So far this year we have welcomed six newcomers, and will continue the search for more to jump on the exciting projects we have on the horizon.

Brad Power – Senior Software Engineer Hi, my name’s Brad Power – I’m a software engineer and researcher from Perth. I’ve worked across a number of different industries including embedded/mobile, video game development, scientific data visualisation, and academic research. I’m interested in technology in general but am also fascinated by maths, music, and history – really I think I’m just a sucker for a good story and learning new things! Having spent a fair chunk of time in academia I’m also passionate about getting people involved in knowledge sharing, and contributing information back into the community.

Casey Murrihy – Support Coordinator Hello, I’m Casey, Gaia’s newest Support Coordinator. I followed Jordan into the Gaia office one day and they decided to keep me. I’m very excited to work for Gaia as it was my childhood ambition to help preserve the environment for future generations. I studied environmental Science; however, I discovered I was much better at turning computers off and on again and found myself working in IT Support when I got older, rather than saving the world. Gaia Resources doesn’t just talk the talk; they try very hard to walk the walk too. The sincerity and the integrity of the company and all the fabulous people who work for it is an inspiration, and I am honoured to be a part of it (although walking is hard so I’ll just drive my EV). In my downtime, I like to pretend I can bake and enjoy creating dietary-specific spins on classic baking favourites (some more successful than others). I am thrilled to have a new batch of victims… I mean subjects… no wait,  colleagues to feed. I accept requests, so let me know if you come up with a combination!

Hayden Richards – Software Engineer Hello! I’m Hayden. I recently started at Gaia as a Software Engineer. I was born in Perth, the best city in the world, and I’ve lived here my whole life. I have a Bachelor of Actuarial & Applied Statistics, so my background is actually in mathematics, statistics and data analysis. I’ve had a passion for programming since I was young, and through my previous technical roles, personal projects and active interest in the open-source community I’ve become a software engineer. I love Python. I spend a lot of my free time working on personal projects and contributing to open-source projects online. In my spare time I’m also expanding my horizons by learning Rust and Ruby. My other loves are cricket and football. I’m actually a St Kilda Saints fanatic. You don’t have to remind me they’re bad, or ask me why I support them – I’ve already suffered enough. I have two best friends, Frank (the dachshund) and Marley (the golden retriever). It’s always funny to see heads turn at the park – no one can believe the fat little sausage dog can keep up. I joined Gaia Resources for many reasons. First and foremost are the company’s values and ethics. I think it’s rare in today’s world to find somewhere that so strongly cares about our future. Another reason is the culture – even early on it’s clear how much Gaia cares about its employees – we have so many opportunities to develop ourselves. Finally, Gaia has allowed me to take an important step in my career by becoming a recognized software engineer. This is something of a dream come true for me.  I’ve been at Gaia for almost one month and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been particularly impressed by how welcoming the whole team has been, the workplace culture and the work-life balance. I’m very proud to be at Gaia, and can’t wait to see where my journey here takes me.

Khaled Faour – Project Manager Around 25 years ago, I came to the land of Oz straight from what was left of Beirut. In my previous life I was an agricultural research economist and bioeconomic modeller and worked at the American University of Beirut, where I completed my Masters in AgEc, then at NSW Agriculture at the Wagga Wagga and Yanco research centres where I got to travel around most of NSW and VIC, and even parts of WA. I moved to Brisbane around 20 years ago and completed a Bachelors of Commerce. Then around 15 years ago I found myself jumping in the world of project management, mostly with QLD Health. I enjoy music of all sorts, languages and places, including anything made my by DJ Khaled of course – no bias at all. I also love ‘tasteful’ action and comedy movies. I’m definitely enjoying my new Gaia family, and loving and living the dream!

