Aaron, here is another example of different individuals in the same record. Had they been different species how would you deal with this. They should have been posted as two records!
These frogs were in the same tiny wheel-rut pond. I think it was appropriate to post them together. If they were different species, an administrator could make the observation and have the record corrected.It's not unusual to see in a tree male and female birds that may not be close enough for one photo. I see nothing wrong in including them in one post. I recently posted a pair of yellow-bellied water skinks of different patterns. A pair of Gang-gang that I posted was, as the result of the post, used this week in The Chronicle. Should I have split the photo and recorded them separately?
We have to allow for different individuals to be in the same record. With water birds, for example, it is common to have various species congregating together. And with plants we can have lots of species in one photo. John Bundock is quite correct in this case, and the moderator can advise the user if there is a problem.
That's fine when it can't be helped but my concern still stands. I would not encourage contributors to post one record when they have different individuals in different images and know it. I appreciate that the moderators can sort it out if it happens as in the cases you list. I am just trying to encourage a semblance of credibility and accuracy rather than watering down a good data base unnecessarily. Aaron, you have been silent so far! If there are multiple species in the one image such as the water birds referred to here, they are all good records but I am unclear how as a moderator I would deal with it? It seems that a separate record for each species is called for but that may already be in place.
Thanks Johns and Michael - one of the jobs for the near future is to establish a users guide and thesaurus for Canberra Nature Map. This will hopefully clarify positions like this. I think the basic rule would be to try and avoid posting multiple species, and that if the photographer has any doubt as to whether two individuals are one of the same or different species then they would be encouraged to lodge separate reports.
Hi John. I appreciate your concerns. Generally in photos there is a primary target of focus, be it plant or bird or insect, and that can be taken as the selected species. If the background species appear to be interesting, say for an insect sitting on a flower, the moderator can suggest the user put in an extra sighting. We also want the users to enjoy the experience of contributing to CNMap, and since some are quite naive about what they are doing we have to allow for some flexibility and tolerance.
All good, I agree with all the sentiments so far. Lets hope the user guide Michael is forecasting will help contributors and moderators as expected. I think in the future I will still note in the comments my suspicion of different individuals in any posting I examine, not as a criticism but to draw attention to any future issues that may occur with the record. If the contributor takes something from it, so much the better. The records from so called "naive" contributors far outweighs any concerns I have here.
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