Posts in The Cacophony Project: NZOSS Online Groups

Hi Sonia

Nice to hear from you. Probably the best way to dive into a little of the
project details and/or give me a call and I'd happily find out how we could
make the most of your skills

Yes as you pointed out we have a few platforms going on.....best described as
follows
- Blog - this gives a high level summary of the latest thoughts and progress. I
have been doing most of these but as folks make contributions they are blogging
summaries too (more of these coming up) https://cacophony.org.nz/blog
- Taiga - high level summary of the overall project and the subtasks - I will
send you and invite https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/
- GitHub - all code and some wikis explaining it
https://github.com/TheCacophonyProject
- not currently using NZOOS group much currently

I'm happy to chat by phone/skype any time.

Cheers

Hi Guys,

I'm software engineer with 10+ years experience. The project idea sounds
fascinating. Could anyone tell me how to join this project and make a
contribution?

My account at https://tree.taiga.io/ is ZengqiLuo

The project seems to have multiple online platforms? Which one is the main
platform currently?

Thank you.
Sonia

nice work! ;)

Rest of post

Hi all

Just a quick update to let you know we have been making lots of progress
- Machine learning project from Uni of Canterbury got 100% identification of
rats stoats and possums from just a few hundred poor quality videos. Next step
is to try running this on our Rasberry Pi camera in real time
- We now have a link on this page to a summary of the technical progress
https://cacophony.org.nz/hear-about-cacophonometers-first
- The digital lures are looking promising and a few other updates on our blog
here
https://cacophony.org.nz/blog
I'm speaking at the ITx coference on Wed 13 during the open source stream so
feel free to get anyone you think may be interested to come along.
http://itx.nz/Programme

It looks very promising how the latest IT and machine learning technologies can
dramatically improve our way of tackling predator eradication.

Cheers

Grant and Cam

Kia ora koutou

I wonder if you have heard of Public Lab? They are a collective of
projects that like Cacophony, involve free code software, citizen
science, and environmental goals:
https://publiclab.org/

I wonder if there is some scope for collaboration there?

Ma te wā
Strypey

Rest of post

Experimental update
We have stated doing some field experiments with sound and visual lures with
some encouraging results
- First sounds lure was a possum noise on repeat every 5 seonds. Within one
minute a possum 30-50 meters away started respnding. Very encouraging as a
possible way to see if there is a possum in the area. No possum came close to
trap and camera so maybe a territorial crow
- First visual lure was a white strobe on the smart phone. Within one hour
there was a possum investigaitng. This was much faster than any other night but
hard to know if it was just luck
- Over all from 5 nights there have been about 8 possums in the vacinity of the
Good Nature trap but bait only taken once and no kills. Shows lots of room for
improvement.
This will be written up more formally as things progress and there are more
definitive data

Hardware - Technical update
Have first version of the phone camera working from the motion sensor including
sending data to the cloud
Removed IR filter from phone cameras. As we are wanting to use the cameras on
the phone initially, the IR filters will need to be removed to be able to see
at night using the IR lights.
Have the Arduino Mega ADK connected to a phone and PIR to capture video when
movement is detected but the Arduino Mega uses too much power so have started
designing a custom board to reduce power usage.

Blog post by Dave Lane on why we are using Open Source for this project
https://cacophony.org.nz/open-source-birds

Kia ora koutou

On 2016-03-22 09:04, Dave Lane wrote:
> The newsletter is a broadcast list, using the MailChimp webservice,
> hosted (most likely) in the US.

This is a shame, but not uncommon. Is this because a person can't join
an OnlineGroups list without setting up an account, or because it's
easier to embed the code that subscribes the user to MailChimp lists in
a page?

The US hosting is an issue, and the proprietary software MailChimp run
on their servers is too. The biggest issue is the risk of what I call
being "Ninged", having the company suddenly start charging and hold user
data to ransom (as Ning did), or inserting awful ads into newsletters,
or selling the subscriber list to spammers. There's a truism that "if
you're not the customer, you're the product". That said, if the software
on the company's server is free code, you've got a much better chance of
getting your data out, and even setting up your own instance of the
software, if the company goes evil, ie gets venture capital, acquired,
or "goes public" (start selling transferable shares). Thus, I'd trust
OnlineGroups over MailChimp, even if I didn't know Dan, simply because
the software is free-as-in-speech, as well as the service being
free-as-in-beer (to certain community groups).

