Notes From Nature Talk

Welcome to Notes from Nature!

  • arfon by arfon

    Let's use this thread to introduce ourselves. My name is Arfon Smith and I work in Chicago for the Zooniverse helping to coordinate the development of new projects (like this one).

    My favourite collection is the Calbug one - those bugs are awesome!

    Cheers
    Arfon

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin

    Hey everyone, my name is Rob Guralnick and I am a Curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and an Assoc. Professor in our Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department, also at CU. Although the CU Museum doesn't have a collection featured (yet) in Notes from Nature, I have been involved in the project since its inception, and we will be hopefully working with the rest of the team to both ask some great research questions using both the data generated as well as on the utility of the site itself to help us tackle global biodiversity change. I have a hard time choosing a favorite collection --- what I like most are the really old specimens and the care and effort you can see that people have put into saving these amazing plants and animals so they can have value into the future.

    Posted

  • asallans by asallans scientist

    Hi world, my name is Andrew Sallans and I am the Head of Strategic Data Initiatives at the University of Virginia Library. I help researchers manage research data and share their data with others. I've been involved in Notes from Nature from the beginning, and am a representative for the Southeastern Regional Network of Expertise and Collections arm of the project, which focuses on transcribing herbaria (plant) specimen labels, which will lead to broader understanding of biodiversity in the region. It's been very exciting to work with the entire team on this new approach to making research data accessible, and I hope that you all enjoy interacting with these collections as much as we do. We'll be sure to share the impact that your participation has upon real research as we move forward with the project. Let us know what your favorite parts are of Notes from Nature, or what exciting discoveries you make while interacting with the specimen images.

    Posted

  • burbear by burbear

    Okay, I'm slow. How does one get started transcribing?

    Posted

  • arfon by arfon in response to burbear's comment.

    Have you selected a collection to work on?

    Posted

  • kosmala by kosmala

    Fun! Looking forward to transcribing those insect labels...

    But Arfon, can we please have a way to select "OK" from the keyboard. It would really speed things up.

    Other keyboard shortcuts would help a lot, too. For example, if I want to do the date, I'd like to just type in the numbers, rather than have to select from the pull-down lists. Right now, I have to click to get focus, and then after a tab, I can't just type a number, I have to use arrow keys. I want to type 7-tab-14-tab-1949-enter and just be done with it, rather than fiddling with the mouse.

    Posted

  • Craigath by Craigath

    Well....hello! I'm Angie and I like to look at these sorts of collections. I'm a moderator over at Seafloor Explorer, but I'm happy to make time to transcribe things here too.

    Posted

  • Kasia1 by Kasia1

    It is a fantastic idea and as I can touch type I would really like to help. So far although I've transcribed 4 or 5 herbal data sheets it keeps sending me back to the first one - which I've done at least 5 times now. It also only shows I've transcribed 2. I'd love to help but am frustrated.
    By the way, it wasn't possible to drag and click in Firefox - it always selected the wrong area. It works 1 in 3 in Explorer.

    Posted

  • libad by libad

    I have a 1974 undergraduate degree in botany and maintain an amateur interest in plant taxonomy/ecology even though it's been a very long time that I've been doing other things. I tried a couple of herbarium transcriptions and found the navigation buggy. You need better controls for backward and forward movement on and between samples. Also the drop down lists cover the image so verifying the right selection is clumsy if you need to recheck the specimen label. I'll be back in the future to help out. -Gary Boden

    Posted

  • Indigo_Horse by Indigo_Horse

    I'm Katharine and I like citizen science projects as a whole. I was already enrolled with Snapshot Serengeti and Seafloor Explorer, and when I got the notification for Notes from Nature I decided to join in.

    @Kosmala- Not sure about the others but the Enter key works as a substitute for clicking 'Ok'.

    Posted

  • Anaclaudia by Anaclaudia

    Hi, I'm Ana Cláudia and I'm an art teacher and a student of Archivology, from Brazil!

    I'm very happy to see these archives of insect collections. It's very interesting. And I'm also learning about the counties and cities of USA and Canada, : )

    I have one question: When the date is incomplete, we can't put only one data (just the year) ?

