From conservation to dissemination: creating digital palaeontological collections at a Department of Earth Sciences and a major Natural History Museum (University of Pisa)

As many other geological departments worldwide, the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Pisa (=Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra dell’Università di Pisa; DSTUP) is home to a palaeontological teaching collection. Although the specimens that comprise this collection have no special museological relevance, their role in educating generations of students in natural and geological sciences is invaluable. The need for creating a digital version of the DSTUP collection was first felt strongly in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemics caused all teaching activities to move online. Another large, diverse, scientifically priceless palaeontological collection is housed in the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa (=Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa; MSNUP). Highlights of this collection, which includes many holotypes, historical finds and otherwise unique specimens, are the Permo-Carboniferous flora, the Triassic vertebrate footprints and the Pleistocene terrestrial mammals from the Monti Pisani massif (Northern Apennines) as well as the marine mammals and fishes from the marine Miocene and Pliocene of Tuscany and a huge collection of ammonoids from central Italy (Apennines). The foremost importance of this collection has long led us to search for ways to create digital models of its most precious elements as a means of mitigating the corresponding palaeontological risk. In the last few years, members of the palaeontological laboratories (PaleoLab) of the University of Pisa have been using the 3D technologies of ‘virtual palaeontology’ to (1) digitize the most relevant specimens from both collections, (2) create online archives, and (3) make the resulting models accessible and shareable with the broadest audience possible through social media profiles and internet browsers. 3D models were produced through structured-light scanning and digital photogrammetry, and then processed for post-production through the 3D software Blender whenever necessary. All the 3D scans were then gathered in the online repository Sketchfab, which was chosen for its user-friendly interface and common usage among museums and teaching institutions. The DSTUP and MSNUP Sketchfab accounts were linked to social media (Facebook and Instagram) profiles to promote the dissemination of the corresponding palaeontological collections. The first results of such an effort are very encouraging in terms of views and online interactions.