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The WILDLABS Community Base is the ideal place to get oriented with the all that our community platform offers, hear about news and opportunitys, and to meet new friends and collaborators. 

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discussion

TECH TUTORS: Tell us what you want to see!

Ellie Warren

16 April 2020 6:45pm

Hi everyone! The WILDLABS team is planning to launch a new series of short, livestreamed video sessions focusing on the “How-To” questions of conservation tech....

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Tim R. Hofmeester

20 August 2020 2:06pm

As someone that just started using acoustic detectors to study bats, I think it might be interesting to hear more about the specifics and differences between available hardware and software solutions to monitor/detect bats.

Carlos Abrahams

11 September 2020 12:59pm

Tim,

Hi.  the easy and short answer to that question is Wildlife Acoustics SM4bat or EMtouch, with Kaleidoscope Pro software. The longer answer is.. it depends, and I'm happy to chat more if you like.  You'll need to decide between heterodyne, frequency-division, zero-crossing, time expansion or full-spectrum recording hardware systems.  Automated or handheld? And do you want to build your own species recognizers,  identify calls manually, or rely on existing proprietary (and paid for) identification software? 

Thanks, Carlos

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discussion

Take the WILDLABS Conservation Tech Survey 2020!

Talia Speaker

8 July 2020 1:06am

Hi all,  The WILDLABS team is running our third annual survey in partnership with Colorado State University as part of a larger assessment of the...

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Talia Speaker

8 September 2020 4:44pm

So far we've heard from 244 respondents based in 33 countries. They have identified themselves mostly as conservation practitioners (27%), technologists (26%), and researchers (23%). We've seen more representation from male respondents (66%) than female ones (34%), and substantially higher response rates from North America and Europe than any other region, so please help us better represent the diversity of the community if you can. Forward the survey link to colleagues and encourage them to share their experiences: https://colostate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VJSlNr69Kg7o0Z 

Talia Speaker

8 September 2020 4:48pm

Although discussing challenges is crucial, we also want to hear about what makes you optimistic about the future of conservation tech. Increasing accessibility of tools, a developing culture of collaboration, the rate at which the field is evolving, growing support from the conservation community, and the opportunities around big tech involvement have come up the most so far. What do you think?

Talia Speaker

8 September 2020 4:49pm

Obviously, we're barely scratching the surface here of the rich content we're excited to fully analyze and share back with you all. If you haven't taken the survey yet, now is the chance to have your say - it only takes about 13 minutes to complete. We know it's a busy time for everyone, but the more responses we get the more we can represent the reality of the complex experiences and perspectives we know this community holds. Follow this link to access the questionnaire and consent information, and let us know if you have any questions: https://colostate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VJSlNr69Kg7o0Z

Thank you all again for your time!

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discussion

Recommendations for low cost & versatile teaching/training supplies

Dan Zevin

10 April 2020 2:02am

Greetings Everyone, The Fung Fellowship at UC Berkeley has a little money left over from this academic year that must be spent ASAP, and we'd like to use...

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andyrothstein

10 August 2020 1:47am

Hi all,

Teaching assistant here for the Fung Fellowship that Dan linked above.  First of all, THANK you for the responses @carlybatist & @Rob Appleby.  This has been extremely helpful for what type of technology we could introduce to students.  We will report back with what we use this fall and student's feedback/comments/enthusiasm! 

One point that is  particularly relevant now is that this course will now be completely remote for the fall semester.  Given that this will eliminate any opportunity for students to have hands-on time with a physical device...does anyone have any additional recommendations specifically that would work in a remote teaching environment? 

Thank you in advance!

Andy

Elizabeth Bondi-Kelly

17 August 2020 4:03pm

Hi Andy,

My name is Elizabeth (Liz) Bondi, I'm a PhD Candidate in Computer Science at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, advised by Prof. Milind Tambe. In brief, my research has primarily focused on using drones and AI for wildlife conservation.

