AskNature Curator Policy and Guidelines

Purpose of The Curator Policy and Guidelines
AskNature prepared the Curator Policy and Guidelines so that all AskNature editors, administrators, curators, and users are aware of the niche filled by curators and the relationship between the curator and AskNature editor. AskNature editors and administrators reviewed this document prior to publishing on AskNature.


What Are Curators?
Curators oversee the content of pages they curate. They play an important role in maintaining the scientific integrity of AskNature strategy pages, and taking them from somewhat interesting to highly inspiring. Curators can contribute in a number of ways (see What Curators Can and Cannot Edit).


Who Can Be Curators?
Curators can be professional scientists—in some cases the same scientists cited in AskNature—but curators can also be citizen scientists who are interested in biomimicry and emulating nature for sustainability. An individual should have some background in science, an interest in a particular organism or strategy, and be willing to make the commitment to check his or her page(s) on a regular basis.



Curator Identification
All curators must have a profile on AskNature and will be identified on the strategy pages they curate. All new curators must submit an application to the AskNature editor stating their real name, email address, interest in the page they want to curate, and qualifications to curate that page. There can only be one curator per page, but curators are welcome to collaborate with others to improve the content on their page(s).


What Curators Can and Cannot Edit

Curators Can:

• Edit all parts of the strategy page that show up in edit mode, including Application Ideas, and track the history of changes.•    Link to organisms, references, experts, and products that are already in AskNature.

• Provide information to the AskNature editor for new experts, references, and products (eventually these will also be available for curators to enter).

• Respond to comments directed to them or submitted via the Comments tab.

• Upload or delete photos and illustrations and perform other tasks available to any other users.

Curators Cannot:

• Create new references, experts, organisms, and products pages.

• Edit other parts of AskNature.

Curator Probationary Period
Curators will come to AskNature with varying levels of understanding of biology, biomimicry, sustainability, and industries such as architecture, design, and engineering. They also will have varying levels of knowledge about biological research, editorial styles, and writing English for an international Web audience. Therefore, AskNature has instituted a probationary period for all curators. This is not a set period, but dependent on how active the curator is in curating his or her strategy page.

All changes made by the curator will go live immediately, but the AskNature editor will review all changes by curators under probation to be sure that they fit AskNature’s purpose and style guidelines. The AskNature editor will work with curators until the editor has determined that the curator understands AskNature’s purpose and style. After that, only minimal editorial oversight will occur. If, however, the curator makes changes to a page that contradict or jeopardize AskNature’s purpose or The Biomimicry Institute’s nonprofit status, and refuses to work with the editor to fix the problem, then the curator’s duties may be suspended.


Curator Activity Expectations
Constant curator activity is not required. However, curators should initially check their page(s) for accuracy and to be sure information is current. Skimpy excerpts or excerpts that are too technical for non-biologists indicate a need for additional content, other excerpts, or briefs. If the curator has been inactive and the editor finds another curator for the page, the existing curator may be asked to step down.


Disagreements and Self-promotion
Science is rarely exact, and biological science even less so. Therefore, there are likely to be disagreements among scientists over whether one hypothesis is correct or another. AskNature is a friendly site, so the curator and AskNature editor will monitor all such discussions to be sure that they are respectful and productive. If discussions become otherwise, the curator may request that the AskNature editor change the page’s status to “In Discussion”, which takes it out of view except by other registered users, and create a forum for further discussion. The AskNature editor will make the final determination about whether and when the page will go back to active status.

Curators may not use strategy pages for self-promotion. Bio-inspired products can be seen as a form of self-promotion if the curator of the page is also involved with a company listed under Bio-inspired Products and Application Ideas. The curator may not favor one product over another; all applicable products that the editor deems to be biomimetic can show up under Bio-inspired Products and Application Ideas.


Application Ideas = Open Source
In discussions with people outside of AskNature’s public pages, such as by phone or email, a curator may hear of an application idea that could be put on AskNature. However, prior to publishing that idea, the curator should check with the source to get permission. Any ideas on AskNature are Open Source and could jeopardize a person’s or company’s chances to develop the idea.