Early this summer, you may recall that I spent a couple days working with Dave and Paul from Mysticetus, a software company that designs data collection programs for marine mammal researchers. The excitement of having new technology was infectious and our interns were also chomping at the bit to get it going. I took my laptop on the boat a bunch of times to test out the program. Each time, I found things to tweak, but it still wasn’t how I wanted it to be. I continued to work to customize the program to make it more specific to our needs and our whales. After collecting data in a specific format for over 20 years, modifying this base system to reflect all that data was a lofty goal, especially expecting to have it up and running for our busy summer season.
So why bother? The idea behind this new way for us to collect and analyze data was that it will streamline our data collection and entry processes. No longer will we need to spend hours entering pages and pages of handwritten data and then trying to find all the transcription errors! Why do our maps show whales on land?? With this system, we can just hit a button and the location is automatically recorded. No chance for error, or sightings on land! Maps (with appropriate sightings) are generated every day! The amount of time, and pain, spent on entering, proofing and analyzing data will be minimized, making more time for me to do the important things in life, like saving the whales! And of course there is all that paper- two 4-drawer filing cabinets full of data sheets.
My expectations to have this up and running for the prime summer season were high. Little did I know how much time it would take for me to learn and modify the program (the user guide is 130 pages…), let alone teach it to my interns and staff. As the summer pressed on, and we were continuing our old ways of manual (pen and paper) data collection, I figured it was best to keep everything consistent for season and not introduce new technology part way through.
My new goal ito have it up and running on ruggedized laptops designed to work on boats (in the elements) next spring, and to incorporate a training program for the interns and naturalists who will be using this! To all of our supports who backed this system from the beginning, I thank you! We couldn’t have gotten as far as we did without you and I really look forward to the path this will take us in the future!
