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The WILDLABS Community Base is the ideal place to get oriented with the all that our community platform offers, hear about news and opportunitys, and to meet new friends and collaborators. 

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discussion

Variety Hour: What do you want to see?

Stephanie O'Donnell

15 September 2022 12:46pm

Hi everyone, We're settling into our new event format - we hope you're all enjoying having a regular monthly space to catch up as much as we are! I'm looking ahead at our...

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Frank van der Most

17 April 2024 7:53pm

Steph, yes, I gathered as much myself, but I still wanted to put it on the agenda. It links to the bigger problem in nature conservation, and especially funding : all projects are required to be effective and successful, scalable, profitable and so on (not to mention the paper trail that applicants need to produce to prove it ). It makes sense from the donors' perspective, because if a project is not at least one of these, then it is a waste of money an how do they explain that to the public and the donors' donors. On the other hand, the IMHO ( H for honest ) over emphasis on this requirement is counterproductive and it does not fit in the world of tech development.

To start with the latter, as we all know, in the world of tech VC and startups, people are very used to the idea that a tech invention is not successful. I've read that if you haven't had two failed startups behind you, you're a better contender with your next one. 9 Out of 10 will fail and the remaining one will more than make up for the loss, is the idea. This way of looking at projects fits very well in this tech oriented forum.

Then the counter productive part : with a funding climate like that, who is going to take risks with tech development for nature conservation? Seriously, anybody reading this: if you raise your hand, please do get in touch, because I am curious how you look at the issue and how you deal with it. Whereas I do agree that nature conservation as a whole needs to be successful, I don't believe that the sponsors' stress on it for individual projects is successful itself. Nature's degradation has developed so far ( call me a pessimist ), that we need to take risks and find out if ( and hope that ) what works for silicon valley can work for nature.

Kudos for your attempt at the 'Technical difficulties'. I didn't know about it. Maybe we ( but I mean you, of course  ;-) can tinker with the formula. Ask people to talk about how they overcame problems in some detail, because then it is a success story again. ( They could earn a badge! ) And if the recording is an issue, then don't record, or work on anonymity with temporary accounts, TOR, voice scramblers and the camera off. Maybe people are willing to write about their failures instead of doing a live presentation. That way, one has absolute control over anonymizing individuals and hiding the project from being identified. Little risk of a slip of the tongue. 

Esther Githinji

18 April 2024 12:57pm

Thanks for your thoughts on the importance of sharing more about failure in our unique sector. You bring up some very valid points @Frank_van_der_Most  and I think the perspective of 'learning by doing' is quite essential. I've shared below some stories I've covered from our East Africa community that touch on this and the perspective that has emerged has been on learning from these experiences and developing with more insight to solve conservation challenges more effectively. I hope you will find these interesting and useful.

https://wildlabs.net/article/restoring-mara-elephant-population-using-coexistence-tech-solutions-mara-elephant-projectshttps://wildlabs.net/article/human-elephant-conflict-tech-solution-tsavo-ndovucare

  

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article

Become a WILDLABS group leader!

Alex Rood

17 April 2024 7:36pm

Are you interested in getting more involved in the WILDLABS community? Do you want an opportunity to build your network and get more connected to other conservation tech folks in your field? Apply to be a group leader!

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careers

Fonseca Leadership Program

Alex Rood

3 April 2024 4:46pm

The Fonseca Leadership Program is open to nationals of eligible countries within WWF-US and GEF priority areas who are already enrolled/are interested in enrolling in a master’s or PhD program. Eligible countries...

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event

EuropaBON'sFinal Stakeholder Conference

Alex Rood

3 April 2024 4:29pm

EuropaBON is hosting its final Stakeholder Conference on May 27/28, 2024 in Brussels. After three years of successful collaboration and numerous established partnerships with many experts and organisations across the...

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event

9ICCGIS 2024

CathyNj

27 March 2024 2:28pm

The 9th International Conference on Cartography and GIS will take place in Nessebar, Bulgaria on 16-21 June 2024.

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article

Announcing the WILDLABS Awards 2024 awardees!

Adrien Pajot

26 March 2024 9:52am

After a long application review and finalisation process, we are thrilled to finally announce the winners of the WILDLABS Awards 2024! 

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Adrien Pajot

15 April 2024 9:24am

Discuss with @Hubertszcz and his team about their project!  
Adrien Pajot

22 November 2024 2:32pm

Discuss with @eferguson and her team about their project
Adrien Pajot

22 November 2024 2:34pm

Discuss with @Abigail and her team about their project! 
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article

The Variety Hour: 2024 Lineup

Alex Rood

22 March 2024 4:30pm

You’re invited to the WILDLABS Variety Hour, a monthly event that connects you to conservation tech's most exciting projects, research, and ideas. We can't wait to bring you a whole new season of speakers and...

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event

Catch up with The Variety Hour: March 2024

Stephanie O'Donnell

21 March 2024 7:39pm

Variety Hour is back! This month we're talking about making AI more accessible with Pytorch, new developments from WildMe and TagRanger, and working with geospatial data with Fauna & Flora. See you there!

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Anton Alvarez

30 March 2024 3:08pm

Unfortunately, I can't be there. When will you upload the recording?    
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discussion

Unlock New Features by Earning Your Community Involvement Badge!

Jake Burton

14 March 2024 11:54am

Hello WILDLABS Community!As you may have noticed, we rolled out our new Badges feature this week! (Haven’t heard about the update yet? Learn about badges here.) One of...

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Alex Rood

14 March 2024 2:41pm

The journey to Ent begins 

Jake Burton

14 March 2024 2:56pm

@Rob_Appleby follow these instructions to get your Sprout badge!

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article

WILDLABS Badges User Guide

Jake Burton

12 March 2024 12:00pm

Learn more about our new badges feature, including what badges are available and how to obtain them!

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Alex Rood

12 March 2024 3:20pm

These badges RULE
Jake Burton

19 March 2025 4:48pm

We are excited to announce a new set of automatic badges you can unlock, to accompany our new website feature -...
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article

Introducing Badges: A new WILDLABS feature!

Jake Burton

12 March 2024 12:00pm

We’re unveiling badges, a new feature that allows you to showcase how you’re involved in WILDLABS. Keep track of engagement, show off your collection, and maybe even engage in some friendly competition.

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Frank van der Most

24 March 2024 6:02pm

I find it a great idea, but I hope it keeps the badge junkie in me from adding too much BS additions just to get the badge!How did you arrive to the achievement counts for the...
Frank van der Most

3 May 2024 7:02pm

@JakeBurton , thanks to your reply to my question. Somehow, I overlooked it until now. So apparently, you all had the same idea and either, I didn't study the numbers well enough...
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article

Watch Now: Scaling Innovation in Conservation, WILDLABS at World Wildlife Day 2024

Stephanie O'Donnell

7 March 2024 3:32pm

WILDLABS was honoured to represent the global conservation technology sector on the world stage, joining the World Wildlife Day celebrations at the UN. As an invited speaker, Stephanie O'Donnell used her talk to share...

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Sebastian Wallace

11 May 2024 9:05pm

This was so damn cool to listen to @StephODonnell ! When it comes to data: accessibility, collaboration and interoperability. That underlying challenge statement made something...
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