Please create a feature to make flashcards from a selection of species descriptions..

Feature Requests
1

Platform(s): website and mobile

URLs (aka web addresses) of any pages, if relevant: www.quizlet.com

Description of need:
Describe the iNaturalist community need that your requested feature addresses. Include screenshots, URLs, and other details to help us all understand the issue.

When I travel, it would be great to be able to use iNaturalist to learn the local biota before I get there. Would it be possible to take a selection of search results (e.g. all the amphibians in Clark County) and turn them into simple ID flashcards? Then I could study them on the plane.

Alternatively, this could be used by students taking any kind of wildlife biology course.

Feature request details:
In detail, describe the feature you are requesting. This includes its functionality, where the feature is implemented, and what it might look like. Screenshots or mock-ups are helpful. The idea is to have a concrete and actionable request which the community can discuss and vote on. It might change through discussion, but it’s much easier to iterate and talk about something specific.

When a user desires to learn to ID an arbitrary set of species, they would:

  1. Use the existing search feature to create a set of species.
  2. Select the desired species from that set, or select all. (This might require a change to the species search results page, to allow selecting and deselecting species)
  3. Click a “make flashcards” button.
  4. A dialog would open up, asking which parts of the species accounts should be included on each side of the flashcards (e.g. photos, common name, species name, and maybe range, etc)
  5. A virtual flashcard deck would be created, similar in general idea to the flashcards that are produced using the Quizlet website. The fancy animations are not necessary.
  6. The user would be able to save and open the flashcards from a new menu.
  7. When opened, the user would be able to adjust the settings of the flashcards (randomized, ordered, etc) and then start using them.
  8. The flashcard dialogue would show a picture of a species. The user would guess the species (in his/her head) and then click a button that says “flip” or “answer” or something to reveal the species name, common name or other details.
  9. Other configurations are possible, if people want them. The cards could also be designed to give common name on one side and scientific name on the other, or whatever. These decisions would be made when the flash card set is being made. (see # 4 above).
  10. Optionally, users could share the flashcard sets they create.

(please?)

2

random people make quiz and flashcard games based on iNat data every once in a while. the one mentioned in this thread seems to have gone offline, but there are others mentioned in the other threads tied to the original post in that thread: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-well-do-you-know-your-local-wildlife-now-you-can-test-yourself/10711.

2 Likes
3

This seems very similar to the viewing option of “grid” and “by species” that already exists.

An example of this view of amphibian species observed in one of the Clark Counties in the US:

1 Like
4

While I like the idea of using iNat to create flashcards a lot, I think it may be better to do that with dedicated flashcard programs, rather than in iNat itself.

Perhaps it is possible to export the data into a spreadsheet, and format that in such a way to be able to make an anki-deck from it?
I believe both steps (iNat → excel; excel → anki) are possible by themselves, I don’t know how or whether it is feasible to combine them.
I also do not know whether it is possible to create flashcards with photos this way.

1 Like
5

I have wished for a similar feature for years. While possible to recreate on your own in Quizlet or Anki, the process is clunky and has drawbacks (namely, Anki requires payment for the mobile app, and Quizlet requires payment to include images). However, this does deviate a lot from the general iNat UI; maybe it would work as a sister app, like Seek? It seems like a form of gamification many laypeople (myself included) would enjoy, even if less useful for the experts here.

6

I’ll let this request stay for now, but traditionally this is something iNat has steered away from, mostly because with limited resources we have other priorities. Nothing is stopping someone from using the iNat API to make something like this, though.