Penguin Watch Talk

" Looks like we're temporarily out of data to classify. Please check back later! ..."

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Hello, lovely moderators. Any information about this message we're seeing?

    Posted

  • banthesun by banthesun

    Wow! We did it! We counted all the penguins!

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    Yes! We did it!!

    One portion of data was completed. We have to wait for a new one which could take a few days. Depends on the developers. I'm going to notify them about.

    I'd like to thank you all for such an awesome work you did here!!

    Hope that the new portion will arrive soon so you could continue counting.

    Please, be patient 😃

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Yippee!

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator

    Dear classifiers!

    Here is a new blog post by Tom Hart for you all! 😃

    Last trip – on the way home.

    As for the new data, everything from this year(!) should have been loaded in about 2 weeks. The team is very busy and will try their best to manage it in time.

    Please, be patient and don't forget to check the board so you won't miss it when it comes .)

    Cheers,

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • nthrockmorton by nthrockmorton

    Oh no! We can hardly wait!

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to nthrockmorton's comment.

    I am really sorry for you. Have you tried some other project? I think that Annika may be interested in counting other animals too. Here is a list of other projects. I think that Snapshot Serengeti could be the one? I know they are not really penguins, but it could be fun anyway.

    Zuz

    Posted

  • mkmcguir by mkmcguir

    I am having penguin withdrawl..........

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    I'm out in the garden with my stuffed penguin, Simon, looking for pebbles - hope springs eternal! I neeeeeed penguins 😉
    Snapshot Serengeti is a good make-weight. My first picture featured 4 huge grey legs and one vaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast stomach - I hope that I got the assessment right - an elephant. 😄
    Unlike our penguins, the cameras on Snapshot turn out to be too tempting and many have been chewed by hyenas and the like. When the project ran out of funds they appealed to the public for help - and even auctioned off some of the cameras. Yummmmm...one mangled camera covered with dried hyena spit. Makes an interesting article on the mantlepiece I guess 😄

    Now - where did I put those penguin pebbles.....

    Posted

  • nthrockmorton by nthrockmorton in response to AvastMH's comment.

    We feel your pain Joan! Annika was in tears last night and again today as she explained to her grandmother that they ran out of penguins to count. If that isn't encouragement enough for the developers to work with urgency, I don't know what will do it!

    We will have to try out Snapshot Serengeti as a stop-gap. 😃

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to nthrockmorton's comment.

    I am really sorry about that, Nick. I will look what we can do about it..

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    I'm back from vacation today, on Tuesday. I will try my hardest to get an update from the devs tomorrow morning as soon as I can (sometime during the work day, Chicago time).

    The urgency is palpable, believe me--!!

    Posted

  • caitlin.black by caitlin.black moderator, scientist, admin

    Thanks for all of your hard work with the project so far.

    Not to worry- we have plenty more images that need annotating- and they are all fresh and new from this past field season. We hope to have those images up and running ASAP and will be sure to notify you on here when they are.

    Thanks again!

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Well, Annika, the BBC has come to our rescue with a blog about research into why penguins waddle. They are at the start of this journey into that wonderfully comic walk. But you can see how the scientists are finding out more about it by using tempting fishy treats 😃 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31910427

    Here are some images from Serengeti. Quite a lot of them just show beautiful grass lands and exotic flat-topped trees in the great African grasslands. But here is one of a wildebeest and friends:

    http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/913/Fi3vO0.jpg

    If you are not sure of what the beast is there is a simple drop down list ('looks like') that gets you into a useful list. Each animal on the list has three photos of it (select the animal and THEN look for the little spot radio buttons under the bottom right of the picture). Here's the simple 'looks like' list:

    http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/537/CYtdfi.jpg

    And here's some zebras at night showing how I have numbered and identified them:

    http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/909/vjPIhh.jpg

    NOW - see if you can work out what this one is...it will make you laugh...

    http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/rQyUhi.jpg

    I popped it on SerengetiTalk: http://talk.snapshotserengeti.org/#/subjects/ASG001ceaz and if you go to that you can play all three photos of it - showing the swishing tail...(press the button marked 'play')

    Of course there is a tutorial, but I thought you might like to see a few pictures. 😃

    Even Serengeti is moving quickly as a project - if you want to try it now would be good - it is very very popular and is likely to end soon. Sadly the places shown are too far north to show the penguins that live on the southern tip of Africa (!)

