Help Displays help and frequently asked questions about ARKive, and using the website Help, Frequently asked questions arkivestyle.css Frequently asked questions

Technical questions

About ARKive

About the species holdings

About the species holdings

About the educational side of ARKive

Technical questions

How do I play ARKive's streaming movies?

q1 How do I play ARKive's streaming movies? The ARKive website shows film clips in three formats, Windows Media Player, Real, and QuickTime. We show five types of clip: two streaming clips for broadband users in Real and Windows Media, two streaming clips for 56k modem users in Real and Windows Media, and one downloadable clip for QuickTime users. To view a clip just click on the type of stream or download you require. To download the players then please go to: http://forms.real.com/real/realone/realone.html?dc=416415414&beta_bypass=true&bbits=true&type=adfreq3&src=040403realhome_1_3,030303r1cp_choice_3 Real Player download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=4 Windows Media Player download http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ QuickTime download Back to top

About ARKive

What is ARKive?

q2 What is ARKive? It is the Noah's Ark for the Internet era - the world's centralised digital library of films, photographs and sound recordings of species, accessible to all via the world wide web. ARKive is leading the virtual conservation effort - finding, sorting, cataloguing and copying the key records and building them into a comprehensive and enduring audio-visual record. For each species, we are selecting and digitising an average of 10 minutes of moving footage, 6-10 stills and sound recordings (where appropriate), to compile a complete profile of a species' characteristic behaviour and appearance.

What is Wildscreen?

q3 What is Wildscreen? Wildscreen http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/ _blank is a registered charity, and was founded by Christopher Parsons OBE and Sir Peter Scott in 1987. The Trust runs the Wildscreen Festival, the world's largest and most prestigious wildlife film and television event. Nicknamed the 'Green Oscars' it is presented in association with the World Wildlife Fun (WWF), with Panda Awards for festival winners. Held in Bristol, UK every two years the next Festival will be October 2004. As well as running the Festival, the Trust is now creating ARKive.

Who had the idea for ARKive?

q4 Who had the idea for ARKive? The visionary behind ARKive was the late Christopher Parsons OBE, founder of The Wildscreen Trust, and former Head of the BBC Natural History Unit, IMAX film producer, and creator of Wildwalk at-Bristol. Through the activities of the Wildscreen Festival, he realised the scientific and historical importance of creating a centralised collection of natural history films and images, preserved and maintained for future generations. The original feasibility study was undertaken in the early 1990's but it was only ten years later, with the advent of digital technology and the UK lottery funding opportunities, that this idea could then become a reality.

Who paid for ARKive?

q5 Who paid for ARKive? Hewlett-Packard has provided $2 million of hardware, software and technical professional services. The UK's New Opportunities Fund has provided £0.5 million (US $0.8 million) to start work on 500 globally endangered species. The UK's Heritage Lottery Fund has provided £1.6 million (US $2.5 million) to develop ARKive's core infrastructure and to digitise 1,000 British species.

Who else is supporting ARKive?

q6 Who else is supporting ARKive? Many of the most famous names in natural history broadcasting are contributing media to ARKive, including: ABC Australia BBC NHU Discovery Granada Wild National Geographic Natural History New Zealand Oxford Scientific Films Specialist UK and International photographic agencies and photographers are also donating images to ARKive, including amongst others: Ardea Wildlife Pets Environment Auscape International Frank Lane Picture Agency Nature Picture Library NHPA Oxford Scientific Films Picture Library RSPB Images The Wild Side / Aquavision Windrush Photos The project is being backed by a broad range of conservation organisations, including: Conservation International Fauna and Flora International Natural History Museum, London IUCN (The World Conservation Union) Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Smithsonian Institution UNEP-WCMC WWF World Conservation Society Zoological Society of London ARKive has also been inundated with offers of support and donations from many smaller national and international conservation organisations, individual wildlife cameramen and photographers, as well as scientific and academic experts. Back to top

About the species holdings

How did you select the species?

q7 How did you select the species? For ARKive's Globally Endangered chapter we are currently working on 500 species. This is just the very beginning, as there are around 11,000 species threatened with extinction on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red Lists. For this first 500 species, we were keen to include as wide a variety of species as possible, including plants, invertebrates and some of the lesser known and more obscure vertebrates. The more charismatic megafauna, such as the blue whale, panda and gorilla will also be featured. We have also tried to include species from a wide a range of geographic habitats. A wide range of media donors from around the world have contributed to ARKive. For example, we have included the pygmy hippopotamus, filmed by Germany's Marco Polo Films, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, filmed by China's Wild China Films and the spotted hand fish filmed by Australia's Sunburnt Pictures. If you wish to nominate a species, for which you know films or photographs exist, we would be delighted to hear from you. ARKive's British Chapter began in collaboration with English Nature and their Species Recovery Programme containing 499 species. UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species not featured by English Nature were also included. To compile another 500 more common and familiar species, we asked for nominations from relevant British species conservation organisations such as the Butterfly Conservation Trust, the RSPB and PlantLife.

