Speaking of eBird ...

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The "Nunn Guy"

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Oct 7, 2014, 12:59:14 PM10/7/14
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Hi all

At Cheyenne Audubon's recent 40th "Birdday" party John Fitzpatrick/Cornell Lab Director gave an impassioned presentation on eBird--it got me "all jazzed up" as to the "value" of eBird in terms of science and conservation.  So much so, I noticed there are state/group eBird portals--for example--there could be a portal specific to Colorado eBirds ... us!  Costs I hear are about $1,000-1,500 per subscription annum ... "chump change", right?  So, as I proposed to Audubon Rockies I'll propose here.

Your thoughts from the Colorado birding world?

Colorado eBird Portal Strategy Development Proposal

·         “If We Build It” will Colorado citizens come?

o   Should we build it?  Develop criteria similar to (next)

§      Link to Strategic Imperatives

§      Consistency with (what?) Statewide, Global initiatives

§      Social Impacts

§      Environmental Impacts and Status

§      Project Revenue Potential

§      Sustainability

§      Project Costs

§      Financial Feasibility

§      Stakeholder and Citizenry Acceptability

§      Attractiveness to the Public and Private Sector

§      Other Factors?

o   Active Sponsor Engagement

o   Team Actively Engaged

o   Broad Organizational Awareness of the Project

o   Project Delivered the Anticipated Results

o   Project Completed on Time

o   Successful Transition of Ownership to Process Owner

o   Improvement Sustained Over Time

o   Replication of Results

o   Stakeholder support

 

·         How do we facilitate change?

 

Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Management Model

 STEP

HIGH LEVEL ACTIVITY

1

Assess Need for Change – Clearly define the need and urgency for change. 

2

Obtain Executive Buy-in and Create a Guiding Coalition – Executive level support should be highly and regularly visible to employees; change leaders require

Empowerment to achieve wide-scale impacts; a change team is required.

3

 

 

Define Implementation Strategy – There needs to be a collaborative approach between the change team, employees and leadership/management to develop a strategy that will support the workforce through the change.

 

4

Communicate Change Vision – Use all vehicles to communicate the new vision and strategy, make sure employees understand the reasons for and consequences of change through feedback sessions and senior leadership communications.

 

5

Empower Broad-based Action – Acknowledge and address emotional intelligence of affected employees; solicit contributions and support. 

 

6

Generate Short-term Wins – Establish short-term transition wins.  Role model and set behaviors expected of employees, and visibly recognize and reward employees who make the wins possible.

7

Consolidate Gains and Produce More Change / Evaluate the Process – Continually improve the process as necessary. 

 

8

Anchor New Approaches in the Culture – Emphasize the importance of generating long-term change by articulating how the new behaviors and the transition created organizational successes.  

 

·         Apply Project Management principles to efforts

 

 

 

·         Stakeholders, or “champions”

o   Management of

§  Stakeholders interests and the projects interests need to be aligned over a period of time

§  The stakeholders have to be engaged pro-actively. Nothing should be left in the hope of someone else doing it

§  We need to find solutions to stakeholders issues and problems

§  We need to find a way to satisfy all the stakeholders and should not try to pit them against one another or trade somebody’s interests for others. As for example: robbing Peter to pay Paul!

§  We need to demonstrate our commitment to fulfilling their needs

§  We need to engage and communicate with ALL stakeholders – not just those who are friendly or positively disposed towards the project

§  Stakeholders are real people and are complex – we need to establish a rapport with them

§  We need to constantly revisit our processes so that we can better serve the stakeholders

o   Citizens

o   Birding organizations

§  Colorado Field Ornithologists

§  Denver Field Ornithologists

§  Colorado Birding Society

§  Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory

§  Audubon Rockies

§  Colorado Audubon Chapters

o   Conservation organizations

§  Nature Conservancy

§  Rocky Mountain Conservancy

§  Boulder County Nature Association

§  Aspen Center for Environmental Studies

§  Roaring Fork Conservancy

§  Plains Conservation Center

§  Greater Arkansas Valley Nature Association

§  Bluff Lake Nature Center

§  Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo

§  Denver Museum of Nature and Science

§  Colorado Cranes Conservation Coalition

§  High Plains Environmental Center

o   State and Local Governments

§  Local Open Space Programs

§  Local Natural Area Programs

§  Colorado Division of Wildlife

o   Education at all levels

·         Develop Communication, outreach and education plan

o   Social media presence

o   Print media coverage

o   Television media coverage

o   Develop roadshow

o   Determine potential Colorado citizen audience

§  DOW recreation studies

§  DOW economic impact studies

§  SWOT from studies, current partnership environment

§  Diversity plan

§  Messaging

 

·         How do we “sell” Colorado eBird to citizens?

o   What is our value proposition to Colorado citizens, government activities, etc?

