Partner Spotlight: CAS-IZ Launches Invertebrate Time Machine
Calling all time travelers! The California Academy of Science’s Invertebrate Zoology Department (CAS-IZ) has launched a new crowd-sourcing effort to transcribe specimen labels from key collections.
CAS-IZ’s Invertebrate Time Machine is the most recent addition to the Notes from Nature transcription project hosted on Zooniverse, one of the most widely-used platforms for "people-powered" research. Christina Piotrowski, CAS-IZ Collections Manager, emphasized the urgency of the undertaking: "On our changing planet, there's an ever-increasing need for scientists to study the hundreds of millions of natural history specimens housed in global museum collections. Like a huge biological time machine, these diverse specimens provide 'snapshots' of Life on Earth through time and space in ways no other resource can. Museum collections have long been accessed by researchers to answer critical global questions, but we must now bring these museum specimens 'off the shelves' by digitizing their data, increasing global accessibility to irreplaceable snapshots of our ever-changing natural world."
Since 1853, CAS has led the way in biodiversity research. Their collections are an invaluable resource for the scientific community at large, and to CNDDB in particular. This is a chance for all of us to give back, and lend a hand to this venerable California institution.
Start transcribing today on the 
Invertebrate Time Machine home page, and enjoy your epic travels!