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Want to talk about sensors that don't quite fit into any of our tech-specific groups? This is the place to post! From temperature and humidity to airflow and pressure sensors, there are many environmental sensing tools that can add valuable data to core conservation monitoring technologies. With the increasing availability of low-cost, open-source options, we've seen growing interest in integrating these kinds of low bandwidth sensors into existing tools. What kinds of sensors are you working with?

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Text Messages from Teenage Gannets

WILDLABS Team

25 April 2016 12:00am

How do new colonies come about? And why do we observe young colonies to grow much more rapidly than their own production of chicks would allow them to? As Jana W. E. Jeglinski explains, cutting edge developments of...

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discussion

Eggs Eggs and more Eggs

Adam Bloch

2 March 2016 1:05pm

Which came first the chicken or the egg? We know an awful lot about chickens and there eggs but we seem to know a surprisingly little about most other species of birds and how the...

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Adam Bloch

24 March 2016 4:42pm

Latest news about this project was picked up by the BBC world service for a short interview

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03nwl8g

You can also read more here:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/build-an-electronic-vulture-egg

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discussion

Underwater sensors

Jamieson Webking

18 March 2016 12:39am

Hi everyone,  I'm working on a citizen science project forcused on using aquaculture for conservation and ecological resotration. I'm looking into the use of...

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discussion

Could Big Data Have Saved Cecil the Lion?

Gautam Shah

4 January 2016 12:07pm

Recently had an article published in Skoll World Forum regarding using tech to create a stronger connection between people and animals - would love to get the reaction and...

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Paul Collins

12 February 2016 7:16pm

It's very interesting what you say about the strength of a name. I do think that anthropomorphism can be a good thing in the case of conservation. By giving Cecil a name and a life story (incidentally a very cosy British name, which is interesting in itself), it brings the issue into emotional focus. We are attracted to characters and stories, not data. The plight of a named lion strikes a stronger chord than the numbing statistic of 600 "un-named" lions dying every year. 

So do we care more about nature if we make anthropomorphise it? I think yes, as it creates a relatable personal connection with our own lives. 

I'd like to get in touch with you next week as this is an area I am very interested in exploring and I hope I can be of help. Paul 

Jason Holmberg

14 March 2016 4:37pm

We're just starting to look a lot at Storytelling in Wildbook (http://www.wildbook.org). 

This is what a data profile looks like in Wildbook:

http://www.whaleshark.org/individuals.jsp?number=A-001

While we allow for basic anthropomorphism via nicknaming, it's still a very data centric view of what a combined group of reserchers knows about the animal.

 

We have experimented with social media profiles which interestingly have an analogous data schema as mark-recapture:

http://fb.wildme.org/wildme/public/profile/WS-A-001

 

But we want to go ever further with storytelling mediums (e.g., story maps?) that can be automated from scientific data input, especially where cit sci data and reserch data can be reliably mixed. 

So in addition to a name, we want to build a relationship through a portrayal of its life history and even potentially a view of the social network of the animal participates in (if such data can be shared safely.).

 

 

Gautam Shah

16 March 2016 7:22am

That's great Jason.  I think your approach can be very successful.  I'm a little bit familiar with Wild Book through my contacts at IBEIS, who I believe you work with quite closely.  I'd love to see how the work we are doing at Internet of Elephants can incorporate whale shark data.  I'll message you separately to discuss.

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discussion

An Internet of pigeons?

Stephanie O'Donnell

14 March 2016 4:16pm

I was amused to read about a flock of pigeons just released in London to tackle pollution. The flock was equipped with pollution sensor and Twitter account to raise awareness...

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article

Bringing Conservation Technology to Life

Shah Selbe

17 February 2016 12:00am

We are living in the midst of a pretty exciting era. Never before has humanity been more educated, more connected, more enabled, or more empowered than we are today. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the...

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Cheap Space, DIY Imaging and Big Data

WILDLABS Admin

21 December 2015 12:00am

John Amos, President of SkyTruth, explores how remote sensing is being used in conservation today and the importance of sky-truthing. He examines the role that citizen scientists can play in increasing transparency in...

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