Natasha Madondo – Junior Software Engineer Hello there, I’m Natasha! I’m currently interning as a Junior Software Engineer at Gaia. I have a Bachelor’s degree with honours in Environmental Management, a diploma in Japanese and I am about to finish my studies as a Software Engineer. I’m from Zimbabwe but I’ve lived in the UK, Australia and Japan. I’m really interested in travelling, architecture, the environment and languages . I currently speak four languages and aim to get to seven one day!  I’ve travelled to about 12 counties and counting, my favourites being Belgium, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. My hobbies include reading, changing my hair every 2 seconds,  hectic rounds of karaoke, and trying to find the platypi that live in the river near us and cooking. I love sweets but can’t bake to save my life so baked goods are always welcome. Prior to Gaia I worked in Japan as a translator and administrative assistant to improve my Japanese. During my time there I also learnt that as much as I hate snow, skiing is acceptable. I also gained my interest in programming and IT by talking to co-workers and gaining some insight. I love a challenge and just like my 7 languages goal I hope to become a better software engineer and create solutions for a more sustainable world. I’m very happy to be at Gaia as the values here closely align with my own. Being able to work for a company that values their employees and considers their impact on the environment by making a conscious choice to do better makes me extremely proud to be here. ガイアの皆様、これからどうぞよろしくお願い致します。(translation)

Natalie van der Walt – Software Tester Natalie is camera shy and doesn’t like to talk about herself, so until we do some further sleuthing, and potentially even get our hands on an actual photo, here’s some text from her LinkedIn profile: “I am a curious and pragmatic Software Testing and IT professional who is extremely customer focussed.The last 12 years in IT included roles as an Agile Test Analyst, Test Manager, Senior Business Analyst and Senior QA in various domains including Health, Travel, Real Estate, Retail, Finance and the Automotive Industry.” We’re very excited to have Natalie on board to bring her vast experience and skills to our ever-growing need for software testing and automation, and to aid us in implementing new internal software going forward. We’ll be sure to give Natalie the introduction she deserves next time!

If you would like to work with us or want to talk to one of our staff about their experience, please get in touch! Reach out via email at info@gaiaresouces.com.au or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn

Tracey

The post Welcome to (yet more) new staff! appeared first on Gaia Resources.

To celebrate this software and bring the spatial community together, an annual conference is held known as FOSS4G, or Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. This year Gaia were very proud to both sponsor and facilitate the conference on 12th November. The organising committee consisted of a crack team of volunteers from a range of businesses and educational facilities, who pulled off an incredible two-day event jam-packed with information and hands-on learning.

Things got off to a hairy start when one of our presenters came down with COVID-like symptoms and had to quarantine, but alas, these are the times we live in. The presentations that weren’t foiled by COVID were filmed and are available here on the FOSS4G SotM Oceania YouTube channel.

Russel Keith-Magee discusses his experiences in contributing the the open source community.

This year’s keynote presenters gave us a lot of food for thought: Russell Keith-Magee treated us to an energetic and enlightening introduction to the world of contributing to open source software. The audience were captivated and hopefully a few were inspired by his note that you don’t need to be able to code in order to contribute. Then Femina Metcalfe and Helen Ensikat unveiled the long journey to bringing open source software to the local government sector in Western Australia, revealing incredible foresight, persistence and tenacity. 

A series of presentations and 5 minute lightning talks, interspersed with top-notch catering from Joey Zaza’s, made for an enjoyable and educational event. We learnt about how open source spatial software is being used in the private, government and education sectors; we were shown how to collect spatial data in the field using the free QField mobile app; and we were treated to a number of fascinating scientific studies which were undertaken utilising free and open source software. 

A personal highlight for me was our own committee member John Bryant experiencing some technical difficulties at the start of his 5 minute lightning talk about new features in QGIS, and having to speed through the rest of it. He made it with seconds to spare, and got a cheer from the audience. 

What I love most about this particular conference is the ability to network and connect – I really feel it’s the ethos of open source that facilitates the desire to share your ideas, learnings and data with the community. This was such a welcome change from conferences which are geared around sales pitches and profit. 

The organising committee would like to extend a massive thank you to the sponsors of the event, without which we couldn’t hold it. These amazing companies are fostering the availability of powerful software tools to the world and the removal of socio-economic boundaries. 

