Supporting Science: A New Collaborative Approach to Supporting Verification

Supporting Science is a small project with a big ambition, to smooth butterfly and moth data flow and support volunteer data verifiers. Butterfly Conservation have experimented with new approaches; iRecord training to attract and develop new verification volunteers and systems changes to support the task of verification. Hear about the successes and lessons from their collaboration with partners and volunteers. The project was made possible by funding from DCMS and the National Lottery, distributed by The Heritage Fund as part of their Digital Skills for Heritage initiative.

Q&A with Rachael Conway and Martha Henson

Rachael Conway has worked as a Project Officer for Butterfly Conservation for 7 years and last year played a pivotal role in the Supporting Science team, particularly on the delivery of iRecord training in partnership with the FSC. Martha Henson is the lead consultant for Tech Works For Us and joined the Supporting Science team to run the user research and support the development of the verification software.

How much time does it take to verify records?

Each county recorder approaches datasets in a different way and some counties generate more records than other. Some county recorders do need help and they have a team of verifiers doing different jobs, such as one person might deal with spreadsheets that come in and one person might deal with records coming in through iRecord.

How do you become a butterfly or moth verifier on iRecord?

You can start by just taking on the verification of one species, which can help with a county recorders workload. It has to be done on a case by case basis but if you are keen to support you can get in touch with us.

Can we not just use AI for verification, why do we need people to do it?

It is very dependant on the taxon groups that you have. The feeling is that AI could have a supporting role for the verification of some distinctive taxon groups in the future, but it is very unlikely to replace people.