Post #3 What kind of outreach does the project have?

What is the user experience like? How is this project advertised to the public? Could that be improved?

The Zooniverse interface for this project is fairly straightforward and easy to use. While there is a “Talk” thread for discussing difficult to classify (usually blurry or crowded) images, it is usually low activity. As a result, there is limited interaction between users or between users and the researchers. As for public advertisement, the project does not seem to be advertised beyond the Zooniverse page. However, I think that is intentional as the end goal of the project appears to be more research based, and the project on Zooniverse is only for the purpose of helping train the algorithm during development

Do you think this project has a positive impact on conservation in general (from an outreach/educational perspective)? Could this be improved?

I think this project has a strong positive impact on conservation, but not necessarily from an outreach/educational perspective. The goal of this project is training a machine learning algorithm to analyze thermal images from drones to detect conservation threats such as poachers. This project may be useful in providing data for conservation outreach or education programs, but the intent of the project itself is not outreach.

Do you think there are goals for this project beyond the stated scientific goals? Is the focus more on collecting scientific data, or engaging the public? Do you think that there is anything problematic about their focus?

The researchers leading the project have already announced plans to expand the project beyond wildlife conservation into other forms of environmental protection. This expansion includes goals such as improved detection of underground peat fires through thermal imaging and using drone-mounted spectrographs to detect environmental pollution. The project as a whole seems far more focused on collecting scientific data, which I do not see as problematic, since presumably the collected data will be used to promote conservation measures.

In general, in terms of the outreach and educational value of this project, are there things that you’d change if you were in charge?

If I was in charge of the project, the biggest change I would make is to provide information about how the collected data will be used in conservation. For example, if the goal is to detect poachers, will data from this project be used to help park rangers develop better patrol routes to prevent poaching? Or to identify poaching camps to allow for law enforcement action? To be fair to the researchers leading the project, the project was only started about two years ago, and much of that time has been spent developing the image analysis system and getting proof of concept.