AmSci Opportunities

The Wilderness Institute at the University of Montana features a Citizen Science program that is a wonderful opportunity for our amateur research friends up north to explore their local natural wildlands and contribute to the region’s scientific monitoring.

They consider the contributions from their volunteers to be quite valuable and they seems quite supportive of the citizen science movement. The institute has programs going on right now, so visit the website by following the link below and contact the group to join in the activities. You might even make into an upcoming photogallery update!

[ VISIT PROGRAM ONLINE ]

If you are a Citizen Scientist involved with the Wilderness Institute, please let us know about your experiences by posting a comment below.

Not living in Montana, but want to explore a wilderness near you? Check out the national locater map at Wilderness.net sponsored by The University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation.

Beautiful falling space debris from the latest 1992 passing of Comet Swift-Tuttle will once again grace our sky early in the morning of August 12, 2008. Drive far away from city lights and venture with your family and friends to enjoy the show. The Perseid meteor shower should provide another good viewing this year with possibly one to two meteors each minute.

Read the following NASA news article to learn more and plan for a show of nature that will certainly be exciting and fun to watch.

“The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower” :: Science@NASA Headline News :: July 22, 2008 :: [ READ ]

The Division of Historical Resources in New Hampshire is offering a wonderful opportunity for citizen scientists to learn new skills, have some summer fun “hunting in the woods,” and to provide important discoveries on regional historical landmarks and resources.

There is no digging required, just a little bug repellent (and apparently a small fee of $25 to help cover the basic costs)… and short training courses, or “field schools,” are available to prepare the inexperienced. In particular, the State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program (or SCRAP) is looking for locations of old building foundations–called cellar holes–from communities that once existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Amateur archaeologists, can you dig it, carefully?” :: by Dave Brooks :: The Nashua Telegraph :: July 16, 2008 :: [ READ ]

Learn more about historical archaeology from The Society for Historical Archaeology, including their Current Project List.

Microsoft Research recently released the WorldWide Telescope (WWT) software, which provides seamless access to astronomical data via an advanced interactive interface.

The name “WorldWide Telescope” comes from the description by Alex Szalay and Jim Gray in 2002 of a new genre of astronomical research that would recognize and utilize the vast resources that were becoming available on the World Wide Web. As that grid of resources becomes a unified reality with the infrastructure provided by the VO efforts, Microsoft Research and the Space-Time Consortium at Harvard are developing WWT to unify these distributed resources on the astronomer’s desktop.

“The VO Inside WorldWide Telescope” :: NVO Newsletter Issue 2: June 2008 :: [ READ ]

(The above introduction was re-published with permission from Sarah Emery Bunn of the US National Virtual Observatory.)

The northern prairie skink (taxonavigation) of Manitoba, Canada is disappearing from the cold landscape. Although apparently thriving in the United States, fewer remain up north and the little critter was officially deemed endangered by the federal government in 2004 and is currently under review by the Endangered Species Advisory Committee.

Much of this increased awareness was directly influenced by the work of one citizen scientist, Errol Bredin, who has spent most of his life since childhood chasing down the quick little lizard, who has the ability to loose and regrow its tail if pulled too hard.

Now, a new Internet-based community group has been formed called “S.O.S” … “Save Our Skinks” … with key member, Doug Collicutt, the publisher of the Nature North e-zine. S.O.S is calling on the local citizenry to report rare skink sightings and support Skinkfest to raise additional awareness. An organized citizen science-based program is not yet developed, but they are certainly looking for more support to grow the program.

Dr. Pamela Rutherford at Brandon University is also formally studying the species, and is planning to use technology to help record underground skink activity that has never been seen before. Coupled with the potential amateurs in the area, a clear picture of skink survivability can be determined with the hope of saving the species from further decline over the next decade.
“Endangered Species: Canada’s Rarest Reptile – ‘Darn hard to study, the little beggars'” :: globandmail.com:: July 12, 2008 :: [ READ ]

Learn more about skinks and the interesting S.O.S prgram.

Since 1995, thousands of Britons have participated in the citizen science bird monitoring programs though the British Trust for Ornithology. In particular, the BTO is looking for people interested in developing personal garden habitats to help survey how birds use gardens and how this use changes with the season.

Learn more about the Garden Birdwatch program and how to get involved in Great Britan

“The British Trust for Ornithology is putting a call out to armchair birdwatchers, particularly those who took part in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.” :: Garden Birds.edu :: [ READ ]