[Data-Mongers] Mobile Sanctuary

[Arthur Newhall]

Hi Folks,

      I am emailing this for Luk who is looking for volunteers to help 
with a new
foundation.   Please contact him with any questions.    -Arthur


Mobile Sanctuary is an emerging, Cape-based not-for-profit organization
dedicated to helping local and global communities develop a deeper
understanding of their natural resources and engage more actively
with the challenges of conserving them for future generations.

We accomplish this by collaborating with scientists, conservation groups,
and community leaders to create and deploy mobile applications and social
networking tools that:
    1) Make the collection of data on natural resources easier,
        as well as an activity that is accessible to a broad population
    2) Create open environments to store and analyze data in order
        to develop informed and shared insights into natural resources
    3) Engage a global audience in exploring and managing natural resources

Our foundational technology is an an MIT-developed, open-source, 
Android-based
mobile platform, that supports audio, images, location-based data, text, 
and video.
The front-end for data and media capture is designed to operate even 
when connectivity
is poor and is accessible through a fully programmable workflow 
interface. The back-end
provides an intuitive user interface for management of natural resource 
data. Our
platform can be integrated with existing or custom-built data bases for 
portability,
and its infrastructure and design allows for modularity and interoperation.

In addition to our mobile platform, we are also developing new 
approaches to apply
social networking and collaboration techniques and technologies to the 
study,
education, and management of natural resources.

We are looking for motivated volunteers to help us build out and refine 
our core
technology components (phone client, mobile dispatch server, and 
databases),
create new mobile applications based on our platform, and develop a website
and associated networking tools that will allow us to achieve our 
broader mission.

If you are interested and would like to learn more about Mobile 
Sanctuary please
contact Luk Van Parijs at lukvanparijs at yahoo.com