Plankton Portal Talk

What am I looking at?

  • stargirl626 by stargirl626

    All I see is a bunch of specks and occasionally something that looks like it's alive but does not look like anything in the tutorial. Are these specks plankton? I looked at half a dozen images but I don't think this project is for me. I can't tell one thing from another. I don't think I can be of much help at all 'cause what I see doesn't fit. I'd like some examples and a magnifier. Sorry.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to stargirl626's comment.

    Hi @stargirl626,

    I'm sorry to hear you're confused and disappointed by the images you got to classify. There are lots of really cool ones to classify too.. they just go randomly to you and it may happen that a bunch of boring come to you and after going through you get some really cool ones instead... as it happens at all other projects.

    Have you look at the Field Guide? It includes image examples of each category! It is very helpful. Just open it in a new browser tab and scroll it down until you find the most similar one to the guy displayed in your frame. Not everything you see in the images can be classified, like dead organic matter, marine snow, or unexpected animals or just too blurry / too tiny guys that even the scientists are unable to identify.

    If I may suggest, switch the location to the Mediterranean. There are less animals in each image and I find them easier for newbies to identify.

    Any time you're unsure about the correct category, just make your best guess and then click on the 'Discuss' button and check the older comments or ask and we'll tell you how to classify it. All such comments appear on the Talk and reading them is very helpful for you!

    Good luck, hope you don't give it up 😉

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • catbill76 by catbill76

    I received an email announcing that your web site is more user friendly. However, it is still unnecessarily frustrating. Identification of the specific type of creature is easier than figuring out when something is too small to be considered a creature. The field guide is not enough.

    Why don't you provide several examples of frames that show how the experts identify and classify the creatures? It would be a simple thing to do.

    I am not inclined to spend more time trying to figure this out, especially when it would be so easy for you to provide helpful examples.

    Posted

  • jo.irisson by jo.irisson translator, scientist

    @catbill76 This is a very good suggestion. The previous version of the tutorial had this (but the rest was more complex). In simplifying it we may have over simplified. We'll try to set that up in the coming days.

    @stargirl626 What you are noticing is actually an interesting scientific fact: most of the "stuff" in the sea is actually dead stuff, drifting organic matter sometimes referred to as marine snow. We even filtered the frames to try to target the interesting ones otherwise 95% of the images you would see would just be empty of organisms.

    Often marine snow is a collection of small specks while we are mostly asking you to tag the large organisms (except for copepods, which can be pretty small). So you should persevere a bit and you'll quickly see interesting stuff. Some frames are really beautiful.

    Posted

  • kayjayvee by kayjayvee

    I just had a really cool picture but when I clicked on discuss, it went away and there was no info as to how to post it for discussion. I did however do a screen shot. Could someone please direct me to the information on how to post pictures.
    Thank you.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to kayjayvee's comment.

    Hello,

    Sorry for the troubles. There is still a chance to find that image if you completed the classification.

    Go to the Classification page and click on the Profile button (top menu, 4th from the left) - you'll see your most recent classifications there, listed from the last one you classified. When you find it, just click on the image and it will take you to the Talk profile of the image where you can comment on it.

    Hope it makes sense. Feel free to ask if you had any more troubles with the interface 😃 Or if you were interested how to share screenshots anyway (you would have to upload the screenshot somewhere outside this website first...).

    Hope you'll find what you wanted!

    Cheers, Zuzi

    Posted

  • kayjayvee by kayjayvee

    I tried to post a picture as you described, I found myself on Recents page with no way to go further? Not sure what I am doing wrong. Thanks. Also get the same response by clicking on Discuss.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to kayjayvee's comment.

    Was it this Recent page? You are supposed to see 12 images you have recently classified there (about three rows of 4 images) and white numbers below representing pages of other images you classified before the recent 12.

    What can you see there instead?

    Hope I'll be able to help you...

    Cheers, Z.

    Posted

  • kayjayvee by kayjayvee

    Ok, One more try, because I just classified an absolutely perfect salp that filled the screen and I wanted to share it. I click on Discuss after classifying it and it brings me to this page. Now what?

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to kayjayvee's comment.

    I am so sorry to hear that. I would love to see that salp image. I have contacted one of the developers and ask him to look at that. Will come back to you. Z.

    Posted

  • kayjayvee by kayjayvee

    Thank you!

    Posted

  • srallen by srallen in response to kayjayvee's comment.

    Hello, would you be able to post screenshots of what you are seeing so we can get a better idea of the issue? Screenshots can be uploaded to a service like imgur and then pasted into a comment here. Thanks!

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to srallen's comment.

    Resolved, it was apparently a browser issue: https://talk.planktonportal.org/#/boards/BPK0000004/discussions/DPK0000i0l?page=1&comment_id=5a9f55ffc6ce93099d000631

    Posted