The Story of Natural History
####Create A Narrative that Answers the Question: "What is Natural History?"
##Background
People often wonder at all the things they can learn about at natural history museums, but don't necessarily have an understanding of what the study of natural history is all about. What can you make that will communicate to others what natural history is, and include all of the scientific, research, and educational disciplines that relate to it? Tell the world about natural history through the creation of compelling narratives and visualizations of stories, imagery, and data from AMNH.
This is an open-ended design challenge. The only requirement is that your project must come in the form of an app, a visualization, a video, an infographic, or some other interactive media, and is not to exceed 3 minutes.
Here is an example of a similar storytelling challenge posed by NASA - "Why We Explore":
- Space Apps Challenge - "Why We Explore"
- Challenge Solutions
- NASA's Statements on Areas of Exploration
##Solutions
One particularly great recent example of a narrative that highlights the study of the natural sciences at the museum is the Shelf Life series of videos: http://www.amnh.org/shelf-life
We'd like to go broader in scope for this challenge, and explore the "why" and the "what" more than the "how" (as Shelf Life is more about "how"). This challenge can cover any topic related to natural history but some particularly useful questions to answer would be:
What do we gain from studying natural history?
What disciplines and studies relate to natural history?
AMNH Expeditions - A historical overview
AMNH Expeditions – What do we learn from exploring and collecting?
The importance of conservation
The breadth of recent research at AMNH
Some possible solutions might be:
- An interactive, infographic, or series of infographics that depicts relationships between the various aspects of natural history
- Develop a microsite which highlights one or more areas of impact on society that arise from the study of natural history
- Anything else you can think of!
##Resources
