Debate - Skills and training for biological recording

[Martin Harvey]

We will be running an online interview on the hot topic of “Skills and Training for Biological Recording” here on this Google group on Wednesday 7th August, from midday. There will be a panel of interviewees with a wealth of expertise and experience in this area: Richard Burkmar and Sue Townsend from the Field Studies Council, Sally Hayns from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, Sarah Whild from Manchester Metropolitan University and Craig MacAdam from Buglife. Everyone is welcome to ask questions, post comments and request advice – or just lurk and learn! Please spread the word and pass on the link to anyone who might be interested.

[Martin Noble]

Hi there....just joined the Group (my first ever Google Group!!) and wondered how these things work?  If I'm not able to 'join in' on Wednesday due to other commitments does the 'interview' get recorded/captured in some way for viewing/listening at a later date?  Or do you have to tune in at the time?  I'm due to start my MSc in Biological Recording with Sarah on the MMU programme delivered at Preston Montford in a few months......can't wait!!!! 

[Paula Lightfoot]

Hi Martin - welcome to the NFBR group!  It's the first time we've run an interview/discussion on Google Groups so it's new to us too!  The discussion will take place via posts on the forum so it will all be captured so you can read it later, but if you want to ask your own questions you need to log in sometime on Wednesday afternoon or evening.  I see you are already a member of the NFBR Facebook group - did you catch the interview with Charles Roper in that group last month?  If not you can still read it (all 300+ posts!!) if you scroll down the page.  This will be a bit like that but hopefully the Google Group will give it a bit more structure as we can start different threads for each interview and tag posts with key words.  We'll publish a running order of interviews in the group soon.  Hope you can join us for some of it!

Best wishes

Paula

[Paula Lightfoot]

Actually - thinking about it - if there's anyone who can't 'join in' on the day and has a burning question to ask one of our experts, you could always post it in this thread and I can make sure we incorporate it into the interview.

[Richard Burkmar]

Hi Martin and Paula,

A quick question about the format - I'm new to Google Groups - if we are using different topics for different questions, how will we keep an eye on new topics as they come up? I wonder if it will be better to stick to one 'debate' topic (this one). Unless you have a different idea about how it can work?

Rich

On Monday, July 29, 2013 11:27:43 PM UTC+1, Martin Harvey wrote:

[Paula Lightfoot]

I was thinking one thread per interview, i.e. four topics, not a different topic per question.  Or we could keep it all in one single topic as you suggest, and add tags to posts. The Facebook interview was just one (very long!) thread, so it wasn't always clear which response was to which question.  We're open to suggestions about how best to format it - and we'll be able to learn from this what works well for future interviews/debates.

[Richard Burkmar]

Hi Paula. One thread (topic) per interview sounds like a good compromise.

Rich

On Monday, July 29, 2013 11:27:43 PM UTC+1, Martin Harvey wrote:

[Martin Noble]

One topic per interview sounds like a great idea to try to 'contain' some of the inevitable divergences that these things tend to generate....if there are a number of obvious 'off piste' issues arising then maybe another session could be set up at a later date to cover those threads?  Although I've not experienced it yet myself I could imagine that one long 'list' of questions and answers could get very confusing!!  I struggle with multiple texts from daughters as it is!!!  Good luck with the venture.....looking forward to it and many similar ones over the course of my studies!!   

On Monday, July 29, 2013 11:27:43 PM UTC+1, Martin Harvey wrote:

[Paula Lightfoot]

Welcome to all the new members who've joined the NFBR Google Group in the last couple of weeks!  

If you're planning on taking part in tomorrow's discussion on skills and training in biological recording (and I hope you all are!) here's a couple of bits of advice before we start:

• You might want to change your e-mail settings to 'daily digest' or 'no e-mails', otherwise you will receive an e-mail in your inbox every time anyone posts in the group. You can do this by clicking on the 'my settings' icon in the top right corner.
• You need to click the 'refresh button' (circular arrow) in the top left corner regularly to ensure that new posts pop up...otherwise you might get left behind!

There will be separate topics for each of the four interviews, please do post questions or comments for our four interviewees...you can also attach files, insert pictures, links to websites etc.

Enjoy!

[Paula Lightfoot]

Thanks to everyone who's taken part in the debate so far!  At the start of the first interview, a few members didn't have permission to post, I've no idea why that was but I've changed the settings now so everyone can join in!

We also found that some members had difficulty using the group if they were using Firefox.  Google Chrome and IE work well.

Remember you need to keep hitting the 'refresh' button to get new posts to appear.