Connecting with Volunteers
Through Technology
Increasing our Understanding of Migratory Connectivity
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Connectivity--the ability for volunteers to connect with us and with each other, using social media and the internet--is a key concept that will help in furthering our understanding of dragonfly migration and the connectivity of migratory populations across North America. Promoting and facilitating communication among and with citizen scientists is essential to meet the challenge of making meaningful connections with broad audiences and to help volunteers access the ever-changing resources of our fledgling citizen science program.
Connectivity is an ongoing focus for the MDP, and our resources will continue to develop with the evolution of new and exciting technologies that help foster strong connections with partners and citizen scientists. Exploring different avenues for this connection has come through various social media forums, most recently a Google+ hangout session allowing anyone with an internet connection to virtually attend the latest Migratory Dragonfly Short Course in Vermont in real time, and to view the presentations afterwards on YouTube.
To expand our reach, we have launched a new YouTube channel to provide instructional videos for volunteers. The first video in our developing series of tutorials guides users through the different functionalities of the MDP website and takes the guess work out of data submission. We will be expanding our offerings soon to include a tour of the new Pond Watch portal as well as other instructional videos to help dragonfly monitors collect data. And until we can bring an interactive comment section to the MDP website, we encourage volunteers to "like" our Facebook page and share comments, questions, observations, and photos there. We are also celebrating connections with new partners, such as HawkWatch and Master Naturalists. Making human connections while studying the pathways and connections of migratory dragonflies is just one more element that makes citizen science so rewarding!
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MDP's Mission
The Migratory Dragonfly Partnership is composed of dragonfly experts, nongovernmental programs, academic institutions, and federal agencies from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Together, we are combining research, citizen science, and education and outreach to better understand North America's migrating dragonflies and promote conservation of their wetland habitat.
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Two final 2013 Migratory Dragonfly Short Courses are scheduled for fall:
- California Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA; Sept. 21
- Long Point Bird Observatory, Ontario, Canada; date TBA
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Check out our new tutorial on navigating the MDP website and submitting data. |
The MDP is helping to streamline data collection through creation of the new Pond Watch portal. Data entry is the same, the new portal just makes it faster and easier to submit your Pond Watch observations.
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