§  Use or develop Cornell’s John Fitzpatrick “Discover How Birds Can Save The World”

·         Develop similar only for Colorado (makes it more personal to Colorado citizens)

§  Personalize page content and easily reach all of our state's eBirders at once

§  Being able to customize content to match whatever is happening at the moment, whether it is an invasion of a particular bird, an initiative the local DNR wants outreach on, or something we want to nag local birders on related to how they are using eBird

§  It is not overly hard for an average person to figure out how to put up a story on eBird portals

§  Other minor advantages are it defaulting to CO on screens where you need to select a state, and some sidebar content customized to CO counties, CO links, CO flickr pool

§  Ability to put up the email address where you reached us - sometimes people are looking to reach out to someone and don't know how

§  I'm not sure how related the WI eBird page is to the general success of the program in WI, but for years we have had very high user participation, so it can't hurt

§  The portal is a bit more official looking, is a global brand in itself throughout birding world, and carries some additional weight as such

 

·         How do we sustain Colorado eBird strategy (content, data, messaging, funding)

o   Strategy development cost-neutral

o   Develop Colorado eBird funding model

o   Colorado eBird portal content management (data, stories, articles, announcements, etc)

o   Link to stakeholders

o   Lifecycle management

o   Metrics development


Joey Kellner

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Oct 7, 2014, 4:36:24 PM10/7/14
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I'm sorry, I don't understand what this is.  You give an entire development proposal, who SHOULD be involved to create it and who should sponsor it, but I don't know WHAT is being proposed!  What exactly IS a Colorado eBird Portal?  What does it look like?  What is the benefit to me as an eBirder?  How would it be used?  Why do we NEED one?  What can it do that isn't already being done elsewhere?  Just another COBIRDS?  Is there an existing state "eBird Portal" out there that we could look at?
 
It's hard for me to support a cause that I know nothing about.  I'm still waiting for eBird to allow me to do a SIMPLE query on my data like all the other bird databases do so eloquently.
 
Joey Kellner
Littleton, Colorado

The "Nunn Guy"

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Oct 7, 2014, 4:45:31 PM10/7/14
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Hi Joey

"A" Colorado eBird is simple a subset of eBird (global) here are few existing ones:
"A" Colorado eBird portal still provides data to eBird (Global) it is just presented at our regional level (Colorado).  Folks can still "see" eBird "global but with "a" Colorado eBird portal there is another view specific to Colorado.  Also, content on a Colorado portal would be Colorado-specific similar to regional portals above.

Thanks
Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/
Mobile:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m



On Tuesday, October 7, 2014 10:59:14 AM UTC-6, The "Nunn Guy" wrote:

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The "Nunn Guy"

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Oct 7, 2014, 4:48:48 PM10/7/14
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Wisconsin and Vermont are recognized as best examples of regional portals concept:

Rachel Hopper

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Oct 7, 2014, 6:23:02 PM10/7/14
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Before there is a ton of discussion about the need for an eBird portal in Colorado, I would suggest you take a look at CFO's County Birding website: http://coloradocountybirding.org/

 

Here you will find Colorado eBird data quite nicely integrated and made available to anyone wanting to view it. Click on Weld County as an example: http://coloradocountybirding.org/ByCounty.aspx?CountyID=63.

 

On this main page you will see the eBird BirdTrax tool on the right. This amazing little plug-in  gives you the latest eBird checklists from Weld, as well as eBird rarities, and recent sightings.  In addition you can get an eBird Seasonal Chart specific to Weld by clicking on the orange bar below the BirdTrax box as well as having the ability to click another link to get all CBRC accepted records from Weld.

 

Going a bit more down the page, note the many eBird hotspot locations. Click on a hotspot link and you can see even MORE specific eBird information, down to that  specific location within in Weld. This eBird information is live so always up to date.

 

Go to ANY county on the Colorado County Birding website and you will find the same information. This website has a wealth of county specific information and integrated eBird data. I can honestly say I have not found ANY state county birding guide (or state eBird portal for that matter) that can come close to equaling the Colorado County Birding website for usefulness, integration with eBird data, and for providing up to date county specific information for birders everywhere.

 ------------------

Rachel Hopper

Ft. Collins, CO

 

Bill Maynard

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Oct 7, 2014, 6:56:02 PM10/7/14
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Excellent,

 

Thank you Rachel.

 

Bill Maynard

Colorado Springs

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Sean Walters

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Oct 7, 2014, 7:20:34 PM10/7/14
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I completely agree with Rachel's assessment of the County Birding website. I also have one small personal observation to add (I'm sure I'm not the first one to see what I'm about to write). One of the most visible differences between the main eBird site and the regional eBird portals is the news on the front page. I personally don't see a need to create a regional eBird portal for this particular feature. COBIRDS is already a news outlet and if some see the need for more, I'm sure COBIRDS could still be the avenue used. Yes, there are many CO eBirders who don't read this, but maybe it could be advertised instead of going through the trouble of creating a regional portal and then advertising that! If conservation events or state wide organized counts are desired, why not send out a notice through this outlet? The only other argument I could see as far as the news is concerned would be the enhanced visual setting it would come in. I personally don't see how that would garner much added useful attention over what the CFO website already has. Secondly, the links to local organizations on the regional portals are already on the CFO website as far as I can see. Lastly, I am aware that when viewing the links specifically for listers the region is already set. This is no more than one reduction of a click from normal. Just my thoughts. 

