志愿者计算帮助拯救墨西哥湾沿岸的野生动物

碧城仙

来源：http://www.distributedcomputing.info/news.html
原载：International Science Grid this Week - http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1002603
标题：Volunteer computing helps rescue oiled Gulf Coast wildlife - 志愿者计算帮助拯救墨西哥湾沿岸的野生动物
作者：Dan Drollette, iSGTW.
日期：2010年7月7日
概要：iPhone 用户可以传送需救援的动物的相片和位置给海湾移动台，通知救援人员拯救搁浅野生动物。

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vmzy

Feature - Volunteer computing helps rescue oiled Gulf Coast wildlife
专题-志愿者计算帮助拯救墨西哥湾沿岸被原油污染的野生动物

Map indicating position fo Deepwater Horizon oil spill as of June 8, and globally important bird areas considered most at risk. Image courtesy American Bird Conservancy. Click on image to enlarge.
地图显示了到6月8日为止，原油泄漏的位置，此处是全球最重要的鸟类栖息地之一，现在处于危险之中。图片版权归美国鸟类保护协会所有（American Bird Conservancy）。猛击图片看大图。

iPhone users who come upon oiled birds and other wildlife in the Gulf Coast region can immediately transmit the location and a photo to animal rescue networks using a free new iPhone application called MoGO (Mobile Gulf Observatory). It was developed by four University of Massachusetts-Amherst researchers to make it easier for the public to help save wildlife exposed to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
现在，墨西哥湾沿岸的iPhone用户，如果遇到被原油污染的鸟或其他野生动物，可以使用一块新的iPhone程序MoGO(移动海湾监查者)把位置和图片发送到动物拯救网站上。该软件是由4位艾摩斯特大学(美国马萨诸塞州)研究员开发的，目的是为了让公众能更方便的帮助拯救那些墨西哥湾沿岸被原油污染的野生动物。

With support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the UMass-Amherst researchers hope the MoGO app will draw on the large network of “citizen scientists” who are as heartbroken as they are to witness the disaster for marine life, and who are actively looking for ways to help save wildlife along the 14,000 miles of northern Gulf coastline. (For more on citizen science, see our previous iSGTW stories ‘The age of citizen cyberspace’ and ‘Volunteering for a better world.’)
在国家鱼类和野生动物基金会的帮助下，艾摩斯特大学的研究员们希望，MoGO程序能把那些见到海洋生物遭罪就心碎，就会想方设法帮忙拯救北墨西哥湾14000公里海岸线上的野生动物们的善良的‘平民科学家们’的庞大网络利用起来。（想了解更多有关平民科学家的文章，请看iSGTW以前的文章，‘平民网络的年龄’和‘志愿行为创造美好世界’）

Although rescue networks are in place and busy saving stranded wildlife, the task is enormous and trained staff too few. They just don’t have the people-power to cover all the territory from Louisiana to Florida. With over 400 wildlife species and 35 national wildlife refuges at risk, the Gulf is in crisis from the largest oil spill in U.S. history.


“That’s where citizen science comes in,” says UMass-Amherst wildlife biologist Curt Griffin. As he explains, “The new app allows anyone who finds an oiled animal to be linked automatically by the phone to the Wildlife Hotline and also to contribute photos of the stranded animal and its GPS location coordinates to a database here on campus.”


Each report will alert wildlife stranding networks to deploy experts to rescue live animals for clean-up and medical treatment. Photos of oiled wildlife plus the GPS location will also be uploaded to MoGO’s comprehensive database for review by wildlife and fisheries experts using a web browser. Users are also encouraged to upload their photos of dead marine and coastal wildlife, tar balls on beaches, oil slicks on water and oiled coastal habitats to the MoGO database.


The idea for the new application came to Charlie Schweik, associate director of the National Center for Digital Government, as he listened to yet another depressing story about the Gulf oil spill. Already working on invasive species mapping with computer scientist Deepak Ganesan, an expert in mobile phone and sensor systems, Schweik thought that experience might prove useful for inventorying damage in the Gulf. Smartphones such as the iPhone have several sensors including camera, GPS, audio and video, which can provide valuable data for such an application.


