Molecular Expressions: Optical Microscopy Gallery

Molecular Expressions is a joint venture site between the Florida State University Research Foundation, the University of Florida, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Images are owned by Florida State University and Michael W. Davidson, research scientist and director of the Optical Microscopy Division of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

The site offers a gallery of microscopic images in a digital format. According to the site, this is one of the largest collections of its type, so it appears that almost any microscopy image approved by the site owners, regardless of content, is included on the site. For example, the site contains high resolution digital microscopic images of pond life as well as different brands of beer.

In terms of sustainability, although it is not explicitly stated in the site, it appears that Nikon and Olympus, along with other camera manufacturers have a stake in the site (links to manufacturer sites are provided on every screen.) This outside funding coupled with the academic affiliations of the site should help ensure long term sustainability, conservation, and access of the images.

Intellectual property rights are fully outlined and usage of the sites images is unambiguously described in the "licence info" and "image use" sections.

Where the site falls short is not in the volume or quality of content but in providing sufficient administrative metadata. Images are described in sufficient detail but no information is provided as to how originals are captured, transferred, or stored. Similarly, no digitization information is provided so it is unclear how this data is stored, what type of cataloguing schema is utilized, or how and if originals are made available.

Because of this limited metadata, it is impossible to ensure authenticity of the digital images or that they have not been corrupted or manipulated.

One possible explanation for this lack of object metadata is that the intended user base of the site may not have a need for such information. It appears that the site is geared towards creating interest in the subject of microscopy, not necessarily in providing researches with robust information pertaining to the images themselves. In this sense, perhaps additional administrative data exists, it is just not available in this gallery.

In fact, the site offers extensive contact information for those wishing to license or use the images made available on the site. Perhaps with licencing comes greater access to metadata information.

One particularly interesting aspect of this digital gallery, besides the wealth of images, is the image manipulation software and software tutorials available. Any image has a suite of interactive toolkits that the user may employ to gain further understanding of the image subject. This focus on image interaction confirms the notion that the site is geared more as an educational and outreach resource than as a research tool.