    Cheers,
    Ana

    Posted

  • blacksmithtb by blacksmithtb

    Hello, I'm Toby - I have transcribed a few records from the Herbarium collection, but I keep being shown Sedum Integrifolium over and over and over... like Kasia reported above. I have experimented with Chrome and Firefox, tinkering with NoScript in FF, turning off Ghostery in Chrome. Also the Completed count in the upper right is flaky for me in both. I would like to help, maybe I will check back in a few days.

    Posted

  • elizabeth_s by elizabeth_s

    A New Zoo how wonderful! Can anyone tell me how to get the try one with one record to work?

    Posted

  • tgr by tgr

    Hmm my profile says 25 records transcribed but I only have the first badge?

    Posted

  • heather_marston by heather_marston

    I have been working on the plant labels and 'entered' 3 . . came out of the site . . and when i retuned the nr. of labels % is still 0 ?! . . and the nr of labels 'entered' is still 0 ?
    ! so !then i 'entered' another 1 . . and still all nrs are 0 !?! is there a delay in the 'counting' ?? heather

    Posted

  • Craigath by Craigath

    Where can we locate our badges, and when/how do you get them?

    Posted

  • jaymoore by jaymoore

    Hello, my name is Jay Moore. I work in bioinformatics, but I love transcribing the herbarium records! When I was studying for my Masters in plant conservation, we travelled for two weeks in the mountains of Morocco collecting plant specimens and making herbarium records, so whenever I transcribe one it make me think of the researcher picking the plant all those years ago out in the middle of nowhere, and making these careful records. I love citizen science projects, and hope to start one if we get our grant!

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin

    We'll hopefully do some more testing, especially in Firefox. I have been playing with the transcription tool for a long time and also notice some buggy behavior, but hoping to stick with this, get the bugs that need squashing squashed and the ones that need transcribing transcribed...

    Posted

  • carolely by carolely

    Hi, I'm Carol and I love nature- plants and bugs. I have a BS in Biology and MS in Agronomy and MA in Learning Disabilities. I just started today on the herbarium collection. I posted two posts to the Help part of Talk Notes about some of the difficulties I am having- some of the same ones that have been mentioned above. I am excited about helping out and getting to look at these valuable collections.

    Posted

  • kosmala by kosmala in response to Indigo Horse's comment.

    @Indigo Horse: Thanks! Yes, Enter works for me, too. I had been trying to tab to the 'OK' button and then press enter and had been unable to do so.

    I still would like easier keyboarding for dates and navigation of the pull-down lists, though. (If a county has a space in it, for example, I get sent to the wrong part of the list...)

    Posted

  • Mark_OConnell by Mark_OConnell

    Mark O'Connell sadly the site is not so iPad friendly. Tying to draw a box is frustrating and I do not know how to resize.

    Posted

  • Flow_Original by Flow_Original

    I've tried the zooniverse projects solar flare,moon crater, bat signals,sea floor, and now the plants. Why not improve my data entry for a good cause.
    Question: In the plant labeling does the info which says 'sec 5, rw2, etc.' belong in the location field or the habitat field or neither? It seemed important so I typed it in the loc. field mostly

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin

    Good question on sec5, rw2! Those are likely Township Section Range data as part of the Public Land Survey System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System) and are definitely geographic coordinates that below in the locality field. I am not sure if those will resolve to a location easily in a browser but there may be some converters out there.

    Posted

  • SandersClan by SandersClan

    I'm Maggie and I like to contribute on these projects from time to time. I'm pretty excited about Calbug. I think I'll do the plant one as well once the bugs have been worked out.

    Posted

  • arfon by arfon in response to SandersClan's comment.

    Hi SandersClan - the issues with the plant interface have been fixed now so please feel free to try it out!

    Posted

  • arfon by arfon in response to robgur's comment.

    We've squashed some serious bugs (no pun intended) for Firefox users today.

    Posted

  • carolely by carolely

    Hi again. I don't want to complain, but I was determined to fill in 10 records tonight to get my badge. However, I'm not sure my records are getting counted. I filled in records yesterday but was back to zero when I logged in tonight. I had completed 8 tonight and accidentally went back to the home page. When I went back to classifying, it put me back to zero records again. Are my records getting lost? I just want to make sure I'm helping out some. Thanks.

    Posted

  • klaatu by klaatu

    Hi! I'm Philippe, and I'm delighted to take part. I went to school opposite the Natural History Museum in London, and spent countless hours there.. as I looked too young to join my schoolmates at the pub during breaks. Alas, life led away from a career in Science.