How did you write the texts?

q8 How did you write the texts? The texts have been written in-house by qualified biologists. They have then been sent out to relevant species' experts for authentication and validation, and this information is published on the website. We would also like to thank English Nature, who have written a number of the texts for the British Chapter. If you are a species expert and would like to help, please contact us mailto:enquires@wildscreen.org.uk .

How did you select the pictures and the footage?

q9 How did you select the pictures and the footage? ARKive has an Accessions Advisory Panel, made up of eminent scientists and biologists. They helped set the recommendations for the quantity and type of images that should be archived. For each species, we are trying to build up a complete audio-visual profile of its behaviour and characteristics - its appearance, habitat, locomotion (for animals), different life stages (for insects and plants), relationships with others, etc. On average, for each species we are digitising approximately 6 - 12 stills and up to 10 minutes of moving images. Obviously, for some species there are huge amounts of material to catalogue and to select from, whilst for others there may only be one or two images in existence.

How do I get my images into the ARKive?

q10 How do I get my images into the ARKive? Please see ARKive Supporters /supporters.html and contact richard.edwards@wildscreen.org.uk - ARKive's Media Production Manager. We are particularly keen to hear from you if you own films, photographs or sound recordings of unusual, or lesser-known, species. See ARKive's Most Wanted list in the News section.

What can I do with ARKive's still and moving images?

q11 What can I do with ARKive's still and moving images? See Terms of Use /tandc.html . In summary: You can view and download these materials for your own personal research and educational use. If you are a teacher, student or educator, you can incorporate these materials into your lesson plans, presentations, work sheets, projects etc for internal educational use. You cannot, however, incorporate them onto CD ROM's, websites or on printed materials for external distribution. From your website, you can link to a particular ARKive species page, but you cannot link directly to individual images or film clips - these must always be seen within the context of the ARKive species page. If you are a conservation organisation or charity, you can provide links from your website to our species pages - but you cannot reproduce the images and recordings in your printed materials, electronic newsletters, publications, CD ROM's, websites etc. Please contact the copyright owners directly and negotiate use with them. For any commercial use of materials, please contact the copyright owners directly.

How can I purchase images/ footage from ARKive?

q12 How can I purchase images/ footage from ARKive? Please contact the copyright owner directly - and please tell them that you saw the image on ARKive! Back to top

About the species holdings

What happens next with ARKive?

q13 What happens next with ARKive? By the end of 2003, we had completed around 750 British species, and 500 Globally Endangered species. The next stage is to increase the number of species in ARKive's Globally Endangered Chapter. The infrastructure and project team are in place - but further funding is needed to ensure the continued development of ARKive. It is also important that ARKive is translated into languages other than English to ensure its use worldwide.

How can I help ARKive?

q14 How can I help ARKive? If you know of films or photographs of endangered species, or are a species expert willing to help proof-read our texts, please contact us /contact.html . If you are interested in supporting or funding ARKive, please contact Harriet Nimmo harriet.nimmo@wildscreen.org.uk Please tell all your friends and colleagues about ARKive! Back to top

About the educational side of ARKive

Is there anything on ARKive for kids?

q15 Is there anything on ARKive for kids? ARKive has a dedicated children's site aimed at 7 - 11 year olds. Its full of fun, facts, games and ideas and, most importantly, its an adult-free zone. Go to www.planetarkive.org

How can teachers/parents use the site?

q16 How can teachers/parents use the site? There is a dedicated educator's site as part of the ARKive package. www.arkiveeducation.org is aimed at any adult who is interested in helping children to become more aware of the wildlife in the world and their local area. Activity ideas for your day out, how you can use the Planet ARKive site, lesson and project ideas are all contained on ARKive education, with more being added every month.

Can we use the images for teaching?

q17 Can we use the images for teaching? The images found on all of the ARKive sites remain the copyright of the owner. However, they are available for use in an educational format. Please see our terms and conditions for clarification.

Can we supply lesson plans or ideas for the site?

q18 Can we supply lesson plans or ideas for the site? Absolutely. We welcome any suggestions, ideas and comments. Please see our contact details /contact.html . Back to top

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