Comments on: a million eyes http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/04/30/a-million-eyes/ a place where nature, photography and writing meet Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:55:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: burning silo http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/04/30/a-million-eyes/#comment-540 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:16:16 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/04/30/a-million-eyes/#comment-540 Wayne - Yes, isn't it a neat idea. It does seem to be a great start -- although I would love to see it go a bit further. That's actually my "problem" with a lot of the net surveillance programs -- that they're just a little basic as far as the info that they collect, although, that said, I do believe even simple phenological data is well worth collecting. I also agree that, with data now being stored online and often becoming much more permanent than most people guess, there probably isn't an urgent need to compile the information. What's probably more important is for people to try to figure out what kinds of information they should be recording, try to use fairly standard measurements and things like location coordinates, and develop a good format that would make it easy to compile into a database. However, most important of all is finding a system that works for each person and encourages them to record information without finding it all too difficult and unwieldy so that they give up after awhile. Lots of details to think of, but I think it's good that people are recording even basic observations. That's how things start when you get interested in nature. From there, it all just seems to grow. Wayne - Yes, isn’t it a neat idea. It does seem to be a great start — although I would love to see it go a bit further. That’s actually my “problem” with a lot of the net surveillance programs — that they’re just a little basic as far as the info that they collect, although, that said, I do believe even simple phenological data is well worth collecting. I also agree that, with data now being stored online and often becoming much more permanent than most people guess, there probably isn’t an urgent need to compile the information. What’s probably more important is for people to try to figure out what kinds of information they should be recording, try to use fairly standard measurements and things like location coordinates, and develop a good format that would make it easy to compile into a database. However, most important of all is finding a system that works for each person and encourages them to record information without finding it all too difficult and unwieldy so that they give up after awhile. Lots of details to think of, but I think it’s good that people are recording even basic observations. That’s how things start when you get interested in nature. From there, it all just seems to grow.

]]> by: Wayne http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/04/30/a-million-eyes/#comment-537 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 14:15:29 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/04/30/a-million-eyes/#comment-537 This is such a neat idea, Bev. The Thousand Eyes Data is a great start, though it presumes people are visiting a site and entering their data. A blog surveillance project is another level up. It probably requires a lot of thinking about extracting and compiling the data and the attributions, but the nice thing is that that isn't an urgent requirement. It certainly pushes me toward being more observant and either entering the info on my blog, or entering the observations elsewhere and making sure they're accessible from my blog. I've been trying to google that English woman who did the meticulous observations and haven't succeeded in finding her yet. It seems to me that I heard about it on NPR All Things Considered. Kind of a given, since NPR is the only radio I listen to. This is such a neat idea, Bev.

The Thousand Eyes Data is a great start, though it presumes people are visiting a site and entering their data.

A blog surveillance project is another level up. It probably requires a lot of thinking about extracting and compiling the data and the attributions, but the nice thing is that that isn’t an urgent requirement.

It certainly pushes me toward being more observant and either entering the info on my blog, or entering the observations elsewhere and making sure they’re accessible from my blog.

I’ve been trying to google that English woman who did the meticulous observations and haven’t succeeded in finding her yet. It seems to me that I heard about it on NPR All Things Considered. Kind of a given, since NPR is the only radio I listen to.

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