A Guide to the Bio-Expertise Engine

 

The Bio-Expertise Engine (BEE) helps connect QuestaGame players' sightings with people who really know nature. It's a collective human intelligence system that helps get the best identification back to the player as quickly as possible. As an expert, when you help identify sightings through BEE, the benefits are huge!

  • You are not only helping budding naturalists grow their own knowledge, 
  • and ensuring high quality data for biodiversity researchers,
  • but you are also raising money for your chosen environmental cause (through the Pays to Know Nature Fund)!

Keen to get involved but not sure how to use BEE? It is designed to be fairly intuitive, so feel free to jump in and have a go. But if you need a hand, here are some steps to follow:

  1. Go to Bio-Expertise Engine (http://bee.questagame.com)
  2. Click 'sign-up' on the left-hand navigation (or if you already have a QuestaGame account, you can login with that)
  3. Select 'Settings' from the left-hand navigation. This will help you filter sightings so that you only see those relevant to your area of interest.
    • Select your 'Categories of Expertise' and hit 'save'.
    • Click 'Add Region'. Drag and squeeze grey box to cover your chosen area and hit 'save'.
  4. Before you start identify sightings, be sure to also register for the Pays To Know Nature Fund, so that you can earn money for your chosen cause with every correct identification you submit.
  5.  Now you are ready to identify sightings through either BEE's:
    • 'Home' view, which serves up one sighting at a time; or
    • 'Browse sightings' view, which offers a grid view of multiple sightings.
  6. To identify a sighting:
    1.  first assess the information provided with the sighting to decide if you are confident in providing an identification. If not, scroll to the bottom and hit 'Skip'. 
      • You can click the arrows next to the image to see multiple photos if provided. And you can click the image for a larger version.
      • There may be valuable information in the player's field notes.
    2. If you are confident that you can provide an identification, simply enter the scientific name in the required field. This will search the GBIF database for matching taxa. Simply select the correct taxon. If the search does not give the result you require, consider if GBIF may use a synonym for that species. You can also search by common name.
      • The confidence rating will be set to 'I am very confident', but you can lower this confidence rating if required.
      • The taxon level will be set automatically based on your selection.
    3. Add any comments you may have, but these aren't mandatory.
    4. Hit 's ubmit', and identify the next sighting.
  7. Remember that you can also view your 'Past work' via the left hand navigator, and this can be a useful reference if you come across a sighting that looks a bit familiar!

     
 
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