Needless to say, I won't be joining the MailChimp list, and will be
staying on this one. Just saying ;)

Keep up the good work.
Strypey

Rest of post

Hi Strypey,

I can field this one.

On 22/03/16 00:22, Strypey of Aotearoa wrote:
> Grant, where is this newsletter list hosted? I looked on the Cacophony

The newsletter is a broadcast list, using the MailChimp webservice,
hosted (most likely) in the US.

> group on OnlineGroups but I could only see this list. I was intending to
> swap myself to the lower traffic list, as I don't really have any to
> actively contribute at the moment, but I do want to keep tabs on the
> project.

Currently, this OnlineGroups.Net list (which is many-to-many, not
broadcast) is also hosted in the US right now, although that may change
(for the better) in the coming months.

Cheers,

Dave

Rest of post

signature.asc 836 bytes

Kia ora koutou

On 2016-03-21 15:43, Grant Ryan wrote:
> Please note there are now two different mailing lists for the Cacophony
> Project
>
> Email list for technical updates - will be using this one more
> regularly
>
> General newsletter-link at the bottom of every page on
> https://cacophony.org.nz/

Grant, where is this newsletter list hosted? I looked on the Cacophony
group on OnlineGroups but I could only see this list. I was intending to
swap myself to the lower traffic list, as I don't really have any to
actively contribute at the moment, but I do want to keep tabs on the
project.

Ngā mihi
Strypey

Rest of post

I just want to say well done Grant, Cameron, and everyone else who's
contributed thus far! I reckon this project has definitely got legs/wings!

Dave

On 21/03/16 15:43, Grant Ryan wrote:
> Please note there are now two different mailing lists for the Cacophony
Project
>
> Email list for technical updates - will be using this one more regularly
>
> General newsletter-link at the bottom of every page on
https://cacophony.org.nz/
>
> We have been getting great publicity
> TV3
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/canterbury-man-calls-on-it-sector-to-destroy-pests-2016030619#axzz42RDult6f
> RNZ -
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201793257/the-cacophony-project-grant-ryan
> Stuff -
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/a-great-place-to-be/77249156/Recording-Christchurchs-birdsong-cacophony
>
> Latest on the technical side
> Video recording can now be triggered by a PIR (motion sensor). This is done
by using an Arduino Mega ADK that has an interrupt attached to the PIR. So
when the PIR is triggered the Arduino wakes up then connects to the phone and
signals to start a video recording.
> Need to test video recording at night though and attach IR LEDs.
>
> This means we now have a device that can record sound and video and play
sound and video while uploading to the cloud. Ready to start doing some real
experiments.
>
> Brent Martin of University of Canterbury is leading a project with senior
students to make progress on the machine learning for identifying pests from
video.
>
> We are working with some folks at Landcare that are interested in putting
together a project on using the device for bird monitoring and citizen science.

Rest of post

Please note there are now two different mailing lists for the Cacophony Project

Email list for technical updates - will be using this one more regularly

General newsletter-link at the bottom of every page on
https://cacophony.org.nz/

We have been getting great publicity
TV3
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/canterbury-man-calls-on-it-sector-to-destroy-pests-2016030619#axzz42RDult6f
RNZ -
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201793257/the-cacophony-project-grant-ryan
Stuff -
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/a-great-place-to-be/77249156/Recording-Christchurchs-birdsong-cacophony

Latest on the technical side
Video recording can now be triggered by a PIR (motion sensor). This is done by
using an Arduino Mega ADK that has an interrupt attached to the PIR. So when
the PIR is triggered the Arduino wakes up then connects to the phone and
signals to start a video recording.
Need to test video recording at night though and attach IR LEDs.

This means we now have a device that can record sound and video and play sound
and video while uploading to the cloud. Ready to start doing some real
experiments.

Brent Martin of University of Canterbury is leading a project with senior
students to make progress on the machine learning for identifying pests from
video.

