Subject: Re: WOS BirdBox [from transcriber]
Date: Mar 07 21:11:33 1997
From: Lisa M Smith - subplot at juno.com


On Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:45:23 -0800 (PST) Laurel Cheap wrote:

[snip,snip]

>IMHO, if WOS wants to see the BirdBox become widely used then I would
>suggest that the chickadee screening question be removed along with
>the elitist rejection message ("The BirdBox is a public service for
>active field ornithologists. Good bye.").
>
>I find it tedious and very confusing to try to explain this setup to
>people who haven't used the BirdBox before and who might be a little
>technologically challenged. If you want people to use it then it
>should be made easy to use without the fear of amateurs treading on
>official ornithologist's territory.

Hmmmm, I dunno about elitist and tedious and all that, from the user's
point of view (since the BirdBox seems pretty easy to use with a little
practice), but I do know, from *this* transcriber's point of view, that
if the service becomes more widely used, especially during peak periods
(migrations and certain long holidays come to mind), my 80-wpm fingers
(and 40-wpm ears) will fall off trying to keep up with volume. Ulp!

>The BirdBox is a great service and I appreciate all of the effort that
>goes into maintaining it and transcribing the messages. Thank you!

Thanks for the acknowledgement, and you're welcome! :-)

---Lisa, one-quarter of the transcribing team <subplot at juno.com>
Seattle, WA