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Experiences with eBiodiversity: birdwatchers ’ and NGOs’ perspective Uku Paal & Hannes Pehlak

Experiences with eBiodiversity: birdwatchers ’ and NGOs’ perspective Uku Paal & Hannes Pehlak. 8. 2. 6. 5. 3. 4. 7. 1. Bird observations in eBiodiversity The database was opened for birdwatchers on 14.04.2011

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Experiences with eBiodiversity: birdwatchers ’ and NGOs’ perspective Uku Paal & Hannes Pehlak

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  1. Experiences with eBiodiversity:birdwatchers’and NGOs’ perspective Uku Paal & Hannes Pehlak 8 2 6 5 3 4 7 1

  2. Bird observations in eBiodiversity The database was opened for birdwatchers on 14.04.2011 Currently eB is the primary choice for experienced observers (from amongst 3 different databases) 156 000+ public observations added 200 registered users; about 50 active users; 6 admins Older data sources Several older data sources need to be digitalised and are most likely to be imported into eB. One project is currently running in the Estonian Uni. of Life Sciences – digitalising of paper catalog on bird observations compiled by Eerik Kumari. 3 1

  3. Use of eB by bird monitoring projects Application in progress: Phenology Use agreed / interest by project coordinator: International Waterbird Census Common Bird Census (point counts) Breeding birds in bogs and mires; coastal meadows Estonian Birdrarities Committee Potentially easy to implement: Migration studies Bird atlas projects in future Winter landbird counts Night singers Use possible: Nest card project 3 1

  4. Birdwatchers’ perspective Usability has to be easy but without compromising the quality of the gathered data Observers want to see what others have seen and where (only excluding protected species) > Open access > More users > More data Birdwatchers often gather info about other taxa as well (dragonflies, butterflies, mammals, orchids etc. ) > Very diverse and active group of users > It’s not good to lose them! General public don’t care who runs the database until it’s working fine! Data ownership problematics are not for birdwatchers but for bureaucrats! Only few mind how and where their data is used (often the most productive observers) but nevertheless these issues must be handled with care and explained to database users in detail. 3 1

  5. Technical problems indicated by individual users • Creating account and login too difficult • Map usability, need for manual input of county and parish names • Slow uploading and query speed • Usage in overall too difficult; poor instructions • Estonian Ornithological Society as a key user/client • Communication with EOS over the EOS Bird Monitoring Committee • Pros: eB is free to use, professional backup and development. Potential compatibility with other databases (internationally) is an important bonus • Cons: Speed of development is hard to predict and influence. eB is said to be difficult to use for involvement projects (like Garden Birdwatch) 3 1

  6. Thank you! Acknowledgements Kessy Abarenkov, Urmas Kõljalg, Leho Luigujõe, Mariliis Märtson, Margus Ots, Marko Peterson, Tarmo Teppe, Tarvo Valker 3 1

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