We are working with some folks at Landcare that are interested in putting
together a project on using the device for bird monitoring and citizen science.

All picking up steam - thanks to all of you!

I seem to have more things on the go than I can deal with but next time
something face-to-face happens in Auckland I would be keen on joining
in. This all sounds really brilliant.

On 30/11/15 15:33, Grant Ryan wrote:
> Thanks for the initial interest you have shown in the Cacophony project. We
are keen to get your thoughts on how best to kick this project off more
formally. The website is now up http://cacophony.org.nz/
>
> It looks like this digital approach could make pest eradication in New
Zealand up to 80,000 times better. We know this sounds kind of unbelievable but
check out the paper here to see how the logic works. High level summary is we
can potentially use long life digital lures that act over a longer distance
than food lures to draw pest in and use image recognition to identify and kill
them.....
>
https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/wiki/making-trapping-80000-times-better
>
> This link best shows the high level structure of the project and what we have
completed and are working on.
>
https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/wiki/high-level-summary-of-the-project-structure
> Please feel free to comment on any of the projects. Lots of interesting
sub-project that you could be interested in.
>
> Below is a copy of weekly update email - may start using this group to post
to
>
> Happy to hear any thoughts on the best way to launch this to the open source
community too.
>
> Looks like a great way for the IT community to help get rid of pests from New
Zealand and bring back the Cacophony.
>
> Cheers
>
> Grant and Cacophony team
>
> Example weekly email
>
> A visit with Tim Sjoberg, Elaine Murphy and Tom at Lincoln animal testing
facility reinforced the desperate need for pest identification tools with video
recognition sounding very promising. They are building a 2 ha pest enclosed
area to test devices for luring and identification.
>
> Cam has updated the document on version one of the restful API for sound and
video up/downloads.
> https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/task/109
>
> The solar panels looks to be working well.
>
> This week will set the sound recording up with the new API and start testing
in the field getting sound data to the cloud.
>
> Have bought some parts to test modifying a phone to create a motion sensitive
camera that can upload video to the cloud.
>
> Meeting with folks from Auckland Uni and Massey about using The Platform for
research projects.

Rest of post

Thanks for the initial interest you have shown in the Cacophony project. We are
keen to get your thoughts on how best to kick this project off more formally.
The website is now up http://cacophony.org.nz/

It looks like this digital approach could make pest eradication in New Zealand
up to 80,000 times better. We know this sounds kind of unbelievable but check
out the paper here to see how the logic works. High level summary is we can
potentially use long life digital lures that act over a longer distance than
food lures to draw pest in and use image recognition to identify and kill
them.....
https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/wiki/making-trapping-80000-times-better

This link best shows the high level structure of the project and what we have
completed and are working on.
https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/wiki/high-level-summary-of-the-project-structure
Please feel free to comment on any of the projects. Lots of interesting
sub-project that you could be interested in.

Below is a copy of weekly update email - may start using this group to post to

Happy to hear any thoughts on the best way to launch this to the open source
community too.

Looks like a great way for the IT community to help get rid of pests from New
Zealand and bring back the Cacophony.

Cheers

Grant and Cacophony team

Example weekly email

A visit with Tim Sjoberg, Elaine Murphy and Tom at Lincoln animal testing
facility reinforced the desperate need for pest identification tools with video
recognition sounding very promising. They are building a 2 ha pest enclosed
area to test devices for luring and identification.

Cam has updated the document on version one of the restful API for sound and
video up/downloads.
https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/task/109

The solar panels looks to be working well.

This week will set the sound recording up with the new API and start testing in
the field getting sound data to the cloud.

Have bought some parts to test modifying a phone to create a motion sensitive
camera that can upload video to the cloud.

Meeting with folks from Auckland Uni and Massey about using The Platform for
research projects.

Investigating how long it may take to do the video pest identification.

Hello all.

For this project we are thinking that each Cacophonometer (recording/uploading
device) will be registered under an User or an Organisation, this is partially
for security reasons and to potentially help with queries when analysing the
data.

Here is a overview of what we are thinking at the moment for the layout, taken
from the Taiga link https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project/us/80

Any advice on this layout and permissions are appreciated.