Special thanks to our venue sponsor FLUX, who allowed us to fill their terrific Basement venue with raucous nerdery for the day. 

And of course an enormous kudos to the organising committee, who put in months of effort to make the event happen (big shout out to John Bryant and Maia Williams).

If you’d like to know more about FOSS4G, check out their website. If you’re interested in getting involved in the event for next year, free to get in touch via email, or start a conversation with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Cheers!
Tracey

Sponsors

Organisers
John Bryant
Maia Williams
Tracey Cousens
John Duncan
Bryan Boruff
Sam Wilson
Ivana Ivanova
Nick Middleton
Nimalika Fernando
Daniel Moore
Piers Higgs

Volunteers
Cholena Smart
Keith Moss
Grant Boxer
Petra Helmholz
Rocio Peyronnet
Rachel Pennington
Angus Mackay
Gail Wittich

The post The annual FOSS4G Conference: Celebrating Open Source Software in the Spatial Community appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The ICT CUA provides a “streamlined procurement process through flexible buying rules and simplified quotation templates”. In other words, it is now easier than ever to engage us as a supplier of services for your project – you can even bypass the procurement process for projects under $50,000.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Gaia Resources has a long history of providing best practice solutions with regards to information security to a range of projects, both government and private, across a range of industries and scales. We are also accredited in ISO 27001: Information Security Management, so you can be assured your data and security needs are in the safest of hands.

We are registered under three categories:
Category 1 – ICT Planning, Consultancy and Advisory Services
Category 2 – ICT Implementation Services
Category 3 – ICT Operations and Managed Services

If you would like to discuss working with us or seeing what solutions we can find for you, please reach out via the links below.

Tracey

Email | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

The post Gaia Resources appointed to the ICT CUA Panel appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Credit: Chris Montgomery (Unsplash)

These days you can learn about almost any topic by watching videos online. But the benefits of having a trainer present to guide and correct you, troubleshoot issues, and maximise your learning makes face-to-face training invaluable. So how does this translate when the people you’re teaching are thousands of kilometres away, watching you on a video call?

Whilst face-to-face trainers are irreplaceable in terms of effectiveness, particularly for novice classes, there are many benefits to remote training such as:

• Greater flexibility for timing and duration.
• Reduced costs (especially if inter-regional travel is involved); and
• A much greater geographic reach.

Recently a client rang asking if I could teach their team a couple of new skills in QGIS in a hurry so they could get a report over the line. We had to put together some training material in a short time frame and attempt to deliver it as an effective learning session. And from all accounts, the training was a success!

Here’s how we made it work:

1. Small class size
2. Use appropriate teaching mediums
3. Teach the concepts, not just the content
4. Give attendees prior knowledge of the topic
5. Limit your audience appropriately
6. Preparation!

1. Small class size

This one is a no-brainer. In a small group, the trainer can provide more one-on-one time, people are less likely to fall behind if they get lost at any stage, and you won’t need to stop as frequently to help people out as you would in a large class. Manageable class sizes are especially important when running remote training, since watching demos on a computer monitor can be trickier for students than being present in a room.

2. Use appropriate teaching mediums

The majority of people learn best via visual formats and hands-on exercises. As a trainer you’re already challenged with keeping attendees engaged and focused (doubly so for remote training), so look for opportunities to use visual learning tools.

It’s no cliché that a picture tells a thousand words! Most people zone out when they see a wall of text (like this blog post).

Something as simple as a stick figure diagram in a slide show with some animated components can get through to your audience and give them that “Aha!” moment that is so gratifying as a trainer.

Here’s an image we’ve used in our QGIS course – a humorous but helpful take on the difference between raster and vector images (humour is another fantastic tool for learning!):

3. Teach the concepts, not just the content

You’ve got your training program established. You have a workbook full of exercises and instructions. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of just having attendees learn the HOW by working through those exercises like robots, without understanding the WHY.

