iSpot is a website aimed at helping anyone identify anything in nature. Once you've registered, you can add an observation to the website and suggest an identification yourself or see if anyone else can identify it for you.
Launched in 2008 with a five-year, £2 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund for England, iSpot has built a nationwide community of tens of thousands of people who are helping each other to observe and learn more about the natural world around them. There are currently over 17,000 registered users who have submitted more than 95,000 observations of about 5,500 species.
The next phase of the project will see several exciting new developments for users of iSpot, building on the foundations iSpot has established.
These include:
- Rapid-ID: a picture browser for beginners
- Mobile: iSpot in the hand and in the field
- Biodiversity Mentors: Outreach for the whole UK
- Personal: Customization for each user
The many eyes of the iSpot community have proved so keen, that hundreds of rarities have been recorded and two species new to Britain have been discovered.
iSpot’s award winning website has been designed to help remedy the gap in the general public’s identification skills. It is pioneering in its approach to supporting learning across the boundary between the informal and formal, using a combination of social networking, informal access to expertise and accredited learning opportunities. Anyone can upload a photograph of animals, plants, fungi or any living organisms they have seen. The photo is then displayed on the iSpot home page where other users can agree with the identification, attach a comment, or add a revised identification.
Find out more
• iSpot
• Support ISpot and find out about other Open University projects
• The Garfield Weston Foundation
