WOW! What an amazing discussion this is getting to be - so much so that I
felt it might be time to join in. You see, I am one of those "wallflowers"
someone talked about - I tend to read and ponder the postings but do not
participate too much more than that. When it comes to birdwatching, I am
also not in the same category as most of you. I am a bird lover and a bird
watcher but would never go so far as putting myself in the "citizen
science" category but I love reading the stories posted here and on
Facebook about what everyone else is watching and counting and listing and
identifying. And I love the AABirding page on Facebook. It got me here.
I had read about MDOsprey in a couple magazines and had tried for a couple
years to get on that listserve to no avail. I supposed it was something
technical at the time, but now I find myself thinking it could have been
something along the lines of "exclusive members only" since reading some of
these postings lately. At any rate, I subscribed or tried to and never got
accepted. I got onto the Deleware listserve and I got onto the Arizona
listserve and tried quite a few other states/regions before deciding some
listserves were just too far away to be useful to me unless I were
traveling to that region. But Maryland's listserve eluded me (if an
inaminate thing can elude someone). I got onto Facebook to interact more
with my grandchildren. Along the way, I made contact with my high school
classmates from 40+ years ago and with folks I had served with in the
military.....they found me for the most part since I did little more
than "friend" the grandkids. But I did a search on "birding" and ultimately
found the page Dan Haas had set up. I was not a known birder in the county
or, to my knowledge, anyone that anyone had ever heard of but I was able to
start "talking" to experienced birders like Dan and felt welcome at that
site from the get-go. I have posted photos and got assistance in
identifying the birds I was seeing in Maryland and on vacations. I
have "met" some wonderful birders and gotten good information on places to
see and enjoy birds in Maryland and beyond. AABirding on FB gave me
information on the club which I joined and, ultimately, got into MDBirding
and was added to this new listserve.
As noted, FB got me here. Now, that might not mean much to some of you but
it meant something to me. So I have been following the postings lately with
some consternation. It appears that there are several categories of reasons
people do not like to even consider joining the FB forum (and it is
voluntary, as Mr. Hubrick points out):
1) There seems to be a school of thought that the FB forum is somehow going
to dilute and destroy the very foundations of MDBirding. I find it
difficult to imagine that having another forum is going to detract from the
first but I suppose it could encourage people to move from one forum to the
other and somehow there would be fewer postings to the listserve. But,
mostly it seems that having an alternate forum adds to the opportunities
and possibilities for people who love birds to interact. But the thought
that FB will somehow destroy MDBirding reminds me of something else --- I
am not young - I am old enough to remember some of my parents' friends who
throught that the new -fangled telephone was just gonna be another way for
the Government to control our lives (and considering the debates on the
Hill about privacy and patriotism and protection and wire-tapping, maybe it
is).
2) There also seems to be a belief that the FB page is something tawdry or
cheap and not worth the time of serious birders...that is it
used/frequented by people who are nothing more than riff-raff. No, you
didn't say "riff-raff" but the message is coming through nonetheless. It is
an interesting thought but somehow I think those type comments are made
with a certain amount of smugness and sense of superiority. For those of
you who are professional ornithologists and who do this for a living and
who take time to share, I do apologize; for the rest of you, get off your
high horses and mingle a little bit. There are some lovely people on
FB...some informative mentors who help the rest of us identify and
understand birds and nature....some artists who post photos of their
artwork....some excellent photographers who post their photos and give us
advice on how to get those magnificent shots....and some interesting and
funny people who share their stories and sightings with poetry and prose.
And, of course, those who respond when someone begs for directions and maps
to someplace where some rare bird has been spotted. And I a not just
talking about AABirding - there are quite a few groups out there and
joining them is very easy....no subscribing or waiting - mostly just "like"
the page and you're in. When I was planning a trip to the Grand Canyon,
I "liked" the Southwest Bird Observatory site and was able to get some
pointers on places to visit that turned out to provide some great birding
in the area. I also was able to email the manager of that site who gave me
some valuable information on which places were actually closed in the late
autumn/November and saved me some time/effort. Yes, I could have eventually
found him by googling Arizona and birding but FB made it easier. I still
get postings from SWBO...since I want to go back there again someday and so
I keep up with what's being sighted there.
3) There also seem to be those people who think of birding as "Citizen
Science" and only that and that somehow a FB forum is going to disrupt or
detract from those activities. I am more than appreciative of the science
aspects of the hobby and the listing and reporting and the records and the
need to participate in science. But, again, I am not sure how the FB page
takes away from that. The counts go on regardless of how you get to the
data or how the data gets to the database. And, the Great Backyard Bird
Count (GBBC) has a FB page and so does Cornell. I know because I
have "liked" those pages too and also "I Love Birding" and the pages for
Audubon and Cape May and a couple bird observatories along with several
others on FB. More forums provide more opportunities to add to the data,
not less. I expect there is some graduate student right now who has "liked"
every possible FB birding page and who is collecting data and figuring out
how the information can be gleaned and added to the big database in the sky
(or "cloud" as it were) and plugging along on his masters or doctorate
thesis using the information he/she is finding on FB. And the data will be
no less valuable than that collected on the listserves and at the
various "watches" throughout the country...it might be used differently and
validated differently but it still can be used to supplement other Citizen
Science activities.
