Can someone contact the admin of https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/tugas-zoologi-vertebrata? The students are posting almost exclusively captive animals, and even the wild ones are often missing information to be RG. It seems like maybe no one explained to them how iNat works.
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It seems that someone already did. Now there are few obs that are āwildā
Oyā¦ Virtually all of the observations appear to be from a zoo. Was that the intention of the project perhaps? I canāt believe all the participants could get it wrong to that degree.
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I wonder if the instructor actually made the assignment dealing with zoo animals and just thought iNaturalist would be a handy platform to record it.
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I started in iNat by ācataloguingā a botanical gardens, essentially a zoo for plantsā¦ I am now far more involved with the environment than I was at the start, and I doubt I would have āgot hereā without that project. In fact, this weekend I am presenting on ābugsā at our National Arboretum for the Botanical Gardens of Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ) openday. These ācaptiveā places are where the majority of people engage with ānatureā, and if you are going to cultivate a love and passion for the wild stuff, you need to take the opportunities to reach these people while it presents. These āparticipantsā didnāt necessarily āget it wrongā, so much as they have āmade a startā. Reach out and change hearts and minds while the opportunity exists.
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Iām not sure if I remember a different dedicated thread for posting issues like theseā¦
A lot of dead insects are being posted recently from Webster, New York state: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=43.2036988296&lng=-77.4694874142&locale=en&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&preferred_place_id=6883&radius=50&subview=grid&taxon_id=47120
One student said on his or her observation that itās for an AP Biology project, the location for the observation isnāt quite accurate, and fixing it isnāt a big priority. Based on that Iām guessing the locations arenāt accurate for many of these, and because the observations arenāt being collected in an iNat project I donāt know how to find the account of the person who organized it to contact them.
Sorry to reopen this topic after such a long time, but I had to chime in.
This is basically what happened to me. Iām 13 years old, joined iNat for school purposes, and now have 999 observations and 1601 IDs (many of which are on Unknowns). All of my observations are of wild organisms, and I am active on the forum. However, I might never have found this site if not for my science teacher.
Several things differ between my experience and the ānormalā situation for students on iNat. First, my class was given no instruction beyond āparticipate in this projectā - that means no obligation to submit lots of observations, no requirements for a specific number of IDs, nothing. Second, I am a bit of a loner at school. Nobody really likes me, and my closest friends are the teachers. Iām also the only kid who brings a camera to school and photographs birds during recess. So itās not that surprising that I was the only one to complete the assignment, or that I instantly fell in love with iNat. Another difference is that I was sent a link to the website - not the app. I probably couldnāt use the app if I wanted to, since I take pictures with a camera and I donāt even own a phone (I told you I was weird). But from what Iāve heard, itās easier to understand and learn about iNaturalist on the website.
Just sharing my experience here, hope it helps.
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The majority of people on the planet probably donāt own a phone, that puts you in the majority, not the weird (coming from someone who does not have a Facebook account and never has).
Thereās millions of people out there who enjoy nature and naturalizing, I only wish I had discovered it that early.
Good luck on getting observation 1000, and then the next thousand, and the next thousandā¦
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Thank you so much for sharing your experience! iNatās a place that not only helps us understand and value nature, but also other humans as well. Itās so easy to make assumptions about people we canāt see in person, so understanding someone elseās experience is really valuable.
I think many of us here had similar experiences and felt the same way, and Iād hazard to guess even the popular kids have those feelings as well, even though it might not be apparent. Iām sure people like you, everyone is just trying to figure out who they are at that age (heck, Iām still doing that in my 40s) and it can take time to find people to relate to. Itāll get better, just be true to who you are and open to who others are.
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I take it your peers do have smart phones? Iām old enough to remember a time without cell phones, but not old enough to have children your age, so it seems crazy to me that people still in a life stage involving ārecessā can download apps!
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Old topic, but I agree with the designation of āduressā users especially. I am a student (and only an undergraduate, at that), albeit nontraditional, and had to use iNaturalist in 2020 for a school project. My peers had a difficult time with it and most did not continue to use it after the project was over. Those that did I believe had accounts before the project, as well. I can attest that the instructors for the class repeated ad nauseam what the rules were; no cultivated plants, etc., and that it didnāt seem to matter.
I very deeply believe in the goal of iNaturalist: to connect one to nature. That being said, the quality of observations should matter. This means marking cultivated/captive appropriately, proper dates and locations and other etiquette.It is disheartening that so many student projects are fraught with these issues. There must be a solution, because iNaturalist is an invaluable resource and deserves the reciprocated respect.
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I wanted to reply to this at the time, but itās taken me this long to find the relevant videosā¦
Adam Savage, from āMythbustersā series, has been doing a video blog thing over the covid lockdowns, and some of them he is answering questions from regular viewers. In this particular episode he answers questions about his favourite āteachersāā¦ and I found some parts of his answers to be quite noteworthy.
The whole video is worth watching, but he starts the teacher answer here:
https://youtu.be/H4-jGNoMlWU?t=1770
and this one particular teacher and her comments is well worth noting:
https://youtu.be/H4-jGNoMlWU?t=1950
you donāt have to wait until college either, here in iNatā¦ āwe see youā :)
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Solution is teachers who care, this year we had some very successful projects considering observation value, all observations were checked by the teacher, if it wouldnāt happen itād be as in other projects, were students search photos from Internet and so on. Young people need a lot of guidance if theyāre not motivated enough to do things right and most of these projects are not the studentsā decision.
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Oh yes, most if not all of the kids in my class have smartphones, and the girls especially spend all the break times watching silly videos and giggling about them. @cmcheatle Youāre right that the majority of people on the planet donāt have phones, but youād definitely think I was weird if you were a teenage girl where I live.
Adults too. Most of my family (on my momās side anyway) is like this - my mom and grandmother both have flip-phones rather than smartphones, and Iāve seen both of them be teased (albeit kindly) for being āold-schoolā.
Thank you all for your support! I feel so welcome here, more than anywhere else, because of the kindness and understanding of people like you.
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To be fair, I am 30 and Iām always watching silly videos and memes on my smart phone. I just also make time for biodiversity :)
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Welcome to your tribe!
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Bah, I wouldnāt be so hard on yourself. I started finding groups of people based on interested at about your age. While smartphones werenāt a thing then, I did have the internet.
While the forum strays older users, we have a pretty populated Discord server that makes me feel like Iām an ancient being. Itās been one of the forces that have targeted areas that are swamped by duress and contest users (channel work-party is a godsend), and thereās likely quite a few Discord people who were formerly in that camp. If you feel comfortable with Discord, Iād check it out.
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Honestly, I havenāt tried the Discord server much since I donāt really understand it. Online communication is not my forte. Part of the reason I like this forum so much is that itās primarily older users who donāt expect me to know about the latest technology, and who accept me as part of their community without discriminating based on my age (I like to think that just based on my responses here, I could pass for an adult!)
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