The iNaturalist app is a free tool for engaging with the nature that is all around us. Snap a photo or record the call and the app asks you to ID your organism, as close to the species level as you can. If you don't know what you're looking at though, don't worry - the community of users works together to identify species.

In the first half of this workshop I'll introduce you to taking and uploading an observation in both the app and the web interface, as well as the basics of IDing organisms. There will be a more in-depth workshop on IDing species next week. I encourage you to have iNaturalist installed on your smartphone or tablet and follow along but it is not required at the start of the workshop. If you want to follow along for using the web interface, feel free to use one of the desktops in the classroom or bring your laptop.

The second half of the workshop will be a nature walk to practice using iNaturalist on our own devices.  If you haven't installed it yet, we can do that at this point.  We'll take a walk around the campus pond and get to know some of the overlooked diversity right beside us among the weeds, lichen, bugs, and birds. 

11:15 am - 12:00 pm instruction
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm nature walk

First of two workshops to prepare attendees to participate in the worldwide citizen science project City Nature Challenge 2024 for the Western Mass region.

Location: W. E. B. Du Bois Library, Calipari Room (Lower Level)