    The transcriptions for the Herbarium will not all be as straightforward as we might at first expect, so I'd like to contribute a few remarks.

    Sometimes there are data missing: I've come across specimens where no species name was evident. Should we just hit skip - or instead, insert 'unknown' / 'data unavailable' ..?

    I've also seen identification an label clearly identifying the species; but there is another label (in a lighter color) where another expert had made a later. different. determination. I assume the superseding determination shall be deemed correct. IMO we should be clearly warned in advance to look at other labels with the specimen, even if the identification cartouche appears to hold all the required data

    Hope this is useful. Now for some more specimens!

    Posted

  • sggriffith by sggriffith

    Hi, I'm Suzanne, and this project is taking me way back to the days when I was a secretary for a scientific laboratory. That time I was typing up articles and correspondence on neuroscience. Plants are much more my speed.

    Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of natural history.

    Posted

  • ghewson by ghewson in response to klaatu's comment.

    Should we just hit skip - or instead, insert 'unknown' / 'data unavailable' ..?

    Hit skip, is what I do. It's far easier for a computer program to understand there's missing data that way.

    Posted

  • asallans by asallans scientist in response to ghewson's comment.

    Yes, please do hit skip in those circumstances.

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to carolely's comment.

    Aw man, I really hope this stuff gets sorted out. The Zooniverse developers have been amazing but we know there are some smaller or larger issues we need to track. Checking on this one!

    Posted

  • acather96 by acather96

    Hello all - my name is Mr Andrew Catherall, and I am a sixteen year old GCSE biology student living in the UK. I love the idea of citizen science and am enjoying the project so far - there are a couple of teething problems with both myself and the software, but I'm sure these'll be ironed out! 😃

    Posted

  • xairbusdriver by xairbusdriver

    Hello! I've done some work in Zooniverse before, some got pretty boring (all craters started to look the same!), too many pictures of grass on the Serengeti, etc. This one looks like it will be very interesting, a mixture of geography (I love maps), history, education, seeing the work people in real places, etc.

    I didn't get much 'science' education, ended up with a degree in Accounting which I put to good use flying C-130s in the USAF! 😃 So, the closest to plants and insects has been landing on 'unprepared' airports and cleaning my windshields! But I'm now retired, so I can spend lots of time transcribing! 8)

    Thanks for creating and already improving this project!

    Posted

  • SandersClan by SandersClan in response to arfon's comment.

    Great, I will. Thanks for letting me know!

    Posted

  • chastt by chastt

    Mexico, has no counties, so I am going to leave that blank.

    Posted

  • Susan_Watson by Susan_Watson

    Hi, my name is Susan. I decided to try my hand at this. Is there any way that I can review the information that I submitted. I am sure that I made errors on that first attempt. I want it to be accurate. Thanks.

    Posted

  • mdob47 by mdob47

    I'm still having trouble getting started. (I sent this same mssge a few days ago, but no response yet!) When I click "collections" nothing happens, no connecting twirlygig or anything. I'm using Firefox. Any ideas?

    Posted

  • ghewson by ghewson in response to Susan Watson's comment.

    Once you've submitted the information, I don't think there's a way to review it, no. I wouldn't worry, because others will transcribe the details of the same specimen, so any error you've made will be "outvoted".

    Posted

  • xairbusdriver by xairbusdriver in response to mdob47's comment.

    I'm assuming you posted your original question in the "Help" area. If not, try putting your request there. Only thing I can think of is that you may have all javascript blocked. The pages are not much more than a request for a javascript back on the server that builds the whole page 'on-the-fly.' If you block javascript entirely, you'll not ever send the message to the server to display the requested data/page/info. OTOH, you seem to be able to post and these pages are constructed the same as I described. So, I dunno! 😦 But the Help area is best the place to post... uhmn... requests for... Help! 😉

    Posted

  • xairbusdriver by xairbusdriver in response to xairbusdriver's comment.

    ...since we can't Edit our posts, I'll respond to myself... I already talk to myself, occasionally, so that's not a problem! 8)

    @ mdob47, When I said post in the Help section, I should have said the "Bug reports" part of Help section. :headbash:

    I have to go now, I just got invited to have a cup of coffee with myself (he can be so impatient!). "I'll be right there!" LOL!

