Ask HN: How do I help wildlife conservation and ecology with tech?

#1

Post by hbornfree » Thu, May 20, 2021, 12:45 PM UTC

In my professional career spanning roughly a decade, I have been a developer, product manager and a co-founder at small startups.

While I have not made a truckload of money, I have made enough to afford a decent living. More importantly I have realized that accumulating more barely moves my happiness-meter.

So I'm looking into areas that I have always loved but haven't really contributed to. Wildlife conservation, oceans and general ecology. And TBH I am clueless where to start looking. Do I get an internship at a research lab, work at a zoo, document flora and fauna?

I have recently started course material that is used for master programmes in universities, but that is to build a fudamental understanding of the space. Any advice/feedback/links would be really appreciated.

From the professional career, I have these skills that I think maybe relevant: - Image processing - Natural language processing - Neural networks, ML etc (would rate self 3/5) - Web dev

I also have love for maps and outdoors if that matters.

Thank you in advance.

Re: Ask HN: How do I help wildlife conservation and ecology with tech?

#2

Post by warrenm » Thu, May 20, 2021, 12:57 PM UTC

I can think of several things off the top of my head:

- go work for a group like WWF - work on "outdoors" apps (hunting, hiking, trail-riding, etc) - build website(s)/app(s) that help conservation groups, folks interested in wildlife, etc find places to sight-see, get involved in local activities, etc - work for a group that does educational outreach (eg your local cooperative extension office)

I bet some of the other smarter folks hereon can suggest another 100 or more ways you could "help wildlife conservation and ecology with tech" :)

Re: Ask HN: How do I help wildlife conservation and ecology with tech?

#3

Post by hbornfree » Thu, May 20, 2021, 1:09 PM UTC

warrenm wrote: post #2

I can think of several things off the top of my head: - go work for a group like WWF - work on "outdoors" apps (hunting, hiking, trail-riding, etc) - build website(s)/app(s) that help conservation groups, folks interested in wildlife, etc find places to sight-see, get involved in local activities, etc - work for a group that does educational outreach (eg your local cooperative extension office) I bet some of the othe…

Thanks for the suggestions @warrenm.

While I understand the importance of climate awareness and community building, I'm afraid that isn't where I shine.

Anything more technical, maybe in the fields of camera-traps, drone deployment, remote-sensing, satellite imagery, GIS, data analysis/viz etc may be a better fit. Trying to look for a way to get started in these.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply. Really appreciate it!

Re: Ask HN: How do I help wildlife conservation and ecology with tech?

#4

Post by pcdoodle » Thu, May 20, 2021, 1:21 PM UTC

I'm interested in developing a product to increase farm animals quality of life. Does this resonate with you? I develop PCBs for IOT type stuff. ML could translate into detecting sick animals, falling, coughing, eating habits, etc. ML is not my strong point.

Re: Ask HN: How do I help wildlife conservation and ecology with tech?

#5

Post by hbornfree » Thu, May 20, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

pcdoodle wrote: post #4

I'm interested in developing a product to increase farm animals quality of life. Does this resonate with you? I develop PCBs for IOT type stuff. ML could translate into detecting sick animals, falling, coughing, eating habits, etc. ML is not my strong point.

This does resonate with me!

Happy to discuss and help you where possible. How can I reach out to you? Or maybe you can send me a 'hi' at harsha.xg{at}gmail.com?