User login
Latest news going up
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Dive shows
Care to comment? See our FaceBook page
Researchers used Facebook to identify 5,000 species of fish in 24 hrs
What do you do when you have collected more than 5,000 specimens and then have to identify them?
Peter Symes
Common sandgoby. This specimen has nothing to do with the actual survey.
During a survey of Guyana's remote Cuyuni River a team led by Oregon State University's Dr. Brian Sidlauskas, spent two weeks catching as many fish as they could. The goal was to find out which species of fish live in the Cuyuni and get a good estimate of their abundance.
RELATED CONTENT:
“
Social networking is so powerful and scientists should be using it more to connect with the world-at-large
”— Devin Bloom
University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) candidate Devin Bloom helped conduct the first ichthyological survey on Guyana's remote Cuyuni River. But after collecting more than 5,000 specimens, the team faced the big problem of identifying them.
As a result Bloom suggested the use of social networking site. Sidlauskas uploaded photos of each species to Facebook.
And in less than 24 hours, their network of friends had identified almost every specimen. With 5,000 identifications in hand, the team was able to deliver their results to the government.
The team's novel use of Facebook to accurately crowdsource scientific data could change the way academics view social networking.
â–º
Advertisement
-
Works by our contributors
Other recent news
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