    Posted

  • yamex5 by yamex5

    Perhaps this was covered somewhere else, but it there any training for this project? At least a paragraph or two so I know what I'm about to jump into.

    Posted

  • yamex5 by yamex5

    Embarrassing, but what is the Host field for? The specimen? The institution?

    Posted

  • yamex5 by yamex5 in response to SandersClan's comment.

    Was that an intentional pun?

    Posted

  • stewjack by stewjack in response to Craigath's comment.

    Is Seafloor Explorer still active. There have been no blog updates since December 2012? The research The season for 2013 is about to start on Nautilus Live and I would love to promote Seafloor Explorer on Nautilus Live's public chat!

    http://www.nautiluslive.org/

    Nautilus Live

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    Hi , I am Ian shocko61 new here , I have Firefox and gave up trying to drag in the plants

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    Hi yamex5 , I agree ,talk about off the deep end . I found that the host Field is for the plant that the insect was found on , hope that helps .(😃 Ian shocko61

    Posted

  • Old_Prospector by Old_Prospector

    Hi I'm Andre from Rochdale UK, my real passion is birding and I like plants as a gardener so decided to do this one until ornithology comes on line.

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    Hi arfon , is there a way to keep the image while I come here for advice IE bad hand writing with the images.If I move from the page (image) it dis appears so I do not get to finish the data. If I bring it here I still cannot finish the data. Ian shocko61

    Posted

  • ghewson by ghewson in response to shocko61's comment.

    Open the talk pages in a new window or tab of your browser: that's the only way.

    Posted

  • heyharp by heyharp

    I am a citizen scientist, but this is too frustrating to keep going. Autofill folks! It would be so much faster. I think that touch typing with the option to use the mouse and not the necessity to use the mouse in this case (the herbarium transcription) is more fun. Scrolling down to get to the United States just drives me nuts, it's so unnecessary.It just seems to clumsy, not to mention buggy and it would seem that I am not alone with these concerns. I agree with many of them expressed by far smarter people then myself I am sure. I would suggest something that would show the user they are making a difference, something immediate. It would serve as an inncentive. I have looked at many science games and I applaud the effort to get people involved, but to keep the base alive there has to be some thought involved with the design in my opinion. Coat of paint ain't going to cut it these days. I will check in on it and hopefully you have done some improvements. Nature evolves and so do games, this will too.

    Posted

  • El_Lion by El_Lion

    Hi, my name is Eliane and I live in Zurich, Switzerland. I work at the University of Zurich in a molecular genetics lab. While I have to wait for stuff to finish (like PCR or sequencing) I zap over to Zooniverse and contribute to various projects. So far I did Serengeti pictures, cancer slides, seafloor explorer and now I started with the herbarium transcriptions.
    Visitors to my lab find my desk easily: it's the one I try to convert in a jungle. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to transform the whole lab into one but I'm working on it! 😄 Combined with my scientific interest for biology I think the Notes from Nature project is catering to the soft spot I always had for plants. 😉

    Did anyone find his/her birthday being a collection date?

    Posted

  • Anaclaudia by Anaclaudia

    @chastt Mexico has municipalities.

    Mexico-> states-> municipalities

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mexican_states_by_area

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipalities_of_Chiapas

    Posted

  • xairbusdriver by xairbusdriver in response to heyharp's comment.

    Not sure what OS you're using but most modern ones don't require scrolling long (or even short!) lists, be they a list of files on your drive or choices in a drop-down/pop-up list. Most of the time, all these lists are alphabetized (at least if you have a column that is sorted by 'name'. And practically 99% of these types of lists on the web are in alphabetical order. So, all you have to do is type the first (or the first few) letters of the item you're looking for.

    In the Herbarium section (I haven't done anything in the insect specimens), there are lists for Country, State/Province, County and the three date components. The Country field is the only one that I use the mouse for. And that's just to select the field, not to scroll the list. There are a couple of ways to get to "United States": 1. Press the "u" key six times (I think that's the correct number 😉 ) 2. Type "un" and that gets you to "United Arab Emerates". Now press your down-arrow key twice and you'll be at "United States".

    Press return or enter and it's put into the field. Now press return or enter again, which actuates the "OK" button. That accepts the entry and moves you to the next field, State. Press "f" for Florida (or "u" for Utah, for example). Press the return or enter key to actuate that "OK" button and cause the County list to show up.

