Worm Watch Lab Talk

What if there are eggs before the video starts?

  • arfon by arfon

    I've seen a number of examples where there are already eggs in view before the video starts. I'm assuming I should not be marking these?

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    That's right, please only make eggs that are laid by the worm during the video, not eggs that are already on the plate even if they are touching the side of the worm.

    Posted

  • geckzilla by geckzilla

    Perfect. Just what I was wondering.

    Posted

  • KyleKelly by KyleKelly

    This is a piece of information that should be included in the tutorial.

    Posted

  • kmasterdo by kmasterdo translator

    Thanks for providing that information, that's very helpful.

    Posted

  • matthewdurepos by matthewdurepos

    Is it normal that so far, the vast majority of the videos I have watched have not had egg-laying events? Or am I just not noticing it?

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    Yes, that's normal. Only a small fraction of the videos will have egg-laying events, but they are there. Thanks for persevering.

    Posted

  • pilopiloCH by pilopiloCH

    i quote KYLEKELLY, should be added to the tutorial.

    Already happened once to me. Hope it won't bring problems to the project...

    Posted

  • bumishness by bumishness admin in response to kylekelly's comment.

    Many thanks for the input everyone. I've added a bit in the tutorial about this.

    Posted

  • andika by andika in response to aexbrown's comment.

    aha, I thought only me got many videos without egg-laying events
    seems that I have to be much more patient 😄

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist in response to andika's comment.

    Yes, patience is important. It does make it all the more exciting when you finally see some though 😃

    Posted

  • david.gilbert by david.gilbert

    either i am doing something wrong but my worms are static with a square rotating and the X does not move to next video

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    The rotating square means the video is loading. If it takes a long time I would try refreshing the page. Instead of x you can also click the finished button on the lower right, but only once the video is finished.

    Posted

  • chaoticidealism by chaoticidealism

    I find it interesting just to watch their behavior even when they don't lay eggs. They have... what, a thousand-some cells? And still they behave in a rather complex way. Of course a cell is very complex in and of itself, and they've had a long time to evolve to fit their niche, but... still, wow.

    Posted

  • Mizaru by Mizaru

    Hmm, I think I saw it in the tutorial?

    Posted

  • beckendorf by beckendorf

    How do I get back to the tutorial? I guess I didn't memorize all of it when I saw it.

    Posted

  • goalie1998 by goalie1998

    do we mark eggs only when they leave the worm, or when they are formed?

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist in response to beckendorf's comment.

    I don't think there's a button to get back to the tutorial. Does it work to log out and log back in again?

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist in response to goalie1998's comment.

    Only mark eggs that are laid by the worm during the video you're watching, i.e. only mark the eggs that pop out of the side of the worm while you're watching.

    Posted

  • tlc1of3 by tlc1of3

    I was also wondering if I should count egg which appear prior to the start of the video. thanks for the clarification.

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    Hi tlc1of3, please only mark eggs that are laid during the video, not any that were already there on the plate before the start of the video. Thanks for your help!

    Posted

  • philomena by philomena

    do you see the egg coming out of the body, what does that look like

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    Yes, you can see the egg coming out of the body. For an example (as well as a tip!), see Vicky's latest blog post:
    http://blog.wormwatchlab.org/2014/08/06/tip-2-pause-and-scroll/

    Posted

  • philomena by philomena

    Thanks aexbrown, great help. I just dont seem to see many eggs.

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    It's true, the eggs are quite rare (like treasure 😃 . Expect something like 1 every 30-50 videos.

    Posted

  • johndpieper by johndpieper

    Occasionally I will be told I saw no eggs being laid but a previous user saw the worm laying 335 or 525 eggs. How could that be?

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    The previous user is wrong, and must have just leaned on their keyboard or something. 😃

    I would highly advise against ignoring anything that previous user's mark... use your own judgement. I very, very frequently see previous users marking eggs that already exist when the video starts... how they think they know at what time to mark them is a mystery to me!

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    Hi aexbrown ,( from a year ago ), I count existing eggs before the video starts , because the worms sometimes move a long way, one cannot check the count after the video but it should be a lot easier (is for me ) to see new eggs as the worm(s) move away from the old eggs . Where the worms do not move far just recount the old eggs, after the video ends . Obviously if the old egg count changes I then do a replay and check again . To me , the most important part of the exercise is getting as near as possible to the correct count of eggs . I hope this is helpful . cheers Ian

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Hi @shocko61, just to be clear, you're saying that you "take a count of" or "take stock of" the existing eggs, right? So that you know how many new ones there are? We definitely don't want to mark them! I think that's exactly what you're saying; I just want to be sure.

    Thank you for all your contributions!!

    Posted

  • aexbrown by aexbrown scientist

    Hi Ian, It's true that we want the most accurate count of new eggs. Part of what we want is the timing of the egg laying, so it's important to only mark eggs that are laid during the clip you're watching. Eggs that are already present will have been laid (and hopefully marked!) in a previous clip.

    In terms of scrolling back through the video, I do find that useful for getting the timing of the egg laying just right.

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    Hi aexbrown , sorry I took so long to get back to you on this , yes I count the old eggs first . Then at the end and ONLY use the difference only to verify the new egg count . You mentioned getting the egg times just right , so I will scroll back and try to be a bit more correct with my times at present I do seem to be half or more of a second behind the event . That is because the system was accepting my times . Sorry about all of that . Cheers Ian

    Posted

  • JanetCCS by JanetCCS

    What if eggs are attached to the worm as the video starts. I've been counting those as it seems to be in the middle of an egg laying event. Should I not be counting those?

    Posted

  • Quia by Quia moderator

    Just mark events where you see the egg come out of the side of the worm. That's the egg laying event.

    The time when the worm leaves the egg behind and you can see the egg on it's own might be more obvious, but we want to classify when the egg first appears!

    Posted

  • smallvillenews by smallvillenews

    Too many other markers are marking eggs that are already present! You need to make it clearer that these eggs should not be marked!

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to smallvillenews's comment.

    It looks like more people are doing this than actually are, because it shows you others' classifications if even one other person has marked an egg.

    Most people are indeed doing it correctly, and that's all we need... the good classifications will make the questionable ones defunct. 😃 Citizen science!

    Posted