Start with the concepts. Break them down into digestible explanations. Use analogies, diagrams, and practical real-world examples. Then open the floor up for discussion – get attendees to think about how this concept or tool might apply to their own work/life, or where they can see its application. Not only will this help them get their heads around the concepts, but it will also help you grow as a trainer with a better understanding of your target audience.

4. Give attendees prior knowledge of the topic

OK, understandably this is not always feasible – people are coming to you to learn a skill, after all. But where possible you can give students a leg-up with simple, engaging prerequisite material to help them grasp the fundamentals before the day of the actual training. This could be in the form of educational videos, instructions on how to set up the software, and even a beginner’s exercise for the course. By allowing attendees to familiarize themselves with the software and material they’ll come into your training with a rudimentary understanding, instead of blindly.

5. Limit your audience appropriately

Something else to consider is limiting who you run remote training for, based on the difficulty of the training. In our case, the attendees all had some prior experience using other GIS software, which allowed them to navigate QGIS with relative ease. Where possible, try to gain an understanding of the proposed attendees and their relevant skills, and make a judgement call on whether your training is accessible enough to them in the remote format.

6. Preparation!

Another no-brainer here, but too often overlooked. Small things go wrong all the time, and can diminish your appearance of professionalism and competency, as well as disrupt the class. Well in advance:

• Triple-check all material and send out any necessary material to attendees.
• Provide clear instructions to attendees with times, meeting links, and any prerequisites.
• Do an internal “dress rehearsal” to check your camera, mic, slideshows etc.
• Be sure to leave some wriggle room for technical difficulties (at both your end and the attendees).

With more people working from home, or staff scattered geographically, it’s the perfect time to look at converting your training to an online offering, and hopefully, these tips help get you off on the right foot. Take a look at our existing QGIS course information for in-person and online training.

If you have any further ideas, please leave a comment below. Or if you would like to talk to us about our QGIS training offerings, please get in touch with us via training@gaiaresources.com.au or our social media streams – Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Tracey

The post Remote learning: tips for trainers to maximise success appeared first on Gaia Resources.

This years theme was Phytophthora Dieback – Tools for the Future, covering a range of contemporary topics such as recent developments in research and technology, and insights on industry engagement and land management. As with many events during the COVID-19 situation, the conference allowed the opportunity for experts, speakers and attendees to join together in person or online to contribute from local, state and international perspectives.

Some significant highlights for us included:

• the chance to catch up with many of our south coast clients
• learning about their work current practices and future directions, and how Gaia Resources can help
• the potential use of Phytophthora Dieback management practices in other industries, e.g. in managing other soil-borne diseases
• seeing how management goals have shifted over the years in response to previous management outcomes

The best highlight for me was the field trip to the beautiful Wireless Hill Park for a demonstration of Phytophthora Dieback management practices.

Tilo Massenbauer or Tilomass Consulting discusses the dynamics of public behavioural change	A demonstration of sampling a Phytophthora Dieback infested plant specimen
Anigozanthos manglesii at Wireless Hill Park, Perth	Diuris corymbosa at Wireless Hill Park, Perth

If you’d like to know more about our work in this area, please drop me a line at tracey.cousens@gaiaresources.com.au, or connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Tracey

The post Dieback Conference 2020 appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Discussing the important matters of fire escapes and where to buy the best coffee.

When writing the course material, we ask ourselves:

• what skills and outcomes should people who are completely new to GIS gain from this course?
• what are the most effective teaching / learning formats?

1. Course outcomes

For someone with no prior GIS experience, being thrown in the deep end can be very daunting. There is a steep learning curve when getting acquainted with a new user interface, spatial data types, and some of the more “WTF?” concepts of GIS. Our aim is to present the material in a way that makes sense to a novice and have them leave the course with an understanding of the fundamentals, as well as practical experience in using the QGIS software. The way in which we achieve this is discussed below.