    Happy pebbles!
    Joan

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Just a heads-up: We did reactivate some completed subjects so that there is still data on the site.

    Hopefully Annika has something that she can work with now, at least, while we work on getting new data out there!

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Great idea DZM - that's really kind! 😃

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    @DZM - Oh, thank you for taking care of Annika's penguin needs. I'll wait for the new data so she can enjoy these.

    Posted

  • caitlin.black by caitlin.black moderator, scientist, admin

    More images have been posted! Let the counting continue!

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to caitlin.black's comment.

    Oh, great. Thank you Caitlin 😃

    Posted

  • nthrockmorton by nthrockmorton

    You all are absolutely amazing. This will really make her day (her week really!). Thank you so much.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to nthrockmorton's comment.

    You are both very welcome! 😃

    Enjoy the penguins!

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • Nickypeng by Nickypeng moderator

    Thank you Caitlin, DZM and all the Zooites for getting the new penguins up so quickly. Annika was not the only one suffering from penguin deprivation!

    Nicky&Peng

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Hey everyone,

    Just a small clarification -- I've just checked with the team, and what is up is not actually new data, but reactivated old subjects to keep our valued penguin-holics like Annika with something to count while we work on processing new data. 😃

    Just wanted to be sure that that was clear! 100% fresh data should be coming next week!!

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to DZM's comment.

    Yes, it's perfectly clear! I'm glad that there are so many old images which won't run out too soon 😃 (hopefully) so Annika and others who can't wait for the new ones can happily continue their penguin routines 😉

    Zuz

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Any port - sorry, penguin, in a storm 😃

    Posted

  • mhwombat by mhwombat

    So glad to see penguins again! P-p-penguin withdrawal s-s-symptoms were getting b-b-bad.

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    @yshish- Just checking in. Are we still waiting for the new data? Still playing with old data? I hope Annika has been enjoying her visits here.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    Hi @Gardenmaeve

    I think they haven't uploaded them yet. I've just received a message by Tom, they have been travelling over the world these days and won't get back until 2nd April. Not sure whether the developers are able to upload them in the meantime or need to cooperate with the scientists..

    @DZM ? Have you got more information from the team? Please, correct me if I'm wrong.

    Thanks,

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Thank you, @Zuzi. That's what I had surmised, but wanted to check to be certain.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    You are welcome. I will notify you as soon as I get the information that new images have been uploaded.

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to yshish's comment.

    I checked with the developers. They're waiting for more data, and they expect to have it sometime next week... hopefully they can get it uploaded soon after that.

    That's all I've got for right now. Stay tuned! 😃

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to DZM's comment.

    Great! Thanks for the info, we are very patient 😃

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Thanks both! I'll wander in to check.

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    I just checked... we're still waiting on the science team to give us data. Can't really tell you how long yet... Hoping! 😃

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to DZM's comment.

    I should have a call with the scientists at the end of the week. They haven't come back from their travels yet.

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Thank you, @DZM and @yshish.

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    By the way- regarding those dark night photos with glowing penguin bellies to count: besides scrolling the page to block the stark white at the botton, the Chicago Wildlife Watch has a "dark page" option that makes it much easier to see such animals. Look at the top right of an ID image, see either a tiny sun symbol or a tiny moon.

    Might be helpful here.

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    The scientists are home again. Here's the latest blog: https://penguinlifelines.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/home-from-the-sea/

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    Thanks for sharing! We hope to get some new data from them super soon!!

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Sigh...Planting season is starting here. Fairly soon I'll have little time for my Penguin counting.

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Oh, that's sad! 😦 Sounds like you have a lot of garden to look after! Never mind - when you need to take a break from all that hot planting work you can pop by and enjoy the site of lots of cooling ice. 😃

    Best wishes!

    Joan

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Thank you, Joan. We're renovating a farm. Cover crops, planting, compost, chickens, fruit trees, vegetables, etc.
    Looking forward to the new data.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    Oh, that sounds like a lot of work for you! We're renovating a very old apartment and that's pretty time consuming too:(

    Best wishes! Hope to meet you here in a coffee break 😉

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    I second Zuzi! You've got your work cut out! Really good luck gardenmaeve. You will certainly need the odd coffee break 😃

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Good luck to you, @gardenmaeve --! Sorry that this last month or so has been short on the new penguin data. 😦

    Posted

  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    Ah well, we only have today anyway. I'll keep checking in. 😃

    Posted