How do we do science when the computer of 15 years ago now fits in your pocket and costs less than the battery you need to run it? Should biodiversity scientists work with the hacker and maker community? Should we forge links with engineering departments? Should hardware become a standard tool of the biodiversity informatician?

1. New tools for monitoring
biodiversity and environments
Ed Baker
Natural History Museum

2. How can we do science when this..

3. …. becomes this .

4. What can we make machines do for
us?

5. What can we measure?
http://ubidots.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/the-internet-and-the-nature-of-things/

6. Can we put the environment online?
http://ubidots.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/the-internet-and-the-nature-of-things/

7. The Internet of Things
http://ubidots.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/the-internet-and-the-nature-of-things/

8. Do we have to become hardware
engineers as well now?

9. Do we have to become hardware engineers
as well now?
• I’d recommend it. It’s fun building stuff.

10. Do we have to become hardware engineers
as well now?
• I’d recommend it. It’s fun building stuff.
• Potential for collaboration outside of biology

11. Do we have to become hardware engineers
as well now?
• I’d recommend it. It’s fun building stuff.
• Potential for collaboration outside of biology
• Take citizen science somewhere new: citizen
engineering

12. CITIZEN ENGINEERING?

13. Once again –
physics got
there first

14. Hackers and makers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fumi/3546898731/

15. Take a microcontroller

16. Plug in ethernet and SD card

17. Add some sensors

18. Write some code

19. Environmental data to Scratchpads

20. In terms of hardware – it’s crude

21. In terms of hardware – it’s crude
But the data is good data

22. In terms of hardware – it’s crude
But the data is good data
It’s cheap (pretty much disposable)

23. What about academic collaboration?

25. You can listen for bush crickets

26. Can we automate this?

27. In Situ Acoustic Monitoring of
Biodiversity

28. Can we automate this?

29. Can we automate this?

30. Can we automate this?

31. Can we automate this?

32. Don’t stop there!

33. Don’t stop there!
• Add a GPS! Location, but also time

34. Don’t stop there!
• Add a GPS! Location, but also time
• Temperature, humidity, light levels

35. We can already do a lot if we
collaborate

36. We can already do a lot if we
collaborate
We need to think big in terms of
scope, scale and speed

37. You can put a plant on Twitter

38. Why not a whole forest?

39. You can track a domestic cat

41. Why not track hundreds of
individuals?