Schweik also turned to Griffin and Andy Danylchuk, a fisheries ecologist, his colleagues in the university’s natural resources conservation department, to connect to the wildlife and fisheries community. Griffin and Danylchuk agreed that a mobile phone app in the hands of an army of “citizen scientists” would enhance recovery efforts by wildlife stranding networks. It could also increase the efficiency of state and federal efforts to monitor, assess and respond to the damage caused by the spill and engage the public to partner with natural resources agencies and researchers.


As Danylchuk points out, “The MoGO public database will help guide restoration efforts of vital coastal and marine habitats, and be used by scientists world-wide to assess the ecological impacts of the spill on the Gulf. The public database also allows scientists outside the Gulf region to participate in the assessment.”


The approach takes advantage of “mobile crowdsourcing,” that is, the power of personal mobile devices to provide thousands of eyes and ears on the ground. Ganesan’s research group has designed a software framework called “mCrowd” — see pdf of abstract — which simplifies the usual weeks- to months-long process of developing a new mobile crowdsourcing app. “It provides easy-to-use templates that can be tailored to a new application,” Ganesan explains. His mCrowd technology allowed the team to create the MoGO app and infrastructure in a little more than a week.


Whether the project succeeds now rests on how well the word gets out to the public in the Gulf region, the researchers note. “Any person, on land or at sea, wishing to use the free app for their iPhone can go to the website for more information on how to get it on their iPhone,” Schweik says.

翻译终止，楼下已完成。

池龙

iPhone users who come upon oiled birds and other wildlife in the Gulf Coast region can immediately transmit the location and a photo to animal rescue networks using a free new iPhone application called MoGO (Mobile Gulf Observatory). It was developed by four University of Massachusetts-Amherst researchers to make it easier for the public to help save wildlife exposed to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

在墨西哥湾地区遇到被油污染的鸟类及其它野生动物的iPhone用户现在可以使用免费的iPhone应用程序MoGO（移动海湾瞭望站）将位置和图片实时传输到动物援救网络。这个应用程序由四个马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的研究人员完成，用于帮助公众参与拯救在墨西哥湾石油泄漏事件中受害的野生动物。

With support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the UMass-Amherst researchers hope the MoGO app will draw on the large network of “citizen scientists” who are as heartbroken as they are to witness the disaster for marine life, and who are actively looking for ways to help save wildlife along the 14,000 miles of northern Gulf coastline. (For more on citizen science, see our previous iSGTW stories ‘The age of citizen cyberspace’ and ‘Volunteering for a better world.’)

在国家鱼类和野生动物基金会的支持下，马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的研究人员希望MoGO可以依靠关注北部14000英里长的海岸线上的受害海洋生物并积极寻求拯救它们的方式的“市民科学者”这一庞大群体。（想了解详情可以浏览较早的iSGTW消息《市民网络的时代》和《为一个更好的世界贡献力量》）

Although rescue networks are in place and busy saving stranded wildlife, the task is enormous and trained staff too few. They just don’t have the people-power to cover all the territory from Louisiana to Florida. With over 400 wildlife species and 35 national wildlife refuges at risk, the Gulf is in crisis from the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

尽管动物援救网络已经在努力解救受害的野生动物，但是任务过于繁重，经过训练的工作人员数量也太少。他们没有足够人力覆盖从路易斯安那到佛罗里达的全部地区。这场美国历史上最大的原油泄漏事件导致海湾中超过400种野生动物和35个野生动物保护区陷入危机。

“That’s where citizen science comes in,” says UMass-Amherst wildlife biologist Curt Griffin. As he explains, “The new app allows anyone who finds an oiled animal to be linked automatically by the phone to the Wildlife Hotline and also to contribute photos of the stranded animal and its GPS location coordinates to a database here on campus.”

“这正是市民科学家可以帮助我们的地方”，马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的野生生物学家Curt Griffin说。如同他所说的，“这个新的应用程序可以让每个发现了被油污染的动物的人用手机自动连接到野生动物热线，并提交受害野生动物的照片和GPS坐标到校园里的数据库（可能这个服务器是在大学里面的）中。”

Each report will alert wildlife stranding networks to deploy experts to rescue live animals for clean-up and medical treatment. Photos of oiled wildlife plus the GPS location will also be uploaded to MoGO’s comprehensive database for review by wildlife and fisheries experts using a web browser. Users are also encouraged to upload their photos of dead marine and coastal wildlife, tar balls on beaches, oil slicks on water and oiled coastal habitats to the MoGO database.