    All this operates just like it does on your computer lists.

    Oh yeah, the Date components, I almost forgot. They work the same way as above except you don't use the "OK" button until the month, day and year are complete. Now, the month and day lists are short, but you can still use typing to select the one you want, still no need to scroll even a short list; hands never leave the keyboard! For the Month, just type the NUMBER of the month as two digits (01 thru 12). That's the way they are 'named' in the list:"01 - January", "04 - April", "09 - September", etc. Now that the month is entered, press the tab key to get to the next field: Day.

    Same thing works for the day; "01 thru 31". Again, two digits required. Once the day is set, press the tab key again and you're ready for the Year.

    The entry for the year is simply typing the four digits. Again, no scrolling needed.

    Now, check your date for accuracy. If you're happy, either press return or enter or use the mouse to click the "OK" button. A. If there are no missing field entries, the software will record your specimen info and present you with the next one.
    B. If you have empty fields, you'll have to use the "Finish..." button. But the same actions will occur; your specimen is recorded and the next one is presented.

    Hope this helps. 😉

    No Autofill needed, nor should it be used, anyway. Autofill entries are not usually encrypted on your computer so they are wide open to hackers!! Turn that function OFF in your browser and use a good password type app that also can store that kind of info securely.

    As for "feed back," the site shows how many records you've completed every time you complete one. It's sort of 'sessions' based, so it only shows what you are doing each time you log in. Your Profile area supposedly shows your totals, but it is not updated each minute. I think it may only update once a day. The admins can probably tell you that.

    Posted

  • nosenabook by nosenabook

    Hi, my name is Gail and I helped with Galaxy Zoo after hearing about it on public radio. I stayed on the mailing list since then but didn't really connect with a project until the Herbarium. I find that a little specialized knowledge is helpful in working on any Zooniverse project, even though the PTB say it's easy!

    I'm enjoying the plants and look forward to the birds! (I tried a bug but nothing on the specimen card seemed to relate to the form.)

    Posted

  • riskingraisin by riskingraisin

    Hello, my name is Evan & I am the AmeriCorps Stewardship Assistant in The Nature Conservancy's Southern Blue Ridge office. I'm considering pursuing a graduate degree in botany/plant taxonomy/plant science, so I was excited to learn about this new Zooniverse project. It's much easier for me to stare at herbarium records all day than weather logs or moon craters. I have encountered some of the same frustrations that others have stated, but I haven't let them slow me down. After transcribing lots of Florida & Virginia records, I was excited yesterday to get a record from the NC mountains very near where I grew up, and collected by A. E. Radford, the grandfather of 20th Century botany in North Carolina. Looking forward to finding more records from North Carolina!

    Posted

  • asallans by asallans scientist in response to riskingraisin's comment.

    That's great! Thanks for sharing, Evan. The SERNEC group (organizers of the herbarium portion of Notes from Nature) is actually headed-up by a scientist at Appalachian State University. There will be many more specimen coming from the NC mountain area. - Andrew

    Posted

  • jaymoore by jaymoore

    I've been looking out for one collected on my birthday, or my partner's. Have got within the same year so far, but still looking!

    Posted

  • Noharrr by Noharrr

    Re: CalBug - Kudos for the stunning photography.
    Query: Notes from Nature programming:
    Is the "Badge" function working at all? I'm 21 classifications in (and it seems a bunch of earlier classifications were wiped out of my record). Nary a badge in sight. The badges at Khan Academy pop up as you're working, and often result in sticking with the work just a bit longer (for the next badge!).

    NFN badge function seems dead as the CalBugs by my experience. Just wondering.

    Posted

  • Pict by Pict in response to Noharrr's comment.

    Im 700+ bugs in, not a Calbug badge in sight still. Although it seems that some users are getting them.

    It seems that the moderators/admins are happy to answer all other kinds of posts, except ones relating to how absolutely buggy this project is. In my opinion, this was launched much prematurely; I have not seen any other zooniverse projects so buggy (it's not just the badges thing). Im considering just leaving, seeing as there are absolutely no responses from TPTB here regarding these issues. Not a single "we're working on that, thanks for letting us know" or anything at all. Not one single acknowledgment that they are aware of these issues. Not one.

    Posted

  • ghewson by ghewson in response to Pict's comment.