Sean Walters
Loveland, CO

The "Nunn Guy"

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Oct 7, 2014, 7:22:03 PM10/7/14
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Are we using eBird data beyond just bird sightings? 

What John Fitzpatrick presented was how eBird data was being used from CA portal to identify conservation matters of concern specifically in the central valley--where in partnership folks figured out that if rice farmers delayed flooding fields just one month (I recall) it had a significant impact of species.

Maybe this not the right forum to discuss?

Paul Hurtado

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Oct 14, 2014, 4:06:02 PM10/14/14
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This email got a little long -- my apologies! :-)  

I'm an avid eBird user, and very much appreciate Gary's newly found enthusiasm and getting "all jazzed up" for eBird! It really is an excellent project and one that has greatly enriched my own birding activities. The great scientific and conservation value (e.g., a list of publications that made use of eBird can be found here) is also a huge plus. 

In short, I'm a big fan and supporter of eBird!  But, that said, I'm not convinced that a CO eBird portal is worth the effort. Instead, the existing webpage doesn't need to be tailored to CO so much as we need to help CO birders find out how they and their birding activities can benefit from using eBird, AND how scientist and conservationists can benefit from their birding activity through eBird. Here's the longer version... 

As Joey and Rachel have pointed out, it does seem like such an effort would be putting the wagon before the horse (what are the specific needs that we have -- what problem -- to which an eBird portal is the best solution?). The existing email lists, CFO website, and ColoradoCountyBirding.org website (which, I agree, is the best state-level birding website out there!) really do provide local and out of state birders with a wealth of information and expertise about birds and birding in CO. So I'm just not seeing the benefit that a CO ebird portal would provide.

But, I am excited about seeing the continued rise of eBird use in CO, and I even have a few ideas for how to help that process along.

I've managed to channel my eBird enthusiasm into giving talks/workshops aimed at getting more birders to use ebird (e.g. for trip planning, education, list management, etc) and to get more birders contributing to eBird (birding and submitting observations in ways that are scientifically/statistically valuable). Those efforts also include co-moderating the eBird Rarity Group on Flickr, and engaging in other online discussions (e.g. via Facebook) to help new eBird users learn how to efficiently incorporate eBird into their birding activities in a way that benefits everyone. I'm originally from Pueblo, but as I currently live in Ohio I don't think I've (yet) had the pleasure of giving such talks in Colorado -- perhaps I need to change that! :-)

Ultimately, we can leverage the scientific, conservation and yes even the "sporting" value of eBird (for those of you who maintain a list or two and/or enjoy friendly birding competitions) by simply increasing the number and quality of observations submitted to eBird via the CO birding community -- including historical records! Many of you will be glad to know that, after a quick check of a few species, it does seem the birds in the CBRC database ARE all in the eBird database. That's excellent! 

But how many of us still have notebooks full of old checklists gathering dust? Much of that information hiding among the pages of those notebooks ALSO needs to find it's way into the eBird database. Despite the size of the eBird database, there are still a lot of missing data!

To see for yourself, click the following link to view a map of eBird observations in CO (click individual squares to see the species totals reported in that square). 


You can see that there are still plenty of data gaps, as far as spatial coverage, and even more gaps can be found when you start looking at different times of year. Many of these gaps in the data could no doubt be filled by trips we (collectively) have already taken.

So for me, the key to improving eBird use and usefulness in CO is education and outreach, or as I tend to refer to it, "eBird evangelism"  ;-)

One way to make that happen is simply stated: get more people (especially all you seasoned experts with decades of checklists sitting in notebooks and/or personal electronic databases) using eBird, and using it well. A good first step in that direction is to hold more workshops on how to use eBird, how to contribute meaningful data to eBird, and perhaps most importantly how to use eBird to better enjoy the time we spend in the field, and to learn and grow as a birder. 

Regardless of what happens with the portal, I certainly hope Gary (and any other eBird fans still reading this) save some enthusiasm for that effort as well ;-)

Getting back to eBird Portals -- they do have their place, and I'd be remiss not to mention it!

A regional eBird portal can be an excellent way to tailor eBird to suit communities from different cultures, who speak different languages, who might otherwise never extensively use the U.S.-centric main eBird interface. The many portals for central and south america provide excellent evidence of this:


Regional portals can also facilitate incorporating ebird-like regional efforts into the global framework of eBird, for example as happened recently in Australia:

Australia


Perhaps, down the road, we'll come to find that CO does need a regional interface, but for now, I'm just not seeing the need. But I do see lots of gaps in the data, and lots of potential for the Colorado birding community to fill them in.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far -- this email worked out to be a bit longer than I'd anticipated ;-)

Good birding,
-Paul Hurtado
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