每个报告将警告野生动物援救网络（这里的原文和上面不同，但是应该指的是同一个组织）部署清理和治疗措施来拯救仍然存活的野生动物。被油污染的野生动物的照片加上GPS坐标也会上传到MoGO的综合数据库供野生动物和渔业专家通过Web浏览器查看。用户也被鼓励上传死去的动物、海岸上的废油团、水面浮油、沿海动物栖息地的照片到MoGO数据库中。

The idea for the new application came to Charlie Schweik, associate director of the National Center for Digital Government, as he listened to yet another depressing story about the Gulf oil spill. Already working on invasive species mapping with computer scientist Deepak Ganesan, an expert in mobile phone and sensor systems, Schweik thought that experience might prove useful for inventorying damage in the Gulf. Smartphones such as the iPhone have several sensors including camera, GPS, audio and video, which can provide valuable data for such an application.

这个应用程序的创意来自数字政府国家中心的副董事Charlie Schweik，在他又一次听到关于海湾原油泄漏的令人沮丧的故事之后。Schweik认为，计算机科学家Deepak Ganesan——移动电话和传感器系统专家——之前已经在从事的外来物种映射（估计是指对外来物种编目方面的研究）方面的研究工作可能会对清查海湾的受害状况提供帮助，而类似iPhone这样的智能电话具备包括相机、GPS、视频和音频等多种传感器，则可以为这类应用程序提供有价值的数据。

Schweik also turned to Griffin and Andy Danylchuk, a fisheries ecologist, his colleagues in the university’s natural resources conservation department, to connect to the wildlife and fisheries community. Griffin and Danylchuk agreed that a mobile phone app in the hands of an army of “citizen scientists” would enhance recovery efforts by wildlife stranding networks. It could also increase the efficiency of state and federal efforts to monitor, assess and respond to the damage caused by the spill and engage the public to partner with natural resources agencies and researchers.

Schweik同时也求助于渔业生态学家Griffin和Andy Danylchuk，他的同事们在大学的自然资源保护部门，连接到野生动物和渔业社区。Griffin和Andy Danylchuk赞成一大批持有移动电话应用程序的“市民科学者”可以提高野生动物援救网络恢复生态状况的效果。它还可以提高各州和联邦在监测、评估以及对石油泄漏造成的损害作出反应的效率，并且让公众参与到自然资源机构和研究人员的工作之中来。

As Danylchuk points out, “The MoGO public database will help guide restoration efforts of vital coastal and marine habitats, and be used by scientists world-wide to assess the ecological impacts of the spill on the Gulf. The public database also allows scientists outside the Gulf region to participate in the assessment.”

Danylchuk 指出，“MoGO公共数据库将帮助和指引对重要沿海和海洋栖息地的恢复工作，并用于世界范围的科学家了解和评估海湾原油泄漏造成的生态影响，即使他们并不在墨西哥湾地区。”

The approach takes advantage of “mobile crowdsourcing,” that is, the power of personal mobile devices to provide thousands of eyes and ears on the ground. Ganesan’s research group has designed a software framework called “mCrowd” — see pdf of abstract — which simplifies the usual weeks- to months-long process of developing a new mobile crowdsourcing app. “It provides easy-to-use templates that can be tailored to a new application,” Ganesan explains. His mCrowd technology allowed the team to create the MoGO app and infrastructure in a little more than a week.

这个方法利用了“移动众”——个人移动设备的力量——提供的数以千计的眼睛和耳朵。Ganesan 的研究小组设计了一个名为“mCrowd”的软件框架——请参阅pdf格式的摘要，这简化了通常开发移动应用程序的数周到数个月的过程。“它提供了易于使用的模板，来定制新的应用程序”， Ganesan解释。他的mCrowd技术可以让团队在一周多一点的时间中创建MoGo应用程序架构。

Whether the project succeeds now rests on how well the word gets out to the public in the Gulf region, the researchers note. “Any person, on land or at sea, wishing to use the free app for their iPhone can go to the website for more information on how to get it on their iPhone,” Schweik says.