2. Effective teaching and learning

It’s well-established that humans aren’t machines, ergo have variations in both their abilities and the ways in which they learn. There are, however, trends we can use to best direct how we run our QGIS training. Consider the VARK learning styles model, which breaks learning styles into four categories, with research showing that the majority of people (61%) learn best through employing two or more modes. In our QGIS course, we present the material using a combination of all four modes – a detailed, step-by-step user guide; live demonstrations on the big screen; interactive, practical exercises; and a trainer that won’t shut up describes key learning points and who encourages discussion.

The VARK learning styles.

An essential part of being able to teach a beginner in any topic is being able to put yourself in their shoes and present the main learning points in a logical and digestible manner. We achieve this in a number of ways in our QGIS course, such as:

• providing visual learning aids such as demonstrations and an animated slideshow,
• providing examples that relate to the attendee’s careers and roles,
• combining self-paced, supervised exercises together with the trainer working through exercises on the projector screen (without ‘doing the work’ for people),
• asking attendees to answer questions after each learning module,
• varying the pace and teaching style throughout the day to cater for mental fatigue, and
• maintaining engagement and focus through (poor) humour and the occasional (terrible) analogy. Humour is an effective teaching tool for engaging participants and redirecting focus.

As a trainer, the most satisfying part of my job is seeing people have “Aha! moments” – those moments where they suddenly understand the fundamentals of a topic they have previously been baffled by. Anecdotally, I’ve mostly encountered Aha! moments when drawing diagrams or using analogies.

In Darwin, we inadvertently created a wave of Aha! moments on the topic of Coordinate Reference Systems (CRS). Our training data focuses on an area in southern WA, but for the Darwin training Chris put together an exercise looking at a national park in the NT. This simple switch in geolocation forced attendees to apply what they’d learnt about CRS, and switch from a WA-centric CRS to one that worked for the NT. Several people commented that they finally understood CRS. This is a great example of how talking about a topic won’t necessarily get the point across to someone, yet a simple additional step – making them apply that concept to a practical exercise – helps the penny drop.

Chris answers the tough questions during one of our one-day courses in Darwin.

Every time we run the QGIS training we take away valuable observations and user feedback, and we are continually improving the course content and how it is delivered. We’re looking to bring our Beginner’s course to regional parts of WA and other States in Australia, and we’re currently working on new material for a potential Intermediate course (so stay tuned)!

If you’d like to attend our QGIS Beginner’s Course, or even discuss a more tailored training program for you or your staff, please drop us a line at training@gaiaresources.com.au, or connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Tracey

The post NT QGIS training: the pursuit of effective teaching methods appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Study after study has shown the immediate benefits of animals in the workplace. That’s where Gaia’s latest employee, Kiri the boxer puppy, comes in. Kiri is training to be a service dog, which requires exposing her to as many sights, smells and sounds as possible during the age of 8-12 weeks.

Introducing Kiri, the service dog in training.

Piers and the Flux team have very kindly allowed me to bring her into the Perth office a couple of days a week to facilitate this training, which in turn has had a very positive impact on not only the Gaia staff, but the many other workers that share the floors at Flux.

Some things I’ve noticed since bringing Kiri in to work:

• I have gotten to know more people in two weeks than in the entire 18 months we’ve been at Flux, because they all come over for a chat and a cuddle.
• People smile just looking at her. And they turn to mush when you let them have a pat or a cuddle.
• In meetings, the overall vibe is a lot more relaxed when Kiri is present.
• Productivity tends to increase on the days I bring Kiri in. Although she may be a (very cute) distraction, when staff return to their work they are in a better frame of mind.

Productivity has been shown to increase when a dog is brought to the workplace. It is, however, occasionally compromised!

For me personally, I feel a bit distracted and overwhelmed at times because I am constantly being pulled from my work to tend to Kiri’s needs, but I know things will become significantly easier once she is out of the puppy phase, toilet trained, and less inclined to munch on computer cables.

And when she curls up in my arms, all stress melts away.

If you’d like to talk about the benefits of service dogs in the workplace (or just come in to meet Kiri!) then leave a comment below, start a chat with me via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, or email me directly via tracey.cousens@gaiaresources.com.au.

