“Use GPS-enabled digital cameras to photograph Arctic wildlife 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and contribute to a growing online citizen science database.” Sounds like a pretty great adventure, or an excellent line in a job description, right? While it might be both, it’s also what a group of teens will be doing this summer at Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge with bv02’s support.
bv02 worked with Arctic Watch last summer to build their website and create a series of videos that captured the beauty of the lodge and its natural surroundings, a beauty that not many get to see in person; with limited capacity, spots at the lodge are in high demand, and it’s a long trip to get there. However, those who make the trip are always in awe of the lodge’s beautiful surroundings, and for the first time, this year that includes young visitors who are part of the Steve Amarualik Youth Leadership Expedition program. It’s a seven-day residential summer program at Arctic Watch that allows youth from 14 to 19 years of age to experience the incredible beauty and wilderness experiences of the Arctic.
There are several components to this arguably coolest of summer camps, and one is the opportunity to observe and collect data on amazing wildlife; visitors routinely see muskox, beluga whales, polar bears and other Arctic creatures. To help the teens engage with and collect data about their wildlife encounters (while maintaining a safe distance) bv02 set up a digital component to the program. Using waterproof digital cameras that record the GPS co-ordinates where the photo was taken, teens will take pictures of the wildlife they see and then upload those photos, along with the location data, to the Project Noah platform.
Project Noah is a digital tool that helps “citizen scientists” document and share their experiences with wildlife. After meeting Yasser Ansari, founder and CEO of Project Noah, at UNTETHER.talks, bv02 quickly realized it was the perfect platform to help the Arctic Watch Youth Leadership Expedition participants collect and share the data and photos they gather. Once all of the data is entered, it will be collected on a bv02-built, centralized portal on the Arctic Watch website, offering the world important insight into Arctic wildlife.
This program will be taking place from July 27th to August 3rd, with bv02’s own Andrew Milne traveling to Arctic Watch to train participants on collecting data through digital technology, and Matt Davidson there to provide a myriad of technical support for this and other Arctic Watch programs (live feed of beluga whales anyone? Don’t worry, more on this later.)
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