Can I just bring this down to the level of individual contributors to iNat?
Almost each time I am out iNatting in NYC parks or on the street, one or two people are curious and ask me what I am doing, or ask me questions about the organism I am photographing. Just recently I find that more POC are asking me, which is great, and very encouraging. I always do my best to explain, but it would be a real asset if I could carry with me some business-sized cards which just had the iNaturalist name, logo, and maybe a line of text explaining what iNat is, so that I could give a card out and the person doesn’t have to just try to remember what I am telling them.
Though not strictly necessary, as you can find the site and app pretty easily by name, it might be nice to also have the URL and maybe a QR code for the Android Play store or iPhone app store as well.
Maybe iNat could create a template (for either a single or multiples on a sheet of 8.5" x 11") that we could print out?
Yeah, I was just assuming most people visited the site when they are already in front of their keyboard, where it may be easier to type it. You’re right though: if it’s a tablet or they are using the browser on their phone, they might want a QR for the website too.
We (the CitSci team at CAS) made these to give out at a music festival we tabled at, since we had an activity people could do using iNat but realized many folks might not remember the name of the platform after the festival. We figured these were easy to stick in a pocket or wallet to be looked at later.
As I finally said in an Indigenous Development Practice Masters class in Economics (after listening to folks rail on about deColonisation), nonsense. Didn’t win me any fans. A prof in a later class offered his 3 step assessment of a problem - What, So what, and Now what. The What is that Indigenous science is not given it’s place. The So what is that excludes a form of knowledge that Linnaean science does not recognize. The Now what is to find some way to incorporate both. Indigenous knowledge IS science. No Indigenous person can claim to be knowledgeable without experience with the non-human world. If your aim is to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into mainstream science, then say so. There is nothing wrong with that, except that Indigenous peoples tend to ignore species that are not important for them. The “fundament structure” of iNat is fine. The person who has lived with plants, animals, insects etc. may have a different understanding of names and functions of these beings. It does not mean it is wrong, or should not be part of iNat. It means that we need to incorporate these concerns into the platform of iNat in some way, recognizing that the identification of the organism is may not be precise in Linnaean terms. If you have criticisms, please propose some solutions along with them.
Had to comment on this one because I think it’s very true with modern science and probably way more so than with many indigenous cultures (they are so diverse it’s hard to generalize that either way). For sure indigenous cultures weren’t classifying tardigrades before they had microscopes but the focus levels devoted to different species and ecosystems in modern research is very very skewed towards certain species
I agree. The bias in most sciences is big, and oddly enough the reasons are similar to Indigenous biases - how to make a living from doing science. Indigenous peoples (and I agree is is impossible to generalise) value traditional knowledge for basically the same reason, with a different focus. This is why places like iNat are valuable for the Biological sciences at least - most of the folks don’t use it to make a living, so things like micro lepidoptera can get more attention.
I will not get involved in anything that affects race, color, creed, religion, minority, sex, demographics, disability, heritage, or any other defining factor. I will keep my opinions to myself so I do not potentially offend anyone.
Is there any data on how many users fall into the BIPOC category? Has a survey been done?
Let me preface this comment by saying I’m a black woman, living in Alberta, Canada and relatively new to iNat. I found the app via suggestion from a Youtuber I follow.
Reading through the comments, I think the way I use the app and my impression of its purpose is quite different than others. I definitely agree with expanding languages and making it easier to use on older or less powerful devices. I love this app because it allows me and my child to discover the environment around us. Especially during this pandemic, it has been a very useful tool to keep us busy, interested, and gaining knowledge. My 7 year old was absolutely amazed when we found out an alien looking creature we observed was a ladybug larva. We do our best looking through books and website to learn the different features of plants and animals, and how to identify them. My experience, so far, in discussions on the forum and related to observations has been very positive.
I think where I differ is my assumption of iNat responsibilities. I think users should connect with community agencies to use the app and iNat should make that easier. iNat can create user friendly infographics in different languages explaining how to use the app, but users can distribute them to the places and people they see fit. Perhaps iNat can make a guideline for using the app in classroom settings or being safe while observing. “A Guide for the Urban Naturalist” or something along those lines comes to mind.
I feel many issues discussed in this thread are societal based and not necessarily feasible for iNat to take on. I think a more useful/productive discussion could be about highlighting the different ways people observe nature relating to race or ways users have used the app in/with marginalized communities. Maybe create a tutorial or practice observations so new users don’t feel overwhelmed or judged for not posting “useful” images.
That’s my nickel (I can’t give 2 cents since we don’t have pennies)
I have to say I’m a person of color in science education and I’ve recently started heavily using iNaturalist to manage a citizen science project and I have found the forum a really incredibly useful resource. I suspect a lot of people find the learning curve to iNaturalist pretty steep and I myself have been a user for years before I learned the many possibilities here. I think an additional step to bringing more underrepresented folks to iNaturalist is assisting them in “new user hurdles.” I’m doing my part by showing my group of community gardeners how to use this platform.
