Hello everyone!
@arboretum_amy and I are starting preparation for the next ID-a-thon. We hope that the event will take place some time in May, and it will last approximately 6-10 days including one or two weekends.
The previous ID-a-thon was a great success, with 78 people working together to add 172,451 IDs over 58 days. For context, that’s over 11% of all IDs made in that time.
More importantly, it was fun, and I feel we we able to bond as a little community. And we’ve got some new identifiers, as well as better habits for those who were already identifying.
If you aren’t familiar with the first ID-a-thon, please check out this Forum post and the Project journal.
We got great feedback from our first, highly experimental first go. This next one is going to be even better as we take everything we learned into account, and try out some of the most-requested suggestions.
More will be revealed as we get closer to the next event, but in general terms, there will be a main category focusing on Unknowns, as well as several optional categories which will be more experimental in nature, including a return of the popular “mystery” category.
One of the biggest and more difficult experiments will be setting up some form of guided newbie “boot camp” and/or workshop-based miniature events which will run in parallel to everything else. I will be one of the mentors, but we will need more.
This is where you come in. We recognize everyone has different teaching styles and different schedules, and we want to work with you to make this event as rewarding as possible for you :) If you can commit to be in touch / responsive during the planning phase, and to at least two hours of availability over the course of the ID-a-thon, please sign up at the “Mentors” link and we will be in touch with you.
There is a minimum requirement of 500 IDs and four months iNat ID experience to mentor.
We also would like additional assistance in behind-the-scenes administrative/logistical work. This includes writing journal posts, debugging API issues, making and distributing (silly) prizes, and so on. If you can commit to even one hour of work before, during, or in the immediate aftermath of such an event, please sign up using the following link.
helpers, please sign up using this form
Prizes for helping include:
- spreading knowledge
- my eternal gratitude
- get others to ID so you can sit back and relax some more /s
- you get to join our secret club
The only downside is that mentors and assistants may be ineligible to participate in some categories. You will know too much… D8
Any questions and comments are welcome.
