Several topics recently have touched on the idea that we need more people doing IDs. It’s been said that the number of observations is overwhelming the ID process, that expert taxonomists are hard to recruit, and that identifying can be a burdensome chore (a perspective that isn’t likely to help wi…

That is a good point. Maybe I should rephrase: I WANT to learn some taxonomy because I am so overwhelmed with all the species I don’t know where to start. For example, if I see a cool black insect I could google ‘black insect Malaysia’ or else aimlessly start scrolling through photos of the thousan…

[image] Blaserk: For example, if I see a cool black insect I could google ‘black insect Malaysia’ Rather than using Google, which can be overwhleming, not have proper ID’s and will likely be dominated by butterfles etc if you do that search, it may be better to learn how to use the iNat Explo…

[image] cmcheatle: will show you the 500 most commonly reported insects in Malaysia Nice point - I think this is an under-utilized feature of iNaturalist. On a recent trip to an area I wasn’t familiar with, I “explored” iNaturalist in that area for plants, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, et…

I understand now. I agree I mainly use my taxonomy knowledge to expedite looking things up. I’m a plant person, and I know little about insects; I think entomology has it harder than botany, since there are way more insects than plants, plus they don’t hold still! I started with anatomical and desc…

I agree that improving identifications on the app would be nice. I ID from the app some using “explore” and “needs ID”, but unlike “Identify” on the web, it also shows all of the observations that are mine or that I have already added and ID to, so its harder to find things that I need to ID. Being…

So I think I’m precisely the type of person you’re talking about trying to recruit more of. Basically all I do here is id observations of taxa without many knowledgeable people. What prompted me to join was how bad or in need of ids many of the taxa I work on were. There are a few things I think co…

That’s a nice service you are providing, mpintar. The number of IDs you’ve made is impressive, and people will grasp your expertise if they read your profile, but not everyone goes that when someone IDs their observation. You may have already been doing this, but I find if you can occasionally add…

[image] janetwright: Sure, it takes time to write comments so maybe not as many IDs get done, but it makes the enterprise more rewarding and interesting and collegial for everyone including the writer. Source: https://sciencenode.org/feature/nerding-out-over-nature.php The collegial social …

Yes, I do write some explanation for the id, particularly when there are very similar taxa involved. But for most an explanation would require writing out an entire key’s worth of explanation, which just isn’t realistic (though sometimes I will link to keys, but the copyright status of them makes th…

Recruiting more identifiers

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danaleeling May 9, 2019, 9:46pm 224

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Recruiting more identifiers

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