Cheers.
Cameron.

Organisation:
- Contains user groups: A group of users that have the same permissions.
- Contains devices group: A group of devices that can be controlled together.
- Has at least one admin user.

Users:
- Each user can be in one or more organisation.
- Users don't have to be in an organisation and can control there own devices.

Devices:
- Registered with a user or an organisation.
- Controlled by users/groups.

Permissions:
- Disable (timer): This will disable the device from recording and uploading
data. The device will connect to the server only to see if the permissions have
been changed. How often it checks this depends on the timer value.
- Disable upload (timer): This will disable the device from uploading the data
to the server but it will continue to record.
- Make groups/add users/change permissions of groups: Simple admin control of
users and groups.
- Change tags on devices: Each recording uploaded from a device can have a
custom tag added to it. The tags can be used to help queries.
- Control externally attached devices: Devices can have externally attached
devices that can be controlled by these users.
- Add recording rules: Can add a recording rule to devices, this could also be
limited so a user can have a set amount of time they can record for a device.
- Remove recording rule: Can remove recording rules from devices.

Kia ora koutou

On 4 July 2015 at 15:44, Dave Lane <<email obscured>> wrote:
>> Great to have you on board! <<

Thanks! BTW pardon the gratuitous self-promotion, but the Free Culture
paper I referred to can be read here:
http://www.coactivate.org/people/strypey/paper-for-freeculture2010

>> I just have to clarify, though, that I'm not the brains behind this project
- that honour goes to the father-son team of Grant Ryan and Cameron
Ryan-Pears... <<

My apologies. Thanks heap Grant and Cameron for your work! If there is
a general blurb about the project I can use quote from (maybe just
what's on the website?) I would be happy to write a quick piece about
the project for Permaculture.org.nz.

He mihi mahana

Rest of post

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Hi Danyl,

Great to have you on board! I just have to clarify, though, that I'm
not the brains behind this project - that honour goes to the
father-son team of Grant Ryan and Cameron Ryan-Pears...

Looking forward to getting the ball rolling (Cameron and Grant have
done heaps already, and it's currently Cam's full time occupation, so
I'm told. Also, Michael and Gray have already done quite a bit,
creating the branding for the project and the first cut at the website
- - it's a work in progress here: http://cacophony.org.nz).

Cheers,

Dave

On 04/07/15 13:45, Danyl Strype wrote:
> Kia ora koutou
>
> Thanks Dave for starting this innovative project. It's an
> excellent example of the geek/green cooperation I wrote about in my
> paper for the Free Culture conference in Berlin. I can't contribute
> much technically yet, but I am keen to grow my limited programming
> skills, and if anyone would be willing to mentor me.
>
> Also happy to help find non-technical helpers in the conservation
> movement to help when the system is ready to roll out.
>
> He mihi nui Strypey ―― View topic
> http://groups.nzoss.org.nz/r/topic/6ECS6mob60IKewLVUFBy3m Leave
> group
> mailto:projectcacophony@groups.nzoss.org.nz?Subject=Unsubscribe
>
> Start groups https://OnlineGroups.net
>

- --
Dave Lane - <email obscured>; https://davelane.nz; +64 21 229 8147
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Kia ora koutou

Thanks Dave for starting this innovative project. It's an excellent example of
the geek/green cooperation I wrote about in my paper for the Free Culture
conference in Berlin. I can't contribute much technically yet, but I am keen to
grow my limited programming skills, and if anyone would be willing to mentor
me.

Also happy to help find non-technical helpers in the conservation movement to
help when the system is ready to roll out.

He mihi nui
Strypey

Hi Mariann,

On 18/06/15 14:16, Mariann Matai wrote:
> Hey Dave, exciting! Added myself to taiga: <email obscured>

Cool :) - added you to the project.

> btw: 3 monitor setup with mini port to HDMI works like a treat! Thanks
> heaps for the suggestion.

Great to hear it!

Dave

Rest of post

Hey Dave, exciting! Added myself to taiga: <email obscured>

tnx

btw: 3 monitor setup with mini port to HDMI works like a treat! Thanks
heaps for the suggestion.

