FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[rweaver]

My thought on Jordi's post. I spent the time years ago to put my collection up on a personal website and still maintain it today. I add new minerals to the collection when I get them. I know over the years when ever the schools in the US are doing State reports I get lot of questions about minerals and where they come from. My collection is nothing fancy but it is what I like to collect, so maybe if more of the older collectors would do the same it would help keep the hobby moving forward.

[Peter Lemkin]

While personal website with one's minerals is a fine idea, I don't see much difference between that and, for example, this website...where there are threads that are various person's collections. Maybe someone needs to invent a 'mineral app'. ;-/. Has it really gotten so bad that many young people now don't even acknowledge the real world - only the cybersphere? Is hiking in the mountains down too? Boating? Swimming? I think the de-emphasis on basic science education hasn't helped [understatement]. Even the trend in colleges and universities to NOT take courses outside of your 'major' [once the standard - now the exception] means few not specifically in the sciences/geosiences will get any exposure to chemistry, crystallography, or geology. Sad. I think there are 'hooks' to get people interested, but it is different for different people. For some it might be meteorites and then the minerals in meteorites and that they exist here on Earth too...and with some re-arrangement of some atoms you can get other crystals and minerals...and hey look at all these exciting minerals that make up your smartphone's components, etc. As a child [and yes, most of us here seem to be well past our childhoods], I used to love to go to natural history museums and the first area I always went to was the minerals...and then the dinosaurs. Don't young people go to museums anymore? Then we have to bring the museums to them via the internet!

[Peter]

Great idea Jordi.
I love the young collectors filming Bryan has done previously but we need that same of very young collectors to 2-7 year olds can also collect. Now that is filming of the real deal.
And of course all kinds of games, digital, puzzles, with mineral, geology, gem connection.

Min Craft could need some additional real crystals to dig out.
Peter

[Turbo]

The first episode was really good. As a young collector, I can recall all the things that got me into minerals. A lot of those things that seeded my interest are no longer present, or disappearing such as science shops, toy stores that have stones, rock shops, and high school mineral collections. I remember my school had a couple of mineral cases for the longest time and then by the time I graduated, they were gone. At the same time there are so many new ways young folks can become exposed to minerals. I was hit by two waves, all the classic forms of exposure to science as a child, and then by college, it was the online mineral dealers, my University's museum, and forums like this. I cannot stress more how instrumental the internet has been in helping me learn about minerals quickly. Between FMF, mindat, the huge library of photos shared on tumblr, flikr, pinterest, Instagram, and reddit, there are so many ways young folks can get exposed to collecting today. Lately my favorite resource has been Facebook groups. I have started several of my own, the most successful being "Calcite Collectors" where I have been able to network with many people who share my interest both dealers and collectors. It's really cool to see folks documenting their finds in the field, sharing things they picked up at shows, or photos they have taken at shows. I can confirm from my interactions in this realm that there are plenty of young field collectors and dealers eager to trade and sell. Just in the past couple of months, I've bought and traded with at least four young field collectors keeping old localities alive and one establishing a new one. I think the community is alive and well, it has just changed in the way people come together and distribute information.

[Dave Waisman]

Turbo:
I enjoyed reading your comments and was very glad to see you describe all the ways in which you were exposed to mineral collecting. Those avenues of entry into our hobby are terrific! In many ways they have replaced the rock shops, the digging sites no longer accessible and the disappearing school displays.
The groups you formed on Facebook sounded great! One of the most rewarding aspects of this hobby to me is getting to know and becoming friends with many of the collectors. Do you have real-time get-togethers at shows with the members of your internet groups? You're probably way ahead of me on this, but perhaps it would be a great way to bring people face to face at a show.

[Turbo]