Diario del proyecto EwA Biodiversity Projects

Some of our followers have a license setting for their records that prevents their Research-Grade observation to be shared and used by external science platforms -which BTW iNaturalist isn't (a science platform).

So, to start: A little clarification. Unless vetted records migrate to GBIF, our iNat pics are not really used for Science. iNat is primarily a social network for nature enthusiasts. Citizen science is only relating to how the users use iNat (licensing, protocol, etc.). Having a pic on iNat does not equate to 'proper' citizen science unless they can be used by the scientists. And a misunderstanding is that Research Grade are science records. No, they're not: that label only means in iNat that they can be used by scientists and those science platforms they share the records with, but provided that they have a license that allows scientists to really use those records - pushing them to GBiF, the Encyclopedia of Life, etc. In other words, unless the records are going to GBIF (and alike international Science DBs), iNat is nothing really more than a glorified nature photo album. A new Flikr of sort :-)

It's fine, but because EwA can't use then the reported numbers (for our annual report) from our iNat Biodiversity projects when super users records skew too much the stat of interest, then we are reorganizing the projects. It's a given that It's annoying that we discovered the issue late in the game (we are so lucky that Dan -one of our EwA collaborators- found that our supposed contribution actually did not contribute as they were not migrating. But we found a way to fix our stat/report problem... :-)

To solve that, we are changing the structure of our citizen science projects on iNat so that they favor GBIF (and science).

• The EwA Nature Circles project has been renamed to EwA Nature Photo Album and is now disconnected from the umbrella Citizen Science project: 'The EwA Biodiversity Projects'.
  The EwA Nature Photo Album (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ewa-nature-photo-album) is now geared towards Nature enthusiasts who are using iNat primarily as a photo album with no citizen science aspiration.

• A new EwA Citizen Science Project, named 'EwA Global Biodiversity' (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ewa-global-biodiversity) is replacing the old EwA Nature Circles, to keep our users who had the licensing allowing the records to be pushed to GBIF
• The umbrella project: EwA Biodiversity Projects (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ewa-biodiversity-projects) then will show cleaner stats, so that we can point and record that ratio to our communities, partners and the governmental organizations we have to communicate our findings to.

It's a good solution. This allows EwA observers and close super users to participate at the level that they want, prefer or feel most comfortable with: as Nature enthusiasts (photo album), or as citizen scientists (contributing explicitly to Science databases).

Here we are! Enjoy our projects at whatever level you want, and knowing what's behind the scene!

If you are not sure of the licensing that you have, and if you want to make sure that your records are where you want them to be, message us!

Cheers, - Claire

I just wanted to share with you what I just shared with the DCR today because it's about your contribution to the Fells phenology and biodiversity occurrence + abundance data.

I want that institution to know about your effort and especially of the effort of Dan, Joe, Bill, Laura, Kathy, Mike, Matt and Joe (another Joe)... and Lisa, Jon, Charlie, Sarah and so many more!
So, thanks to our EwA Fells citizen scientists! You just rock :-)

Here's what I sent:

(...)

Speaking of the Fells, You'll all be glad to know that we'll attend a U.S. National Phenology Network event in October (in Mississippi).
EwA has been invited to speak about how we record and use data into ecological narratives (and our story showcases the Fells). Topic: Using your data to tell an ecological story.

FYI, we've recorded more than 10,000 phenophases of fauna and flora in the Fells between June last year ago to date. I'll be glad to share the slides once I have them.

Another cool mention lately and relating to species occurrence: we've been contacted to record one of our observations from the Fells to Odonata Central.
We found a Taper-tailed Darner (Gomphaeschna antilope). Our record is the first visual record in the county!

If you're interested in looking at our iNaturalist Fells records > here they are. (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ewa-at-the-fells). It's worth mentioning that we have recorded about 65% of all the Fells records currently logged in that international platform.
The five top iNaturalist observers in the region of the Fells (over 645 people) are EwA Citizen scientists :-)
More importantly, we have logged 1252 Fells species (across all taxa) in the past year and a half - that is, 84% of all Fells species recorded so far on that platform.
So, our citizen scientists are busy raising the biodiversity profile of the Fells :-)

All our studies and results across the region (we are also working with local scientists, and partner with Fresh Pond, Habitat and Green and Open Space Somerville) will be published in an annual report, also including the Fells species records and physical features logging of the vernal pools we surveyed this year (and that I am not even mentioning in this email). You'll get a copy of course, but it was worth giving you some data points to get you excited about our effort to raise awareness, and about the needed system-approach science endeavors in our beautiful woodland. Use the data as you see fit. We're all about global data (i.e. publicly accessible internationally and following standardized and harmonized protocols) and open science, and therefore always happy to share data and ecological knowledge with peers and in our communities.

All the best, - Claire

ⓘ About EwA Citizen Science Program » https://tinyurl.com/ewa-citizen-science
ⓘ More about us (Earthwise Aware) » https://www.earthwiseaware.org

• Claire
  Earthwise Aware Founder & President
  Board member of the Friends of the Fells