[obol] Re: Are birding e-mail lists obsolete?
- From: Brandon Green <brandon.green18@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 23:59:24 -0700
I haven't noticed a downtrend of posting rarities on OBOL, but that may be
due to inattentiveness on my part. It could also be due to the changing
dynamic in electronic communication. Several of my late-30s techie friends
have more or less abandoned e-mail and conduct their social communication
almost exclusively through Facebook and Twitter. I find these media to be
severely limiting, as I don't enjoy cramming my communication into two or
three sentences and would rather eat glass than succumb to condensing my
words into internet slang drivel ("OMG, ur my BFF luv u!!!!"). Of course,
I'm also the type of guy who stubbornly continues to double-space after
sentences and occasionally tells the young whippersnappers across the
street down to turn down their car stereos. Since I'm 39 going on 59, I'm
clearly a hopeless case and will continue to ignore all of the newfangled
trends that don't serve my needs. But I imagine that those who don't use
e-mail all that much anymore are going to be less willing to post to
traditional e-mail lists. eBird's BirdLog app makes entering data from the
field very easy and, for those not inclined to participate in e-mail-based
discussions, that's probably enough. So, yes, e-mail lists are slowly
becoming obsolete. However, there will always be a demand for discussion
forums, as there will always be folks who have questions. The future
forums will be modeled around the prevailing method of electronic
communication.
Regarding eBird, I use it very frequently, but not out of a sense of
obligation or community. Instead, I use it because (1) the BirdLog app is
much more convenient to bring into the field than a pencil and paper and
(2) it organizes all of my data and even gives me the option of sorting and
exporting the data into spreadsheets. (I'm not really into listing, but I
am a scientist and spreadsheets full of data are like crack cocaine to me.)
And because nobody is paying me to enter data into eBird, I'm fine with
using their service with zero obligation on my end. Occasionally, I may
want to bring my binoculars along for a walk in the woods and, if I don't
see anything particularly exotic, I won't bother reporting.
If I were forced to choose between the two, I'd go with the birding e-mail
lists and record my data manually into Excel. I value the discussion
aspect of forums such as OBOL much more than the ability to data-mine
eBird. Thankfully, neither of these outlets appear to be going anywhere
any time soon, so I won't have to make that decision.
Brandon
Eugene
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