Tina Schneider is media scholar in the science programme Collection Future at the Natural History Museum Berlin (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Germany, where she coordinates projects with the industry, the education and creative sector, and other stakeholders. As lead of Mediasphere For Nature, the museum’s application lab for digital media, Tina supports the re-use of (scientific) digital media, for instance for multimedia projects, product developments or hackathons. Previously, she worked several years in New Zealand’s and Germany’s film & television industry and has further experience in the museum context through project work at the Institute for Visual Media (now Hertz Lab) at ZKM – Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Tina works at an open research museum that prioritizes both the transfer of knowledge and broad public access to its collections. Her focus lies in making the museum’s digital collection accessible not only to the academic community but also to educators, the creative sector, industry professionals, and wider audiences.
Her work centers on digital media generated through collection digitization and research activities, including images, audio files, videos, and 3D models. In collaboration with an industry partner, she has developed two accessible, responsive tactile models based on collection specimens and 3D scans, with a third model currently in development.
Operating within interdisciplinary teams, Tina leads and manages projects that connect internal expertise with external collaborators. These initiatives bring together diverse specialists, such as palaeontologists and model builders, taxidermists and mechatronics engineers, ornithologists and design companies, micropalaeontologists and digital narrative students, as well as schoolbook publishers and the museum’s education department.
In addition, she employs storytelling methods and tools to communicate insights about digital museum media and the institution itself.