How can high-definition images of insects and historical drawings come to life in the digital realm? In a collaboration between the ifs’ MA Digital Narratives and “Mediasphere For Nature”, the lab for digital media from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN)! Students of the Master’s programme were challenged to experiment on creative ways to work with two datasets of the digital media collection of the museum. In just three weeks, they were introduced to technologies some had never even tried before, received expert information about the science behind the datasets, and were asked to produce and present a prototype for their ideas.

The MfN is developing an open, digital-analogue knowledge infrastructure that meets future scientific, societal, and technological requirements. The museum’s collection is being sustainably developed, i.e. secured by conservation, digitally recorded and made accessible for innovative uses. As part of the cooperation, the museum’s lab for digital media Mediasphere For Nature and the MA Programme Digital Narratives from the ifs organized a creative workshop as an element of the seminar “Production Exercise 1”.