Tracey

Resources

• Assistance Dogs Australia
• Mind Dogs Australia
• Stephen M. Colarelli, Amanda M. McDonald, Matthew S. Christensen & Christopher Honts (2017). A Companion Dog Increases Prosocial Behavior in Work Groups. Anthrozoös 30(1): 77-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2017.1270595
• Foreman AM, Glenn MK, Meade BJ, Wirth O (2017). Dogs in the Workplace: A Review of the Benefits and Potential Challenges. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14(5): 498. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14050498

The post Introducing Kiri the service dog (in training) appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Approximately one million disposable coffee cups end up in landfill or the environment every minute of every day, and most cannot be recycled due to a thin plastic lining.

Most disposable coffee cups, even those labelled as recyclable, contain a thin layer of plastic. (Image credit: ABC’s 7:30 Report).

In February last year Piers and I gazed upon the coffee-addicted Gaia staff cradling their disposable coffee cups every day and decided that, particularly as an environmental company, something had to change. Piers promptly ordered a bunch of company-branded reusable coffee cups.

These cups were met with an enthusiastic response, and with a little adjustment period for the behavior change, and a rather humorous punishment scheme for anyone who forgot to use theirs, we have seen the blue and white Gaia cups completely replace disposable ones.

We have 21 staff at Gaia Resources, and all except two (very, very weird) staff members enjoy a cuppa daily. Personally, I just make myself one from instant coffee (or, as the gang like to call it, ‘powdered disappointment’) but between the remaining, normal staff we have used our keep cups roughly 75 times each week, or around 6000 times since they were purchased back in February last year.

That’s around 6000 disposable coffee cups and plastic lids spared from landfill, just for our team.

What that looks like for each of our team members

That astounding figure this small change has made reminded me of a quote I saw during the recent single-use plastic bag debate:  “’One bag won’t make a difference’, said 8 billion people”.  If we can each be mindful of saying no thank you to excess packaging, single use items, or that cute tiny umbrella in our Friday cocktail, we can indeed make a difference.

What behavior changes have you made to reduce your waste? Leave a comment below or start a conversation with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Tracey

The post Reusable Coffee Cups: 18 months on appeared first on Gaia Resources.

♫ And I like it, I like it…

It’s been nearly four months since we released our free Environmental Quantum GIS Training YouTube series (read the original blog post here) and we couldn’t be happier with the uptake and positive response from the public and the environmental community. We’ve received emails from all over the globe requesting a copy of the training manual and data, and that Status Quo earworm has been with me ever since I saw the map we created showing where they were coming from…

Gaia Resources, in partnership with the State Natural Resource Management Program and the Dieback Working Group, set out to create this training material to give back to the people that look after the environment, one of the core reasons we come to work every day.

What has been really encouraging is the range of professions of people requesting the training material – we have heard from professors, botanists, zoologists, ecologists, marine biologists, environmental health officers, students and PhD candidates from across the globe. It has been particularly exciting knowing that students are gaining knowledge and experience from this material.  Apart from our map above (which tracks where we’ve got emails from people), the region statistics from YouTube also showed a broad geographical range of viewers – 89 regions in total!

We hope to add more videos in future and look forward to seeing more people take advantage of these resources (we might be already working on an update for QGIS 3.0…).

If you would like to get started with this training, please contact us at training@gaiaresources.com.au for a copy of the training data. Our custom and classroom style QGIS training courses are also still available, and information about those and our online training offerings can be found on our website.  We’ve been doing quite a bit of custom training lately – so get in touch if you need help!

We’re always keen to hear your feedback on training and what else you would like to see as part of the video series, so please get in touch with our team via the training@gaiaresources.com.au or start a conversation with us on our  Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn feeds.

Happy mapping!

Tracey

The post Mapping All Over the World appeared first on Gaia Resources.

