Crowdsourcing: The Case of eBird
Ever since appearing for the first time, crowdsourcing has become a term in which many organizations and business professionals cling to. The idea that information can be attained and learned through the efforts of a large group of people over the internet can seem like pure science fiction to those who didn't grow up with this form of sourcing. Let's face it, a lot of bird watching is done by older people...like much older. This older generation is still dependent on field guides and face-to-face conversations to learn where the best spotting locations are, but our generation doesn't seem to limit ourselves to these two methods.
This is where eBird comes into play. eBird is an online checklist program and mobile application that has completely changed the way bird watchers network and report bird species in local areas. The program was launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubno Society but continues to provide an excellent source for basic information on local bird species and their abundance/distribution throughout the area. eBird uses this information to create an online community for bird watchers and connect them with others across the globe. The data collected by each person is posted onto a international network of users and then this information is shared with educators, ornithologists, and other focused on conservation. This data provides an understanding for not only the birds found in your backyard, but even a backyard that happens to be oceans away.
Xeno canto is another great example of a site experiencing success due to crowdsourcing. The site Xeno canto, whose name means strange sounds, was launched in 2005 by scientists Bob Planqué and Willem-Pier Vellinga. The main goal was to record calls of South American birds and popularize bird sound recordings. Xeno-canto has now expanded across the world and the number of new contributors growing faster than ever. The site hosts the largest collection of crowdsourced bird call recordings in the world, available free to all and has a database of 2,499 recordists, 240,000 recordings of 9,332 species on the forum.
Crowdsourced sites are becoming more common in the birding world and I believe this will be the future way of networking for the ornithological community. These sites are great ecological indicators and could even be used to prevent future species endangerment or extinction.