Real-time really happens

Submitted by gmri on Mon, 2010-08-02 15:56
in
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    Alexa was in beautiful Castine pulling off another stellar Vital Signs workshop - this time a 3-hour whirlwind tour at the MLTI Annual Summer Institute.

    I was at my desk in steamy Portland chugging away on curriculum.

    All of a sudden....

I started getting email alerts that someone(s) was publishing new species observations to the database from Castine. Had these over-achievers really been able to practice, investigate, and publish in such a short amount of time? Apparently so.

...and if that wasn't enough to just sit at my Portland post and watch quality data blowing in from the East....

I decided to jump right on the Expert Review for Berberis thunbergii (more for a break from the curriculum slog than anything). Well, Alexa reported the next day that I had finished my review of the B. thunbergii observation JUST as she was explaining to her Castine crew about the Expert Review process. Voila, a "confirmed" identification and comment by a Species Expert in near real time!

We're such (unintentional) show-offs.