4) Finally, there are those who do not know FB and who do not seem to
understand the value. That's okay. I am not crazy about Twitter - I did try
it but, as you can see, when I get going, it takes me way more than 140
characters to get something said. :) And, more and more, I do not like
using the telephone and I hate that people around me talk on the telephone
all day long....when they can post something to FB or just send a message
quite easily. :) And, I am reading more and more audio books on my IPOD, or
should I say listening to them, and I am reading less and less actual hard
copy books. Technology is a vast pool with many tools available to make our
lives more comfortable and enjoyable - dip in - use the tools you like,
leave the others alone. My mother-in-law still seems to prefer electric
fans to central air -- it is her preference and fits her lifestyle better.
Not me...give me central air anyday.......but I do not stop visiting her
just because she only uses electric fans. And I won't stop reading messages
on the listserves I am subscribed to...just because I find FB works better
for me on a daily basis. Next year or the next, there will be something
else and I will try that too. (And for those of you who just got offended
because you think I compared listserves to electric fans, let not your
hearts be troubled -- I would have to compare electric fans more to snail
mail and say that listserves and the FB forums are probably just different
kinds/brands of air conditioners were I taking that analogy that far.)
I do hope that I have not offended anyone too much....Like your postings,
this is just my humble opinon (or in FB, JMHO)...and, I am quite happy that
this forum and others exist to allow us to communicate more easily and to
express our humble opinions more openly and freely. For those who do not
agree - there's always "delete".
Thanks so much,
Joan Campbell
PS Dan - I saw the article in the paper about your band with your photo -
very nice.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Hubick <bill_hubick...>
Date:
Subject: [MDBirding] Thoughts on Facebook and Twitter
To: MDBirds <mdbirding...>
CC:
> Hey Everyone,
> There's no doubt about it, new technology is having major effects on
> birding. With digital photography, portable audio playback, smart phone
> apps, instant rarity alerts to tell you where to go, and much more, it's
> easy to feel overwhelmed. The most important thing to remember is that we
> don't have to play with all of them. While audio playback and eBird
> alerts are powerful tools, I have very mixed feelings about their effect
> on my birding. I use them sparingly because I don't like some of the
> nuances. Digital photography, on the other hand - I'm all in there, of
> course. The same should be true of all the communication technology. I
> think the list-serve is well-known and near and dear to our hearts. It's
> not going anywhere, and I still think it's the ideal medium for sharing
> the sort of information we're used to here and on
> MDOsprey. Facebook lends itself to more frequent, casual comments such
> as "Hey, where is Swan Creek?" (with 15 comments like "Swan Creek is
> awesome!") and discussion of common IDs. I for one prefer to have a
> list-serve with highly diverse content, but with some structure and
> minimum bar for posting. Many people have recently lamented the lack of
> more diverse posts on this list-serve, but dozens of photos of common
> birds and two line posts about being excited to see common species X
> would seem out of place here, especially if there were 50 such posts
> (including one-line comments) a day. Many would like it, but I dare say
> it would drive many more users away from a traditional list-serve.
> Facebook is perfect for that, and many people love it. Regarding a lack
> of diversity in posts on this list-serve, I believe the following to be
> true: 1) it's still young and finding itself (or rather, people are still
> finding there way here and many are still
> wallflowers), and 2) it's been a really, really hot summer! I don't think
> the technology or the forum itself is the limiting factor at all. I
> personally have the highest confidence that this Google group has
> long-term staying power and will continue to evolve into the ideal MD
> birding forum. I think Facebook is a fine supplement that leaves nothing
> to fear if it's not your style. Outreach to new and young birders is
> critical to our hobby and to conservation, so more power to Dan and
> others in hooking interested nature lovers via any technology out there.
> Again, I see no risk of replacement and no risk of missing rare birds
> because of new Facebook and Twitter resources. There will always be
> helpful communication-friendly folks out there sitting on all the forums
> who know when to cross-post. Casting the wider net, I am very confident,
> will only bring more and more rare birds to the community. Consider late
> season hummingbirds or rare feeder
> birds like Painted Butings. Having a network of local and statewide
> Facebook sites will result in a lot more "my neighbor says she still has
> a hummingbird" messages. I see all of this as a positive thing overall.
> We can (and should) totally opt out if we don't like a technology. If you
> don't like Facebook or Twitter (Twitter doesn't excite me, personally),
> don't use it. Our passions for nature should be fun, and unplugging from
> a couple feeds might be what some of us need. The risk to our existing
> comms network is non-existent, though, and protesting others
> experimentation with additional ways to keep in touch will just look like
> yelling at kids to get off our lawns. :)
> Have fun!
> Bill
> Bill Hubick
> Pasadena, Maryland
> <bill_hubick...>
> http://www.billhubick.com
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