Rest of post

--

Warm regards,

Mariann

-------------
Mariann Matai
Catalyst IT -- Specialists in Open Source technology
ph: +64 (0)3 9633733 (ext 7810)
mb: +64 (0)21 2988056
www.catalyst.net.nz

On 18/06/15 13:11, Dave Lane wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Just wanted to send a quick email to thank you all for subscribing to
> the Cacophony Project list! You were all invited as I (or Grant Ryan or
> Cameron Ryan-Pears) have spoken to you about the Cacophony Project, or
> because I thought you'd find the project inherently interesting :)
>
> If you're not sure what the project is, I described it in the list's
> "About" section recreated below for your convenience.
>
> This list exists to get the ball rolling. A fair bit of thinking has
> already gone into the project (mostly by Grant and Cameron) and we're
> keen to identify others who have some expertise they're keen to lend.
>
> At this early stage, we're particularly looking for people who can help
> us with:
> - Android development, particularly the black magic of power management
> and remote configuration updates
> - Elastic Search + Node.JS (proposed platform for the Cacophony sound
> file repository)
>
> To facilitate planning and contributions, we've created a Cacophony
> Project space on Taiga (a FOSS project management tool - see
> https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project
>
> We invite you to create an account on https://taiga.io and we'll add you
> to the project team - just email me (email below) directly so we know
> your username. Then you can do things like review tasks, improve
> descriptions, help flesh out specifications, and even get started
> implementing things so we can move them from the "Ready" column (ready
> to progress) to the "In Progress" column, and from that to the enticing
> "Done" column!
>
> There's some Cacophonometer code on Github now (will publish the URL
> when we've got a bit more documentation there), and we'll soon have a
> website at https://cacophony.org.nz which will provide a directory of
> all of our activities and where they're happening!
>
> Please note: there's no expectation that you become an active
> participant in the project! We're just keen to make sure you're aware of
> what we're up to. Remember, promoting the project among other capable
> folks is a very valuable form of participation - you're welcome to
> invite others to join the list. They can sign up here:
> http://groups.nzoss.org.nz/groups/projectcacophony/
>
> Looking forward to hearing what you all think about the project - just
> posting to this list is also great participation :)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dave
>
> --
>
> The Cacophony Project is based on the idea that in New Zealand the
> louder the local "dawn chorus" - the cacophony of calls made by the
> local bird population as it starts its day - the healthier the local
> ecosystem.
>
> When Europeans first arrived in New Zealand, the chorus was described as
> "deafening". Today, introduced predators and exotic species have
> radically changed the character of most of our country's ecosystems, and
> sadly the modern dawn chorus is decidedly less raucous.
>
> Some of us want the places we love restored to a healthier, more
> balanced state, where our indigenous flora and fauna can thrive again.
>
> Some self-appointed ecosystem guardians with a technical bent have
> started the Cacophony Project to build a community of interested
> participants around a set of clever tools which we will design and build
> in collaboration with the people participating in this Online Group.
>
> With your help, we want the Cacophony Project open source tool set to
> allow us to
>
> - use our innovative "cacophonometers" - a low-cost autonomous recording
> device - to build up a huge data set of dawn chorus recordings from
> ecosystems around the country over time,
> - provide access to that dataset for processing and analysis by anyone
> with an interest,
> - verify whether or not the dawn chorus volume is, in fact, an indicator
> of ecosystem health,
> - measure the success of various ecosystem rehabilitation activities we
> undertake, and
> - ultimately to let us monitor the relative "health" of our local
> environments in many parts of the country.
>
> Eventually, we hope our scientific collaborators will help us develop
> methods to do things like determine the presence or absence of
> individual species of native and exotic birds lending their voices to
> the chorus, to give us an accurate (and calibrated!) measure of the
> biodiversity throughout the country.
>
> There may yet be other reasons it would be valuable to have a record of
> the dawn chorus in various places around the country, and how it changes
> over time which we haven't yet identified. By collecting the data, we
> can being creating a resource which may have untold value in the years
> to come, but which could never be realised without first collecting it.
>
> We'd love to have your participation in the Cacophony Project!
> Everything is open source and we welcome ideas, promotion, and ideally
> you flexing your intellectual/technical muscles to help us achieve our
> aims. That said, we ask only that you contribute in the ways you that
> provide you with the greatest satisfaction.
>

Hello all,

Just wanted to send a quick email to thank you all for subscribing to
the Cacophony Project list! You were all invited as I (or Grant Ryan or
Cameron Ryan-Pears) have spoken to you about the Cacophony Project, or
because I thought you'd find the project inherently interesting :)

If you're not sure what the project is, I described it in the list's
"About" section recreated below for your convenience.