On this trip, we provided an overview of GRID’s new features with staff from the various offices of the South-West Catchments Council (SWCC).  Staff came from across the South-West region of Western Austalia, including some remote participants connecting via Google Hangouts.  The Bunbury Regional Library provided a computer room to serve as our “classroom” for the day and was conveniently just a stone’s throw from Café 140 (side note: they didn’t have cafes as nice as this one when I lived in Bunbury!).  As seems to be expected when you hire rooms, there were some technical difficulties with the projector and wifi, but we pushed on.

These sorts of events provide us with the perfect opportunity to interact directly with our customers to really immerse them in the material we are presenting, seek feedback on how GRID is performing for them, and build a picture of what enhancements and functionality that they would like to see.  As we revealed each feature in detail and fielded questions from participants a few things became apparent…

GRID can’t be a one size fits all

GRID serves multiple purposes for multiple people, even just within one organisation. Among attendees that day alone we had people who relied on SWCC GRID for data management, data extraction for further interrogation in a desktop GIS program (mainly QGIS, which we have been helping SWCC with for a while now – and released our environmental training as a free on-line course recently), a range of mapping and reporting tasks, investigating what activities are taking place in neighbouring regions, and even managing volunteer groups and their associated on-ground activities.

With such a diverse range of applications by the people that use it, it’s clear GRID needs to be versatile, and any additions we make must both cater to the needs of one group of people whilst also not limiting others. This balance can be delicate and tricky to achieve, despite our clients all being in the NRM space, and is something we are continually attempting to improve.

Showing is better than telling

As we’ve come to suspect, it seems that most people don’t read our email communications or the release notes that document the new features that we release in each new GRID build, so although we had excitedly described these new features previously, most people in the room were unaware the features even existed.  As an example, as we described the ‘new’ filtering options (which were released in 1.3 back in September 2017), faces lit up around the room.

“I didn’t even know I could do that”.

“That’s going to be great for ____”

This has led us to rethink the way we announce upgrades and features in future and really assess the best way to convey the information so that it reaches people, and they truly understand the new features and what they can do… perhaps time for more online videos!

Having time for discussions is critical

With these GRID training ‘update’ sessions, Chris and I have endeavoured to create a comfortable training environment without too rigid of a structure. The benefit to this personable approach is participants relax and talk to us honestly about anything and everything GRID-related, giving us some very valuable feedback. The little ‘whinges’ that people may have had at the back of their mind tend to get expressed, and often they are actually things that are caused by a misunderstanding, and many are already solvable, or are easily fixable.

Best of all, the things that aren’t immediately rectifiable help us to create two lists – a ‘Fix It’ list for immediate investigation when we get back to the office, and a ‘Wishlist’ for future upgrades. Being face to face with clients really allows us to flesh out Wishlist ideas and bounce them off others in the room for refining.  This all goes into our work towards the next roadmapping session we will have with our customers for GRID (where we’ll roll out the GRID Bucks, just like we did last year).

Chris discussing enhancement ideas with Joanna while we show off some shiny new GRID features.

This particular session with SWCC was jam-packed with information, both giving and receiving, and went well and truly went over schedule. But the invaluable feedback we received made every minute worthwhile.

Some other learning curves for me in particular:

• Some of our descriptions of the new features were a little confusing for participants, because I had assumed (wrongly!) that all attendees were well-practiced in using GRID. We need to put aside any assumptions and cater to the least experienced people in the room, which can be a real challenge – but that’s something to work on in future.
• During demos, everything can go wrong will go wrong. Wifi, projectors, remote connections, internet speeds… So we need to be (even more) prepared, set up exceedingly early, and have a backup plan for everything – and make sure a good cafe is close by!
• And speaking of which, put a time limit on coffee breaks or you’ll lose half the class for an extended period!

We always love catching up with the crew at SWCC and for me, I got to put more faces to the names I hear on the phone.  I know that all our team are very grateful to have such a fantastic client relationship and look forward to putting all the feedback to use.

