Worm Watch Lab Talk

Hello, Worm Watch Lab!

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Hello, Worm Watch Lab Zooites! It looks like this board has been quiet for a while, but I wanted to stop by and introduce myself anyway…

    My name is Darren--DZM here on Talk--and I've just joined the Zooniverse team. I'm working on a few projects, first and foremost an overhaul of the Talk system. In particular, I’m interested in working to build a unified Zooniverse Talk within which individual project forums are nested.

    I don’t have any sort of biological or other scientific background, but I’m hoping to learn from everyone here! I’ll be around these boards as often as possible, looking for any other ways in which I can help out, so I’m always interested in hearing from you--questions, concerns, ideas, anything.

    In particular, if you have any additional ideas for how Talk can be improved, I'd love to know!

    See you all around!

    DZM

    Posted

  • m4ndara by m4ndara in response to DZM's comment.

    Hello DZM!

    You're right, it's really quiet here at Worm Watch Lab. I already feel a bit lonely 😉
    Unfortunately I don't have any ideas how to change this.

    Hope to see you around soon

    m4ndara

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    I'm really hoping that creating a wider Zooniverse forum system, a Talk where all the projects are nested within a larger forum, will encourage people to visit the discussion pages for other projects.

    Don't you think you (and others) would be more likely to chat on different projects if it wasn't so maddeningly hard to navigate to them? 😃

    Posted

  • m4ndara by m4ndara in response to DZM's comment.

    I'm not sure if I would chat on different projects. If I'm only interested in one or two projects, I don't think I would visit other discussion pages.
    On the other hand it could be a chance for some projects to become more popular. And that would be great! As I already mentioned it's a bit lonely here. 😉
    So I wish you luck and hope your unified Zooniverse Talk will be a success!

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    If anyone would like to know a bit more about me and my role, there's a new Zooniverse blog post up from Chris Lintott introducing me.

    Feel free to check it out, and I'm happy to answer any additional questions that you might have! 😃

    Posted

  • jackrcurtis by jackrcurtis

    I'd just like to say that i analyzed a couple hundred videos b4 I realized I was supposed to login first! This is a good way to discourage participation, so perhaps it should be corrected.

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Thanks for the note, @jackrcurtis ... most of our projects do indeed prompt the user to sign in at some point. I'm a bit surprised that Worm Watch Lab doesn't.

    I'll see what I can do about that!

    Posted

  • karoloff by karoloff

    I love the Zooniverse! I just started WormWatch - is there a way to turn off the highlights? I find them annoyingly distracting. Thank you, and thank you for finding a way for all of us science-lovers participate.

    Posted

  • Quia by Quia moderator in response to karoloff's comment.

    No, sorry. The highlights are part of the video processing, tracking the worms. I agree that they can be distracting sometimes. Have you tried watching the videos by dragging the progress bar instead of letting it play at normal speed? In addition to being faster, you can't really tell the outline is flickering.

    Posted

  • Orion9 by Orion9

    Ooh, thanks for the tip to speed up the videos, @Quia ! I'll give it a go on videos I've already watched first.

    Posted

  • Quia by Quia moderator in response to Orion9's comment.

    It really does speed things up a lot, especially with worms that stay in one spot! And then when you see an egg you can go to exactly the right time and mark it, rather than reacting as the video is playing.

    Posted

  • berko by berko

    All Zooniverse Projects, should be a part of every Science Curricula at all levels of Education. Many more minds, providing better average scores for algorithm ? development. Worms are cute and fun.

    Posted

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

    We agree! 😄 We're glad you think so! We have many projects with educator resources to allow teachers to incorporate Zooniverse into their lesson plans! 😃

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to Orion9's comment.

    Sometimes the dragging doesn't work well in Firefox, at least for me, FYI. You may want to try Chrome or Safari for dragging!

    Posted

  • Orion9 by Orion9

    I'm using Chrome and it (dragging) doesn't work as well as I'm comfortable with, so I just do other things in the meanwhile - like watch films. Though tonight it's subtitled Cargo, so I will likely not log many tonight.

    Posted

  • Quia by Quia moderator

    Reading subtitles while classifying is definitely hard mode! When I feel like having a lazy day, I put a on favorite TV show, and pull up a Zooniverse project. Sunspotter is particularly awesome for it, as each classification only takes a second or two once you get the feel for it. Watching worms takes enough of my attention I generally only get to listen to my show. 😃

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Multitasking is awesome!

    Posted

  • Liftoff-1 by Liftoff-1

    does seeing the eggs inside the worm count even though they aren't laid?

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Hm... no, I think it's the exact laying action that you need to mark. Although if they lay the egg but it sticks to the worm (impacted), that one you can mark! Use your judgement/best guess; you're probably right. 😃

    Posted