    I suspect part of the problem is there's no-one designated to communicate with the volunteers, no "capcom", and the admins are experiencing the bystander effect. It doesn't help, either, that there are two (soon to be three?) projects jammed under one umbrella.

    Posted

  • Pict by Pict in response to ghewson's comment.

    Well, if that is true, that then shows that this project was released without any proper leadership or administrative structure, which in addition to the bugs (in the software I mean) and awkwardly designed interface just further shows that this project is far from ready to be released. It has been rushed out in what seems an early beta stage. If not alpha.

    Posted

  • Noharrr by Noharrr

    I beta-tested Cell Slider (which took some of my suggestions!). That project is very smooth-running. I wonder if this one was ever beta-tested??? IMHO, e v e r y ZOONIVERSE project should be beta-tested on us before it is rolled out. Cell Slider and one other project are the only ones that contacted me for beta-testing, and Cell Slider is the only project that followed through and actually connected me with their beta website.

    Sooo . . . I admire ZOONIVERSE and recommend it to everyone, but as the project count increases, the quality is getting pretty uneven. Maybe copy & paste some of this thread into a message to ZOONIVERSE admin??

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to Pict's comment.

    Pict, sorry for missing this thread on a weekend. I am one of the moderators (and scientists involved in Notes from Nature). We really do want to make Notes from Nature a great product, and I know the Zooniverse people do too. Transcription projects have proven to be a bit more challenging, I think, than others --- and yes Notes from Nature has been especially challenging given that the goal was to provide a bit more diversity ---- after all, its what this project is all about.

    I totally sympathize with the concerns regarding badges and some bugs. The science teams have been working with the developers to get fixes in place as fast as we can. We indeed ARE working on getting these fixed ASAP, with the goal of having the main issues sorted in the next week.

    Notes from Nature, believe it or not, took the Zooniverse folks and science teams well over a year to get to where it is now, and a lot of work by a lot of people. We want it to be stellar and we know we have some work to do to reach that bar. Hope you stick with it and see improvements in the VERY near future. Its our goal to get there...

    Posted

  • SandersClan by SandersClan

    Thanks!

    Posted

  • tinkapuppy by tinkapuppy

    When I began transcribing this evening, May 21, my transcription count began at 1,050 (WHAT?) I know that I have transcribed many plant samples, however NOWHERE NEAR 1,050!!. And when I signed off and then on again, the high count continued. Has my identity (I.D. and password) been hacked? Help!!

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to tinkapuppy's comment.

    We have made some changes to better deal with badges and accurate transcription counts, but... yeah it sounds like the problem hasn't really been "fixed".

    Posted

  • Hedge59 by Hedge59

    Are there any rules about punctuation, standard abbreviations etc.?Do I type a collector's name as J Smith or J. Smith? Should I put SE or South East or south east? New to this game, but enjoying it as I'm British and learning all about your counties. PS On some of the Virginia Herbarium ones, they refer to Bald Knob, which I have found is a mountain. Glad I had safe search on for that one.......

    Posted

  • Hedge59 by Hedge59

    Also, how do I know when I get a response to something I post?

    Posted

  • Pict by Pict in response to Hedge59's comment.

    The way I do it is always putting a period after initials, and always space between initials (for example J. A. Chemsak, rather than JA Chemsak or J.A. Chemsal) regardless of how it was printed on the label. Also if a label says for example "EG & JM Linsley", I will put "E. G. Linsley, J. M. Linsley".

    When it comes to the locality, I always put it the way it is on the label though, otherwise it would lead to a lot of interpretation and more or less educated guesses, and I dont think we should be doing any of that, due to the chance of introducing errors. If we present the label the way it was written, then it can be up to whoever reads them to interpret them, rather than having them (possibly wrongly) pre-interpreted for them. Hopes that makes sense 😃

    Posted

  • stewjack by stewjack in response to Pict's comment.

    It makes sense to me. I transcribe the fields that way also. Thanks for sharing your transcription method.

    Posted

  • VaNella by VaNella

    I'm Nell Benton, an aspiring entomologist. I love the zen quality of working with these awesome specimens. Love to work while I have down time then go out and collect and curate! Thanks for letting me join this excellent project. I like the older insects and am always looking for my birthdate VII-30-1956.

    Posted

  • Hedge59 by Hedge59

    Yes, that makes sense. I just wondered if there were "rules" to make it standardised for future database users

    Posted

  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to Pict's comment.

