Following the recent launch of iNaturalist in the UK, led by the NBN Trust, we would like to know more about how individuals, organisations and groups are using iNaturalistUK to gather data and engage people in recording wildlife. We initially plan to set up a ‘focus’ group to meet online in September. This will be supported by an online survey to ensure we get feedback from as many users, and potential users, as possible.
Our initial four aims are to:
- Establish how iNaturalist / iNaturalistUK is currently used in the UK
- Establish what organisations want to use it for in future
- Identify how the NBN Trust, as the UK lead, can help you make best use of iNaturalistUK
- Discover what general improvements users would like to see *
We want to hear from you if you are already using iNaturalist or are interested in using it in future. You may run (or wish to run) projects using iNaturalist / iNaturalistUK, use iNaturalist / iNaturalistUK data, be a UK based iNaturalist curator, or be an individual, regular user wanting to share your experience.
We aim to co-ordinate and support the UK’s community of iNaturalist users, and to represent your views and interests with iNaturalist globally. The NBN Trust, together with our partners the Marine Biological Association and the Biological Records Centre, sit on the international iNaturalist Network Steering Group. This will enable us to share the UK community’s views and advocate changes that will benefit not just the UK, but users globally.
*For note, individuals can already make suggestions on how to improve iNaturalist directly through the iNaturalist Forum. This focus group is not intended to replace that option and users are encouraged to use that facility to make suggestions for ad hoc enhancements to the platform.
If you are interested in getting involved either by attending an online meeting or completing short surveys in future, please email inaturalistuk@nbn.org.uk with the following information
- Name
- Organisation / group name if appropriate
- Reason for wanting to be involved e.g. project organiser, data user, curator, regular user
We look forward to hearing from you.