当前，该项目是否能获得成功取决于它能否普及到墨西哥湾的公众中，研究人员表示。“希望在自己的iPhone上使用这个免费的应用程序的人（地面还是海上那句去掉了。。。）都可以转到项目网站以得到如何获取这个应用程序的详细资料”，Schweik说。

池龙

修改润色了一下。。。

现在，在墨西哥湾地区遇到被油污染的鸟类及其它野生动物的iPhone用户可以使用免费的iPhone应用程序MoGO（移动海湾瞭望站）将位置和图片实时传输到动物援救网络。这个应用程序由四个马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的研究人员完成，用于帮助公众参与拯救在墨西哥湾石油泄漏事件中受害的野生动物。

在国家鱼类和野生动物基金会的支持下，马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的研究人员希望MoGO可以获得来自于关注北部14000英里长的海岸线上的受害海洋生物并积极寻求拯救它们的途径的“公民科学者”这一庞大群体的力量。（想了解详情，可以浏览较早的iSGTW消息《公民网络空间的时代》和《为一个更好的世界贡献力量》）

尽管动物援救网络已经在努力解救受害的野生动物，但是这个任务过于繁重，而经过训练的工作人员数量也太少，他们没有足够人力覆盖从路易斯安那到佛罗里达的全部地区。这场美国历史上最大的原油泄漏事件导致海湾中超过400种野生动物和35个野生动物保护区陷入危机。

“这正是公民科学者们可以帮助我们的地方”，马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的野生生物学家Curt Griffin说。如同他所说的，“这个新的应用程序可以让每个发现了被油污染的动物的人用手机连接到野生动物热线的服务器，并提交受害野生动物的照片和GPS坐标到数据库中。”

这些报告将提醒野生动物援救网络部署清理和治疗措施来拯救仍然存活的野生动物。而这些被油污染的野生动物的照片以及GPS坐标也会上传到MoGO的综合数据库，供野生动物和渔业专家通过Web浏览器查看。同时，用户也可以上传死去的动物、海岸上的废油团、水面浮油、沿海动物栖息地的照片到MoGO数据库中。

这个应用程序的创意来自数字政府国家中心的副董事Charlie Schweik。Schweik认为，移动电话和传感器系统方面的计算机科学家Deepak Ganesan之前已经在从事的，关于对外来物种编目方面的研究工作可能会对清查海湾的受害状况提供帮助，而类似iPhone这样的智能电话具备包括相机、GPS、视频和音频等多种传感器，则可以为这类应用程序提供有价值的数据。

Schweik同时也求助于渔业生态学家Griffin和Andy Danylchuk，他的同事们在大学的自然资源保护部门，并与野生动物和渔业社区关系密切。Griffin和Andy Danylchuk赞成关于“一大批持有移动电话应用程序的“公民科学者”可以提高野生动物援救网络重建生态状况的效果”的观点。而这样的应用程序还可以提高各州和联邦在监测、评估以及对石油泄漏造成的损害作出反应的效率，并且让公众参与到自然资源机构和研究人员的工作之中来。

Danylchuk 指出，“MoGO公共数据库将帮助和指引对重要沿海和海洋栖息地的重建工作，并有助于世界范围的科学家了解和评估海湾原油泄漏造成的生态影响，即使他们并不处在墨西哥湾地区。”

这个方案利用了“移动众”，由个人移动设备提供的数以千计的眼睛和耳朵的力量。Ganesan 的研究小组设计了一个名为“mCrowd”的软件框架——请参阅pdf格式的摘要，这简化了通常开发移动应用程序的数周到数个月的过程。“它提供了易于使用的模板，来定制新的应用程序”， Ganesan解释。他的mCrowd技术可以让团队在一周多一点的时间中创建MoGo应用程序架构。

当前，该项目是否能获得成功取决于它能否普及到墨西哥湾的公众中，研究人员表示。“希望在自己的iPhone上使用这个免费的应用程序的人可以转到项目网站以得到如何获取这个应用程序的详细资料”，Schweik说。