As an intern at Microsoft Research with Dr. Ashish Kapoor, Dr. Debadeepta Dey, and Dr. Lucas Joppa, we built a simulated African savanna environment in Microsoft AirSim, and flew a simulated drone around it. Our goal was to create an automatically-labeled image dataset for training machine learning models, but I have also used it for demonstrations in the past to allow students to find specific animals while flying the drone around, for example. The AirSim environment will likely require GPUs, but perhaps access to the cloud (e.g., Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS) could be purchased for students.

One other note, I believe Sara Beery also used AirSim for camera traps.

Please feel free to check out Microsoft AirSim and download the African savanna environment (download "Africa.zip"). Our papers (see "BIRDSAI" 2020 and "AirSim-W" 2018 papers in particular) and the dataset are also available for some more information. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you would like to discuss anything further.

 

Best,

Liz

andyrothstein

18 August 2020 8:40pm

Awesome thank you Liz!  We will check this resource out and reach out if we want to discuss more or have any questions. 

Best,

Andy

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discussion

Share your funniest field fails with us!

Ellie Warren

13 July 2020 10:47pm

Hi Wildlabbers, We've got a fun challenge for you this week - we're looking for the funniest field fails from our community! Did a bear chew on...

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Akiba

5 August 2020 1:42am

Here's a video and a pic of a field fail on a project we did with Dr. Meredith Palmer. We designed and built an automated behavioral response system (ABRS) where we would play a sound when a camera trap was triggered and then record the video of the animal's response to it. Unfortunately the hyena's response to the sound of a prey was to eat the audio system.

Here's a link to the last video captured by the system:
https://youtu.be/h7SsuzAeJ5U

And here' s a pic of the aftermath:

 

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discussion

Survey: Cons Tech Needs Assessment

Nathan Hahn

28 July 2020 7:17pm

Hi everyone!  I am a PhD candidate at Colorado State University researching human-wildlife conflict. Myself and several collaborators from CSU are in the process of...

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Akiba

29 July 2020 3:17am

Done. Good luck with the survey :)

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discussion

Tech Tutors Happy Hour: Thursday, July 16th

Ellie Warren

10 July 2020 6:22pm

Hey Wildlabbers, We've had a change to our usual Tech Tutors line-up, and because our next episode with Eric is being rescheduled for later in the season, we're...

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Akiba

13 July 2020 2:13am

Oh cool. Looking forward to the happy hour! I'm curious just to chat and virtually eavesdrop.

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discussion

Conservation Technology Database

Hasita Bhammar

18 July 2019 4:42pm

Dear Group Members, I work with the Global Wildlife Program which includes projects in 19 countries around Asia and Africa on combating illegal wildlife trade, reducing human-...

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mzec

27 August 2019 9:51am

Are you familiar with the Conservation Evidence database? https://www.conservationevidence.com/

It is a searchable database of conservation actions (including but not limited to technological solutions), categorised by effectiveness with relevant references. To me it sounds a lot like what you are looking for.

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discussion

A community response to help support the Australian bushfire crisis

Alasdair Davies

4 January 2020 11:01pm

Hi all, The bushfire crisis in Australia is beyond words. I've been talking to a few Australian friends and WL community members @Rob+Appleby @JessieOliver etc trying...

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Alasdair Davies

18 February 2020 10:17am

Hi all,

I've put together a short list (below) that I've pulled from the Slack channel related to long term and short term projects that were noted or posted.

It's clear that one need is to identify if a quarterly meeting (to see where various projects are vs start anything new) is needed, or that we see if anyone in the community is able fill a voluntary co-ordination role to check up on various projects. One thing at the back of my mind is to look at this from the perspective that if new fires start at scale what could we have in place, or how could we react. That may drive forward a few ideas and help us to focus on what we can do in the short term as there are plenty of project discussions around physical water feeders etc.

Here's what I got from the Slack channel;

Long term

- Work with Conservation Volunteers Australia to establish projects suitable for volunteers, especially things that can be done remotely, but also out in the field.

- Develop a small but skilled and experienced "brains trust" that can provide input for any environmental project / organisation which needs 'tech smarts' but doesn't have them in house.

