I had not heard of ispotnature.org so I was interested to find out what the site was about.

I have, in the past, attempted to identify bird species by referring to books, asking a knowledgable friend or by trying to use the RSPB (2019) ‘identify a bird’ site.

iSpot is to my mind an innovative alternative which harnesses the knowledge of the site participants to help identify species as well as fulfilling a conservational role by allowing the recording of observations.

The site layout is reminiscent of a social media site but has a serious scientific and educational use case as described by iSpotNature (2019) in their introductory video.

I can already imagine how this site could be used to construct environmental, conservation or wildlife educational materials.

The site uses the CC BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons license which would allow for reuse of the material in a non-commercial context such as OERs.

It is also an interesting contrast to social networking sites that registration is not required to take part although social networking single sign on options are provided.

In conclusion I would say that this is a valuable and innovative site which I may revisit when constructing eLearning materials.

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RSPB (2019). Bird Identifier | British Garden Birds and Many More – The RSPB. [online] The RSPB. Available at: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/identify-a-bird/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

iSpotNature.org (2009). iSpotnature.org. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qwcz-8yukg&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 12 Feb. 2020].