Condor Watch Talk

Picture sequences

  • Canmore1919 by Canmore1919

    I sometimes struggle with classifications or species ID's. Is there any way to determine the current image number without leaving the current classification screen or being forced to (gasp) guess before confirming the classification?

    I'd like to be able to check on other pictures in the sequence to confirm either tag nos. or species before having to enter my results....

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator

    Currently, no.

    But! Don't worry about "guessing" and never worry about thinking, "Well this doesn't tell me much" and moving on!

    As with other projects on Zoo, Condor Watch classifies one photo at a time (as does Wildlife Chicago) (or in some projects, a series of 3 or 4 photos taken from the longer camera movie so you can see the animal's motion as in Snapshot Serengeti); Asteroid Zoo does this by combining photos taken of the same section of sky by different satellites; Chimp 'N See uses sections of an actual field camera. (There are some projects in Beta testing now that are neat and on the way, too - one pic at a time!)

    So it's the nature of that "one photo" beast that a photo won't show something well, or it will even be the kind that you sit staring at for 10 minutes wondering what "it" is because "it" has to be something. It's aggravating, even. (Been there. A lot.)

    All the "animal" projects that ask you to identify what you might be seeing in a photo work this way, however - you get the photo/movie, you take your best guess (from a menu), you click "done" and move on. You're classifying what you're given. You're doing a small piece of a huge project, and every piece matters.

    There are so many photos to be classified in these projects that what's important is to get the photos classified so the data can be collected. This would never be possible except that "Citizen scientist" sites like Zooniverse exist and people like us are here to be a part of it.

    If you feel you're not doing a complete job by guessing, consider that someone else might have had that photo "before" or "after" yours already. If not, it will show up! Eventually the condors turn so you can see the tag, the ravens get out of the way, the sun comes up or the field people put the scale back in view. Everything you mark in every photo has information that is important to the project - it isn't about having to write down a clear tag number.

    Hope this answers things a bit!

    Thanks for all your hard work!

    Posted

  • vjbakker by vjbakker scientist

    Great answer wreness. I understand the frustration. Being able to observe a sequence of photos was on our initial wish list for this project but the site designers opted against it for a variety of reasons, including those wreness described.

    Posted