Zenco

Hi community, I am currently applying for a grant to further study marine turtles in the South-East Asian country Timor-Leste. Together with a small team, we were able to tag two green turtles this year and we will continue with this work next year to build a database and get a broader understanding of the turtle populations in the country. It looks like I am a bit lost in terms of planning and I want to make the most of the project. I will only be able to spend a bit more than a month in the country early next year (nesting season) working together with two local students I met during my last two trips to the country. I am a marine biology student and just finished the fourth semester so my knowledge is a bit limited and my expectations way out there sometimes. Basically, I am looking for a mentor I can ask for advice, someone who has experience with similar projects, biologging, population dynamics of marine reptiles, etc.. My lecturers at my Uni have no knowledge about the country and very basic experience and knowledge concerning marine turtles and biologging. I started this and the last project myself but as it goes, it grows and grows and it is getting a bit complex. I have a report written up about the work my team and I did so far. For everyone who is interested in giving me a hand, that would probably be a good thing to have a look at, point out some flaws, tell me what I did well or not and how we can improve this thing to make the most of it and to not screw up the funds I might get. Most important for me at the moment is to figure out how to navigate around seaturtle.org and get data online available for the public. Cheers, David

A friend of mine had an accident with his motorbike a couple of years ago. After six months in coma he is regenerating slowly now and he has to learn everything from scratch including reading, talking, how to use his body, walking and all the things we do every minute so thoughtlessly. Just like he was reborn in an adult body together with most of his memories. He is 36 now and if you'd ask him about your doubts of not being able to learn everything over a certain age, he'd probably just laugh.

I kinda enjoyed writing the report in the end. It was the first one I wrote not as a part of a uni project and I only just started the third semester so I am still a bit unconfident about the whole process. Thanks for cheering me up though!

Just what I find when I look at some articles I read recently. When I find them on google scholar some of them will tell me how many readers they had so far and most of them are in the low one-hundreds. It just gives me a feeling that there is no big interest in those articles. Anywhere. How does research reach the people who are no scientists and who would have a hard time reading a scientific report? The majority of people is receiving our work cropped down in a news article like on iflscience.com. We need to be changed, right? So that we can help ourselves and survive on this planet. What's the purpose of collecting data every day if it is only published after years of research sometimes when the project is done? Couldn't it be important to know certain facts beforehand? Important findings should be thought to everyone because we all live here. That's what main stream media is for but sadly it is used for advertising rubbish and stuff that rather damages the environment. Maybe I am too young to value an office as a work place. I am not talking about not publishing any reports at all. I just don't see the point to write reports for every day in the field, every meeting, every time my colleague farts and then an annual report as well. I think it is a waste of time/money/resources. Maybe one annual report would be enough. In the mean time, all the data gets fed into a global system and is free to access. Sure people have copy rights on it but everyone can at least see it and know what is going on before the paper work is done. Just a vision of mine... No comment.

Hi community, Since this is my first post here I will take a couple of sentences to introduce myself. I am a 3. semester marine biology student. Over my holidays I somehow managed to work as a consultant for an international organisation in a small country in South-east Asia. I worked on a marine turtle surveying project and helped to build capacity and awareness towards conservation in this country. Now coming back to New Zealand and going back to uni I am still working on the reports for the organisation I conducted fieldwork for. Due to listening to Alan Watts this morning (he is a philosopher I really like), I realised like so many times before that he is right when we talk about things we like doing and things we have to do because our boss or society wants us to do so. However, especially when working in science barely people spend more than 1/3 of their time doing what they do but recording what they do. Why do we write reports which are barely read by anyone? Does scientific research ever make headlines or changes anything because of an outstanding report? Sure, I don't like writing reports and English is not my first language which is challenging sometimes wanting to be all correct as Germany told me so. I just cannot understand why writing reports to the extent we do today is so important. Wouldn't it be enough to just list facts on an international database for good? A platform where we can upload the data we collect in the field and whoever needs it can take it. I wouldn't be surprised if something like that does exist already but is just not accepted yet because certain people want to "own" the date they collected. To me that only means that they don't give a fuck about this place and are just after money or want to boost their career. If I would not have to write the report of my turtle research but could just feed the raw data into some kind of system I would have the time this weekend to go down to Farwell Spit where over 650 Pilot whales beached 2 days ago, get my hands dirty and do what I do or what I want to do. I could prepare for the next field trip, study or just watch a movie. Making changes for others but as a student mostly for myself. Remember that we will be life-long students. Sitting behind a computer screen to look at my data, shift it around and construct some smart words around it to sound "evident" to then have someone else look at my data does not change anything. I am young and barely have experience. And it might not sound that way but I am living my dream. I am just not happy with the speed this planet and its' people are changing. If we would not spend so much time reporting, talking and negotiating, we might be able to make the necessary changes before it is too late. If there is anyone here who can refer me to someone with the same idea or thoughts, please don't hesitate to give me contacts or leave your thoughts here, I'd appreciate it and probably anyone else who had a think about that subject. Cheers,