iNaturalist Presentation
Hi @kueda @kestrel @carrieseltzer @charlie @faerthen @loarie @sambiology and others!
I have the opportunity to give a presentation on iNaturalist at this years The Stewardship Network Conference (TSN is a collaborative community conservation organization in the Great Lakes and northeast). My primary goal is to introduce those unfamiliar with iNaturalist to the community and the tool and share how I have found iNaturalist helpful in engaging [my landtrust's] volunteers and citizen scientists. I am partnering with @lianamay who will be sharing how she has found iNaturalist helpful in her floristic inventory work.
I would like to share stories about iNaturalist - stories on how it has led to a better understanding of biodiversity, how it has helped inform conservation, or how it has inspired a conservation ethic. I have/am mining news stories and iNat journal posts (and am finding a lot on BioBlitzes, which is neat) but am wondering if you have presented on iNat and could direct me to some inspiring stories!
Thanks! ~Derek
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Feel free to use any of these slides: https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/SamKieschnick/inaturalist-presentation-to-master-naturalists
I've updated this one big time, but that was one of the first that I put together. Sometime, I'll upload my other presentations. I try to gear them towards my audience -- so for a native plant society, I talked about how to identify different plants and the most useful kinds of photographs. For the parks and rec folks, I talk about the location of different organisms and how to maintain their area for them. For the general public, I just talk about how much I've gained out of using iNat. :)
Thank you @sambiology !!
Hi Derek! Sorry for the slow response. Here's a link to all my iNat presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/carrieseltzer9/presentations (or at least the ones I put online). Mine tend to be more functional than inspirational I think, but I do share a story from a BioBlitz of @cullen photographing a snail that @susanhewitt identified. I know @loarie uses that in presentations too (I borrowed some of the images from his). Cullen may also have some other good ones.
Thanks @carrieseltzer! I am finding your slides and Sam's very helpful in helping me sort out what I want to share, thanks!
Hi Derek,
At Sagehen Creek Field Station, we use iNat to engage volunteers in documenting the biodiversity of the Sagehen basin. We have biota lists dating from the 1960's, but they have never actually been verified until now. Our iNaturalist volunteers have discovered species new to our lists, and documented things not in our collections. We are also building occurrence data that we can use to track species movement over time.
This is powerful information that is unavailable to us any other way. Even after 65 years of field season observation and collecting, the discovery potential of many observers at unusual times is really remarkable. Here's a presentation that may help you.
Good luck with your presentation!
FF
@faerthen Perfect, thank you!!
If I may ask a request, and it's something that I've been dealing with quite a bit. Please emphasize that iNaturalist is NOT AN APP. In the same manner that facebook is not an app and gmail is not an app -- there are indeed apps associated with those things, but facebook is a social network and gmail is an email service. iNaturalist is a network and database. The app is just a data collector -- to really use iNaturalist, one needs to visit the website or look at the non-mobile site.
I've really had to modify what I say about iNaturalist. So many folks just use the app and quickly give-up on it. The app's great, it just should be used for collecting data. :)
steps off soapbox now
I totally agree with Sam. I think I tried to address this in one of my first slides (or at least what I say when I present it). I also make comments to new users if I see that they have only used the app, I say something like, "Be sure to log in from a computer to check out the iNaturalist website, too. You can do much more than on the app!" When I do sessions on using iNaturalist I ask them to bring a laptop (unless it's strictly in the field), and many people still just want to try to use the website on their tablet (maybe ok) or phone (worse!). It's important for people to understand that the website and apps are different portals to the same place that are best for different uses.
Good points!
Also, going through the preparation of this presentation has been great; I want to offer a local "iNaturalist introduction class" now!
The presentation went well. . . loved hearing, "I can't believe I hadn't heard of this!" and "I signed up right away."
Cheers to Michigan biodiversity!
Derek, another big step in this is to give guidance to the folks that start adding observations. This is a time consumer, but it's definitely the way to get retention. You can modify the observation page to the exact location of the training (or at least in Michigan): http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=any&place_id=29
@carrieseltzer is one of the masters of welcoming folks with comments and guidance on ID's. That leads to the real power of iNat: community! :)
Glad to hear it went well, Derek! Like Sam mentioned, I really like to (and definitely recommend to) try to set a great, welcoming example for the new people after an in-person event. Even with the best of intentions I don't always succeed at this—Sam's right that it can be time-consuming. But I think it really helps cultivate a sense of community among participants, and I'm always glad when I see that someone has stuck with it. :-)
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