This list exists to get the ball rolling. A fair bit of thinking has
already gone into the project (mostly by Grant and Cameron) and we're
keen to identify others who have some expertise they're keen to lend.

At this early stage, we're particularly looking for people who can help
us with:
- Android development, particularly the black magic of power management
and remote configuration updates
- Elastic Search + Node.JS (proposed platform for the Cacophony sound
file repository)

To facilitate planning and contributions, we've created a Cacophony
Project space on Taiga (a FOSS project management tool - see
https://tree.taiga.io/project/the-cacophony-project

We invite you to create an account on https://taiga.io and we'll add you
to the project team - just email me (email below) directly so we know
your username. Then you can do things like review tasks, improve
descriptions, help flesh out specifications, and even get started
implementing things so we can move them from the "Ready" column (ready
to progress) to the "In Progress" column, and from that to the enticing
"Done" column!

There's some Cacophonometer code on Github now (will publish the URL
when we've got a bit more documentation there), and we'll soon have a
website at https://cacophony.org.nz which will provide a directory of
all of our activities and where they're happening!

Please note: there's no expectation that you become an active
participant in the project! We're just keen to make sure you're aware of
what we're up to. Remember, promoting the project among other capable
folks is a very valuable form of participation - you're welcome to
invite others to join the list. They can sign up here:
http://groups.nzoss.org.nz/groups/projectcacophony/

Looking forward to hearing what you all think about the project - just
posting to this list is also great participation :)

Cheers,

Dave

Rest of post

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The Cacophony Project is based on the idea that in New Zealand the
louder the local "dawn chorus" - the cacophony of calls made by the
local bird population as it starts its day - the healthier the local
ecosystem.

When Europeans first arrived in New Zealand, the chorus was described as
"deafening". Today, introduced predators and exotic species have
radically changed the character of most of our country's ecosystems, and
sadly the modern dawn chorus is decidedly less raucous.

Some of us want the places we love restored to a healthier, more
balanced state, where our indigenous flora and fauna can thrive again.

Some self-appointed ecosystem guardians with a technical bent have
started the Cacophony Project to build a community of interested
participants around a set of clever tools which we will design and build
in collaboration with the people participating in this Online Group.

With your help, we want the Cacophony Project open source tool set to
allow us to

- use our innovative "cacophonometers" - a low-cost autonomous recording
device - to build up a huge data set of dawn chorus recordings from
ecosystems around the country over time,
- provide access to that dataset for processing and analysis by anyone
with an interest,
- verify whether or not the dawn chorus volume is, in fact, an indicator
of ecosystem health,
- measure the success of various ecosystem rehabilitation activities we
undertake, and
- ultimately to let us monitor the relative "health" of our local
environments in many parts of the country.

Eventually, we hope our scientific collaborators will help us develop
methods to do things like determine the presence or absence of
individual species of native and exotic birds lending their voices to
the chorus, to give us an accurate (and calibrated!) measure of the
biodiversity throughout the country.

There may yet be other reasons it would be valuable to have a record of
the dawn chorus in various places around the country, and how it changes
over time which we haven't yet identified. By collecting the data, we
can being creating a resource which may have untold value in the years
to come, but which could never be realised without first collecting it.

We'd love to have your participation in the Cacophony Project!
Everything is open source and we welcome ideas, promotion, and ideally
you flexing your intellectual/technical muscles to help us achieve our
aims. That said, we ask only that you contribute in the ways you that
provide you with the greatest satisfaction.

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Dave Lane
mobile: 021 229 8147 web: http://lane.net.nz twitter: @lightweight
gpg: CE1E 5896 8D80 A78B E179 9E74 319B 083C 50EF AA94