Short term

- Australian Citizen Science Association - short term priorities are replacing lost nest boxes and getting more she-oaks in the ground. That has to start happening soon to be useful for the 2020 breeding season (the boxes, not the trees obviously).

- Continue to assess recovery program staff needs and the recovery team's priorities

- Zooniverse want to test ALA data sharing, using air quality data can involve remote volunteers without danger

- Setting up field cameras in burnt areas, to identify remaining wildlife or ferals (Zooniverse, ALA/DigiVol)

- Recording wildlife water point or feed locations and monitoring for maintenance, ie refills. (Kobo, other app?

- Setting up shelter tunnels in burnt areas - and recording locations, with possible addition of field cameras (Zooniverse, ALA/Digivol).

****

 

Alasdair Davies

2 April 2020 3:35pm

Hello everyone. I hope you're well and your friends and families are safe during the Covid-19 crisis. I know that many of us are out of sync during the shut downs around the world so it isn't the easiest of times to think back on the bush fires, but also at the back of mind is the recurrence again and the recovery still underway / getting ahead of time with solutions. There is however a new opportunity that has come to light. The Australian Government has opened an application form for a $100k - £1m grant, with the desc;

The Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery Program will provide funding to support the immediate survival and long-term recovery and resilience for fire-affected Australian animals, plants, ecological communities and other natural assets and their cultural values for Indigenous Australians.

This may be the opportunity we need to move forward and progress some of the ideas we all noted. We will need Oz group WildLABS orgs and contacts on the ground, but if feel you have the capacity at this time to support a submission and be a part of it, then get in touch.

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discussion

Bipod suggestion

Erik Himmel

28 March 2020 9:31am

I am considering adding a bipod to my rifle this season. I have never used one and I need recommendations as to what the best options are. First, What height range should I be...

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discussion

Is this group still live?

sjc07

2 January 2019 5:09pm

I am curious to learn about whats next for the Zoohackathon and how I can get involved?

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Sophie Maxwell

15 January 2019 5:14pm

Hi,

So I have found out that Zoohackathon may actually happen in June 2019 this year, which is earlier than normal. I'm meeting with the US Embassy w/c 28th Jan and hope to find out more then and will follow up after,

Soph 

alex kuhn

20 February 2020 12:18am

Hello!

I'm new here, so I've missed these past events. I would love to hear about any upcoming hackathons :) 

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discussion

Innovate for Wildlife and People Challenge - Deadline February 24

Anna van der Heijden

20 December 2019 6:36pm

The WWF Wildlife Practice is hosting an innovation challenge focused on increasing the long-term benefits of conservation efforts for local people.  Project...

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Anna van der Heijden

31 January 2020 1:06pm

Hi Everyone -

This Innovation Challenge is now open for Project Ideas, so if you are interested please go ahead and read more on the Challenge page here, where you will also find the link to Sign Up as a Project Leader or download a PDF that shows the application template and the background to the challenge.

We really welcome any ideas that fit the challenge description, and if you engage, we will have a chance to also further develop your Project idea during the review phase, based on feedback by a global community of subject-matter experts. 

https://impactio.global/innovate-for-wildlife-and-people-challenge

Any questions, I am here! Anna

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discussion

내려 anigana.co.kr/sandz/ - 샌즈카지노

yakumo99ce

16 January 2020 12:15pm

기도 녹아 내려 https://anigana.co.kr/sandz/ - 샌즈카지노 https://anigana.co.kr/ - 우리카지노주위는 금세 폐허가 되었다.  "크르르릉!" 마염신무액을 머리 끝부터 발끝까지 뒤집어쓴 독각응룡은 마구 괴성 을 지르며 발광을 했다.

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community announcement

WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Series: Season Three

Talia Speaker

24 September 2019 10:01am

We're excited to introduce Season Three of the Virtual Meetup Series, bringing leading engineers in the tech sector together with academics and conservation practitioners to share information, identify obstacles, and...

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