If you’d like to know more about GRID, or how we can deliver training for you, then feel free to contact either email myself or Chris, call us on (08) 92277309 or start a conversation with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Tracey

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The new introductory video for Dolphin Watch

We’ve taken a range of feedback from the volunteers into consideration with the new design, and included some new features that will make the app more user-friendly and accessible.  Given the success of the original DolphinWatch app, we wanted to keep the design and functionality very similar. A few volunteers mentioned that the light blue text could be difficult to see in full sunlight, so we enhanced the interface with darker text, larger font and an overall cleaner design.

The new screens for the new version

Previously, the location of a record was calculated using the GPS coordinates of the volunteers current location. We have kept this functionality but have introduced a new ‘Map Mover’ feature (which we first tested in PrawnWatch), which allows volunteers to shift the location of a record with a simple touch-and-drag motion. This feature will allow volunteers to more accurately report sightings, and will hopefully reduce the number of ‘land dolphins’ recorded!

The main purpose of the DolphinWatch app is to undertake “timed surveys”, where trained volunteers record their time spent monitoring for dolphins, making records of any dolphins that are observed, or providing absence data (there’s a certain #nodolphin tag heavily in use by one person in our office…). Previously, volunteers had to be within the zones that were set around Perth’s Swan River to initiate the survey function, but with DolphinWatch 2.0, you have the ability to perform surveys anywhere (although only those within the Swan River will count towards the River Guardians surveys).

Another new component added to surveys is the option to fill out details about a dolphin straight away, or create “stub” records to fill in later – the latter being ideal for volunteers who are performing surveys on the move.  This was one of the most requested features by volunteers, who often survey the river in kayaks, or along the banks on their bicycles. While we wouldn’t encourage you to use your phone and ride your bike at the same time, it means you can pull over and make a quick record before getting back on your bike.

 The new “stub” record

We believe these new features will greatly enhance the user-friendliness, accuracy and scope of utilisation of the app.  We’re also talking to the volunteers regularly through our support process, and we are already tweaking the app to make sure that it works well on as many combinations of operating system and device as possible (which is one of the headaches of any mobile project). One of the strengths of the River Guardians project is this strong engagement – a real key to any citizen science project.

This app uses our new mobile and web based toolkit for citizen science, which we have internally called Project Hydra.  The aim of the Project Hydra toolkit is to enable us to be able to fulfill a range of needs (hence the reference to the multi-headed beast) and we are looking to produce several more of these “next generation” apps using this toolkit in the coming months.  We’ll produce more blogs on these as they are released.

If you have any questions about Dolphin Watch, or our services in building citizen science apps, feel free to drop us a line, or start a conversation with us via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. And if you have any problems with the app, please let us know!

Tracey

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It was a very picturesque setting for the training!

We began the session by addressing any issues – assisting in initial registration, correcting forgotten login details and updating the app on people’s phone – as well as getting to know the volunteers. It was lovely to put a face to the names behind the vast amounts of data and photographs that get submitted, as well as to  share ideas. Despite coming from different walks of life there was a clear passion common across the volunteers for protecting the wildlife, maintaining the health of the waterways and keeping the parks and amenities clean.

In between mastering the Dolphin Watch app everyone collected a rubbish bag and a grabbing stick and began cleaning up the foreshore. Despite ample rubbish bins about there was a disappointing amount of litter, particularly cigarette butts and filters. But it wasn’t all bad – a passing jogger managed to gasp in enough oxygen to thank people, and we found a 20 cent coin!

Smart phones have opened up a world of data input to extremely valuable members of the public, and once the less confident volunteers were shown how to use the Dolphin Watch app you could see the immediate increase in enthusiasm. One member even commented, “Who knew I’d enjoy a smart phone as much as my grand children?”

If you would like to read more about the Dolphin Watch program or become a Dolphin Watcher, visit the River Guardians website, and to download the Dolphin Watch app or read about Gaia Resources’ citizen science projects you can visit our Citizen Science Hub.  And if you have any problems with your own Dolphin Watch app, send us an email via dolphinwatch@gaiaresources.com.au, and we’ll get in touch to resolve any problems you might have.

Tracey

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