaining student interest in the biological and botanical sciences and addresses the lack of diversity in the student population pursing the botanical sciences. The project involves introducing students from area universities and community colleges to a curriculum that weaves together four key themes – botany, environmental conservation, the use of social technologies and metadata literacy.
Bot 2.0, funded by the National Science Foundation, held its first BotCamp in the summer of 2008 with a class of 14 students. Using digital cameras and camera phones to capture images of plants and trees in the field, the campers downloaded their photos to Web 2.0 social computing technologies similar to Facebook and YouTube. In the classroom, they focused on using metadata tagging for classification of each image.
BOT 2.0 is a collaborative effort between the Metadata Research Center at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science (SILS), the North Carolina Botanical Garden, the UNC Herbarium, the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) and Information Technology Services. It is a two year program funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Funding
National Science Foundation
Partners
Metadata Research Center, UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
North Carolina Botanical Garden
UNC Herbarium
UNC Information Technology Services
Alamance Community College
North Carolina A&T
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina State University
Collaborators
Jane Greenberg, UNC SILS
Alan Weakley, UNC Herbarium, NC Botanical Garden
Project Team
Michael Shoffner
