Building and establishing the open collection of geoscience graphics
- 1NORCE Norwegian Research Centre , Oslo, Norway (eist@norceresearch.no)
- 2Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research and Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- 3UTIG at Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, USA
- 4Centre for Planetary Habitability, Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
- 5Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia
- 6Undertone.design, Bern, Switzerland
- 7International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, Switzerland
Launched in early 2022, the s-Ink project makes high-quality (geo)scientific figures freely available via an always-on online platform, https://s-ink.org. The website hosts figures that can be searched and downloaded by everyone, including students, researchers, teachers, the media, and the public. Hosted content is intentionally broad in nature, and can include data visualisations, animations, artistic impressions, icons, templates, and more.
The open graphics collection, that is also designed for you to share your own graphics, is built around the fundamental principles of science: accuracy, accessibility, and acknowledgment. First, the graphics hosted on s-ink.org are subject to transparent and permanent community-review, versioned and therefore updatable to the latest understanding – an academic novelty. Second, s-Ink graphics are, without exception, universally readable, also to colour-blind viewers – an academic rarity. Third, all content has metadata and is licenced (e.g., via Creative Commons), so those who create the images and the sources they are based on will receive credit.
The s-Ink.org initiative is currently coordinated by three scientists, working on a volunteer-based approach with non-permanent contracts (one a free-lancer, two with the backing of employers). We are finding financial sponsors to cover the minimal costs involved and actively bridge other valuable community initiatives by hosting their graphical and providing our educational resources.
Both the collection and the contributing creators are ever-growing, and the rising views and downloads are signalling the demand. The open collection of geoscience graphics that we envisage (see Crameri et al., 2022) is of direct use well beyond to geoscience community. Indeed, somewhat of a holy grail to science communication.
Crameri, F., G.E. Shephard, and E.O. Straume (2022, Pre-print), The open collection of geoscience graphics, EarthArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31223/X51P78
How to cite: Straume, E. O., Shephard, G., and Crameri, F.: Building and establishing the open collection of geoscience graphics, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-16864, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-16864, 2024.