    Pict, this does make sense and I think the science team could probably explain our view on the issue of interpretation much more clearly. I am going to check with Calbug and SERNEC folks and maybe we can add some "help" or at minimum a blog post about this!

    Posted

  • slogan3561 by slogan3561

    I would like to know where I go to get the answer to questions I have about recording the number on a record. I can easily identify it on some records, but on others I just find something like "UVA MLBS 007718" . Is this the number, and if it is, do I record the alpha characters or the number. Sometimes a record has this and another number; which do I record? Thanks. I would also like to know how to go back and correct a mistake I made on several records. Can I get a list of the records I've done? thanks for any help you can give. I am new at this and want to do it correctly.

    Posted

  • slogan3561 by slogan3561

    I just left the "help" post and forgot to introduce myself. I really enjoy getting to do any form of citizen science. I became a Master Naturalist in 2010 and have loved getting to learn so much about the world around me. I usually call myself an apprentice naturalist since I have no scientific training above the required classes in high school and college and the wonderful training I received during my Master Naturalist training. I am in the Riverine Chapter in the Richmond, VA area. Of all the organizations I've volunteered for, I feel best about the projects I've worked on as a Master Naturalist. I am primarily interested in plants and learning about native plants, but I recently started participating in a Cornell Ornithology project and have fallen in love with bird watching.

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  • ghewson by ghewson in response to slogan3561's comment.

    something like "UVA MLBS 007718"

    That's a catalogue number: don't transcribe it. On old labels there sometimes isn't a number, so skip the field in this case. If in doubt, you can always ask by clicking the Discuss button. Don't hang about waiting for an answer, just move on is my advice. Any discussion might help someone else transcribing the record in future.

    You can't go back to correct a mistake, I'm afraid, nor can you get a list of the records you've done. Don't worry too much about mistakes: each record has several transcribers, so any mistakes will be discarded.

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  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to slogan3561's comment.

    ghewson answer was totally on the money. I don't know herbarium collections that well but I think the numbers we want are collector numbers -- that is, they reflect the "nth" collection by that particular person. They are usually of the form of an integers (e.g. 1, 12956, 42) but sometimes I have numbers with dashes between them.

    We really do need to provide just a little more guidance on some issues and hopefully we can add a bit of that into a tutorial. That has been on the docket fro a while. Thanks to you both for thinking to ask!

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  • eccentricvirgo by eccentricvirgo

    Just popping in as I'm new! I'm currently working as a Field Technician in the field of Ornithology and am an avid birder as well, but I'm interested in plenty of other realms of the natural world. I'm currently transcribing through CalBug until the Ornithological collection is available for transcribing!

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  • SandersClan by SandersClan in response to eccentricvirgo's comment.

    Can't wait for that collection!

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  • ghewson by ghewson in response to SandersClan's comment.

    I'm only a few "air miles" from the Natural History Museum!

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  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to eccentricvirgo's comment.

    Welcome! We hope to have bird records available soon; in fact we are excited about new collections, period, and hope to add some ASAP.

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  • geckzilla by geckzilla

    Hello, my real name is Judy and I have too much free time. I have a lot of love and respect for creatures great and small. How amazing is it that I can help scientists a continent away from the comfort of my computer chair? I grew up in the San Diego area and have found myself quite attracted to Calbug.

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  • Barbara_Payne by Barbara_Payne

    Hi, I'm Barbara, an avid amateur naturalist,Virginia, U.S., but not so savvy with maneuvering around this website. I left a note on a Calbug out and I can't figure out how to tell someone. Any suggestions? Thanks!
    P.S. I love hearing about other projects, Katharine, and have been wanting to do something like this for a long time, so I will check those out, too.

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  • ghewson by ghewson in response to Barbara Payne's comment.

    Welcome!

    There's no way to tell someone officially, but don't worry about it. Each specimen's note gets transcribed by several volunteers, and those transcriptions are then compared. Any omissions or other errors will be eliminated from the final record.

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  • bumishness by bumishness admin

    Hello all!

    Figured I'd introduce myself. I'm Chris Snyder, one of the developers at the Zooniverse. I worked on Notes the last few months before it's launch to get it ready for you folks.

    Any problems or suggestions you have for us, please post or send me a message! I can't promise that I'll be able to act on everything, but I will read and respond!

