Matt --
when I got up this morning, got a cup of coffee, and opened my computer,
first thing I did was look for a "message of the day" from you. Thank you,
once again, an amusing riff on ourselves ...
as I got towards the end, I started to wonder if you might weave the ABA
into the competition theme ...
Chris
On Fri, Apr 1, 2022 at 5:11 AM Matt Bartels <
mattxyz at earthlink.net> wrote:
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For years now, eBird has been revolutionizing birding. The work of the
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Cornell Lab to provide a centralized location for birders to collect and
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report their sightings has changed the way birders approach their passion.
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In the process, they've built up a database of bird status and distribution
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that is unmatched.
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But it hasn't solved everything.
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In fact, some of the biggest controversies in the birding community have
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not been addressed by eBird.
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Until now.
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"The birding community is somewhat unique in the level of in-group
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critique it brings to an otherwise peaceful activity" says noted
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sociologist John Retter. "Birders love to tell each other how they are
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doing it wrong, or even how their practice is actively harming the world.
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Many non-birders hold a quaint image of birders as a group of peaceful, if
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dowdy, nature-lovers. The reality once you study the community, is that
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in-group critique is constant." According to Retter, among other things,
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birders regularly call out other birders for driving too much, for
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'chasing' rarities, for reporting dubious sightings, for disturbing other
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people, for harming birds by feeding them, and for being too competitive.
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"What is remarkable in this community is how rarely the criticism turns
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inward - in effect, you have a community characterized by a group where
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each individual is sure they are virtuous while many others in the group
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are doing it wrong."
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Enter eBird, with its newest venture aimed at solving all these problems:
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vBird: Birding the Metaverse.
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Beginning today, eBird released their first version of "vBird" a virtual
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reality massive multiplayer online birding app. vBirders, with the purchase
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of a custom eBird VR headset, can now bird anywhere in the world without
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leaving home. Much as Pokemon Go! brought a digital game into nature, vBird
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will bring birding into the metaverse.
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How will another game solve the birding community's problems? eBird is
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bullish. Once birding moves online, most of the community's problems will
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vanish in a flash: Concerned that others are driving too much to chase
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birds? Problem solved - all the travel will now be virtual. Concerned about
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'stringers' -; birders with a rep for fake reports of birds not actually
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present? The Metaverse knows which birds are present [using eBird's amazing
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dataset] and will be able to instantly verify all sighting claims. Annoyed
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by crowds, playback, or noise? Because the same 'location' can exist in
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parallel "multiverses", you now have the option to control which other
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birders [and how many] are present when you chase that rarity. No real-life
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birds, neighbors, parks, or roadside shoulders will be impacted.
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How it works: vBird's platform promises to be easy to use at any level.
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There's a free version that gives birders access to unlimited virtual
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visits to locations within 50 miles of their [real world] home.
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"Travelling" beyond 50 miles begins to incur cost. To avoid vBirders
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instantaneously covering the entire world, users will need to 'pay' either
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money or time to access more distant locales. The user will have to either
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be suspended from vBirding for the time it would take in the real world to
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travel to a new location, or they can opt to pay for fast transit.
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There's also a training mode, where vBirders can choose any location in
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the world and bird for practice, receive feedback on their sightings and
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learn, all without sightings being 'counted' towards their vBird life
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lists. Finally tour organizers can still create custom trips and
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itineraries, where an expert guide can lead a group through a virtual
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location.
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When asked why they had created this new app, eBird was a bit vague in
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their response. On the one hand, vBird promises to reduce much of the
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conflict in the birding community and might reduce the impact birders
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allegedly have on the planet. On the other hand, there's little doubt that
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eBird has a financial stake in being first-in-line to profit from birders'
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deep pockets and tech curiosity. The current eBird platform is free and
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funded through sponsored partnerships and grants. As it has grown, and
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become more valuable to birders, it is only natural that the temptation to
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cash in has become stronger. When asked whether diverting birders to a
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virtual world might not be at cross-purposes with the ongoing collection of
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sighting data in the real world, eBird executives had a surprising
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response: "Honestly, our dataset is large enough now with medium-quality
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data that we think the best improvement we can make is to push casual
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birders away from reality to allow scientists to focus on cleaning up the
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data from here on out.
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Matt Bartels
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Seattle, WA
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>
--
"moderation in everything, including moderation"
Rustin Thompson