Northern CA PPSR Projects 1

Whale FM - the Whale Song Project

• Organization Name

  http://whale.scientificamerican.com/
• Project Website

  http://whale.scientificamerican.com/
• Organization Website

  www.scientificamerican.com
• Partners

  Zooniverse, WHOI, TNO, University of Oxford, SMRU
• Contact Name

  N / A
• Contact Email

  team@whale.fm
• Contact Phone

  N / A
• Other Contact Information

  If have a question about the science behind Whale FM, you can email Whale FM science team member Sander von Benda-Beckmann, sander.vonbendabeckmann@tno.nl

• Project Purpose (taken from project materials)

  Learn more about why and when whales make specific calls in order to properly understand the implications of these responses, we need to know 

  The dataset generated by this project will allow us to address interesting questions, such as:

  • How well do different judgements of volunteers agree, and how well can we categorize calls of vocal species such as pilot whales?
  • How large is the call repertoire of pilot whales? (is size repertoire sign of intelligence?)
  • Do the long and short finned pilot whales have different call repertoires (or ‘dialects’?)
• Participant Activities

  Volunteers categorize the calls of killer whales and pilot whales that they find on the Whale FM website

  The site displays calls from both Orcas and Pilot Whales. Volunteers are presented with a call and shown where it was recorded on the map. The call is represented as a spectrogram, which shows the shape of the sound. Volunteers can click on the spectrogram to hear the call itself. 

  You'll see a selection of smaller spectrograms, which you can also click to hear. When you find a sound that is a possible match, click on the check mark and it will be enlarged and displayed next two the main sound on the map. Now you can check that they are alike, and either select another or click 'MATCH' to confirm your choice.

  
  

• Data Entry

  • Website
• Other Participant Activities

  Volunteers can talk to other users, or explore an interesting sound, on the Whale Talk site.

• System Studied

  • Mammals
• Geographic Scope

  International
• Region

  All (see 'geographic scope')
• Location

  Your home
• Location - Map

  N / A
• Time Commitment

  • Other (see Other Information below)
• Volunteer Qualifications

  Volunteers must have access to a personal computer with a supported web browser and speakers or headphones

• Volunteer Training

  The website provides guidance on project significance and how to identify sounds.

• Cost to Participant

  N / A
• How will the findings be used?

  N / A
• Other Information

  N / A
• Photo

  N / A
• last update:

  N / A