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  • jojojlj by jojojlj

    I've been transcribing for a month or two now, but I just stumbled across this thread. So hello to my fellow science-lovers! My name is Joanna. I hope to get my PhD in biology starting in the fall of 2014; until then I'm in the daily grind of a full-time job. In my free time, I read science books and magazines a lot; I'm especially a fan of listening to science audiobooks while doing other stuff such as driving. Notes From Nature is a great way for me to practice my typing and feel like I'm doing something productive at the same time (and fulfill my enthusiasm for science). My other favorite Citizen Science project is Project Cyclone on Zooniverse.

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  • Caro by Caro

    Hello. I'm Caro and I'm moonlighting from oldWeather. 😃

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  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to jojojlj's comment.

    super glad you decided to help! Thanks!

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  • robgur by robgur scientist, admin in response to Barbara Payne's comment.

    Hope you get more comfortable using Notes from Nature. If you have feedback about how we can make the site better, just let us know!

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  • reddder by reddder

    At the rate at which the calbug material is being processed, what is the estimated completion date?

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  • Witgren by Witgren

    I'm Steve, I've dabbled in other Zooniverse projects like Galaxy Zoo and Oldweather in the past, just earned my caterpillar badge on the Calbug transcriptions.

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  • SarahtheEntwife by SarahtheEntwife

    Hi! I'm Sarah; I've worked on other Zooniverse projects off and on, and I'm really enjoying these bird logs. It says they're estimated as "very hard", but I'm finding them pretty easy.

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  • naumovich by naumovich

    I'm new to the Notes From Nature project transcribing ledger entries in the Ornithological section, and I am having a problem working with repetitive entries. A page can contain 15 entries with 90% of each row being the same as other rows. Is there a way to copy forward the data from one record to another. Usually, this is the ledger batch number and date, 15 keystrokes max. I figure I could transcribe 20 lines for each I am doing now. I would like to stay with the project, but such a waste of effort drives me back to space projects. Hopefully it is my lack of understanding. Can anyone help?

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  • HelenBennett57 by HelenBennett57 in response to El_Lion's comment.

    Hi Eliane! Your job and your desk sound absolutely great 😃 I've found my birthdate and birthday as a few transcription dates - I nearly flagged them up for fun but then had qualms about information security. But I do like looking at the dates and putting them together with other things that were happening at that time.

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  • HelenBennett57 by HelenBennett57

    Hello 😃 I'm Helen and I'm a business analyst (and if anyone wants to talk about a new job...). I've been doing this since some time last year and really enjoy transcribing Herbarium sheets while I wait for e.g. deployments or processes to run, or just when I need a few moments' down time. I'm enjoying learning more about the plants and geography, and being part of a bigger community.

    Since I joined the project the team have fixed a lot of bugs, made the software work better on a wider range of browsers and - recently (or maybe that's just me) become more communicative on the discussion boards. Thank you! It's really good to be a part of something like this.

    Something I'd like to know... if I'm persistently making the same mistake, and someone keeps reading them and going "oh no, not that again", I'd like to know so I can start doing it right instead. Is there a way of receiving private messages like that?

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  • rcreynol by rcreynol

    Hi, I'm Robert and I heard a story this week on NPR about Notes from Nature, it sounded worthwhile and interesting, so I joined. I have a BS in Horticulture from University of Georgia, and have always had an interest in the natural world. I wish I could say I work where my interests lie, but becoming a CPA and working in corporate tax pays the bills better.

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  • Bearaffe by Bearaffe

    Hi, I'm Chris, and I love science, but was not disciplined enough to become a scientist, so I became a musician instead.

    I got my certification to teach biology, but I'm more fond of science than I am babysitting, so I'd rather make my contribution this way.

    This is the most awesome website I've seen in a long time. I'm grateful for the opportunity in my small way to contribute to the scientific community.

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  • mollyfoust by mollyfoust

    Hello,
    I am not sure if I am posting this in the right place, but when a label includes information about a particular flower or plant the specimen was resting on, should it go in the location field or the extra notes field or both? Thank you.

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  • Mr._Kevvy by Mr._Kevvy in response to mollyfoust's comment.

    Hi Molly. That information goes into the "Habitat and description" field. The best place to ask questions like this would be in one of "The Objects" forums. And I'd suggest reading this blog post which has lots of info what to transcribe and how.

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