[R-sig-Geo] Invitation to Partcipate: Species Distribution Modelling Survey (niches, climate envelopes, habitat suitability etc...)

[Roger Bivand]

On Thu, 16 Jun 2011, Greg McInerny (Brook Street) wrote:

> Dear Timothy (and r-sig-geo), This fits perfectly into the interests of 
> this discussion forum? - "a discussion forum for those analysing 
> ecological and environmental data with R".

In fact:

"R-sig-Geo -- R Special Interest Group on using Geographical data and 
Mapping"

and:

"A mailing list for discussing the development and use of R functions and 
packages for handling and analysis of spatial, and particularly 
geographical, data. The list also covers mapping and cartographic issues, 
and interfaces between R and geographical information systems."

So the posting was somewhat off-topic, but not radically so, and was 
perhaps rather less humble in tone than some might prefer. It is not easy 
to survey researchers about software use, and other postings have done 
this in the past (on other R lists, and I think on this one). If 
subscribers find it irritating - especially those with no connection to 
species distribution modelling, ignoring it is a possibility. The authors 
have clarified their affiliation, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Roger

> I maybe should clarify, we 
> are ecologists (yes at Microsoft Research!) and this is part of a 
> research project where we are investigating the interactions between 
> software and the users in scientific activities. An online survey is the 
> only way we can reach the diversity of users, across a diversity of 
> software, and get a good representation of what people do. We aren't 
> posing a technical question, but we inviting people to talk about their 
> user experiences (such as R) and what tasks people really want the 
> software to perform. I apologise for any cross posting and happy for the 
> survey to be removed if required. To clarify we are extremely careful 
> with all the information collected and the privacy and disclaimer 
> information can be found here 
> http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/sdmsoftwaresurvey/default.aspx 
> if you would like to ch3eck it out. If you have any questions please 
> email us sdmquest at microsoft.com or reply to this post. Happy to answer 
> all queries. Best wishes. Greg.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gregoire, Timothy [mailto:timothy.gregoire at yale.edu]
> Sent: 16 June 2011 13:48
> To: Greg McInerny (Brook Street); r-sig-geo at r-project.org
> Subject: RE: [R-sig-Geo] Invitation to Partcipate: Species Distribution Modelling Survey (niches, climate envelopes, habitat suitability etc...)
>
> IS THIS AN APPROPRIATE USE OF THIS LISTSERV? SEEMS VERY QUESTIONABLE TO ME!
>
> Timothy G. Gregoire
> J. P. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Forest Management School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
> 360 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT  06511-2104  U.S.A.
>
> office: 1.203.432.9398  mobile: 1.203.508.4014, fax: 1.203.432.3809 timothy.gregoire at yale.edu G&V sampling text: http://crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781584883708
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-sig-geo-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-sig-geo-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Greg McInerny (Brook Street)
> Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 8:42 AM
> To: r-sig-geo at r-project.org
> Subject: [R-sig-Geo] Invitation to Partcipate: Species Distribution Modelling Survey (niches, climate envelopes, habitat suitability etc...)
>
> Thuiller et al. (2009) suggest that our science is "intertwined with technical innovation..." and how it is "dependent on the existence of suitable software" (Thuiller et al. 2009, Ecography, 32, 369-373).
> What do you want to do with software and how? We are researching these questions.
>
> As users and developers of R and R packages we would love you to participate, obviously the best information will come if all types of users and all software are well represented.
>
> Please accept this invitation to take the (anonymous) research survey on Species Distribution Modelling and Software. It takes only takes 5 to 15 minutes, just follow this link...
> https://microsoft.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_80yEiYdFCj7Q3dO
> The survey is open until 1st of July, but please complete as soon as possible! Your views and experiences are immensely valued!
>
> We will publish aggregated results so the modelling community & developers (everyone!) benefits from this research project. It is all anonymous (you can find the project and privacy information here http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/sdmsoftwaresurvey/default.aspx).
>
> If you have any questions please email us here<mailto:sdmquest at microsoft.com?subject=SDM%20Survey>
> Best wishes
> Greg, Lucas, & Lara
>
>
> The Research team
>
> We (Greg McInerny, Lucas Joppa and Lara Salido) are Ecologists in the Computational Ecology and Environmental Sciences group in the Computational Science Laboratory at Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK. We frequently use SDM and are interested in all kinds of ecological and methodological questions. Find out more about our group's research here<http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/ecology/default.aspx>  You can also find out more about the survey at the project homepage here <http://research.microsoft.com/sdmsoftwaresurvey/%20>  If you have any questions, please email us here<mailto:sdmquest at microsoft.com?subject=SDM%20Survey>
>
>
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>
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-- 
Roger Bivand
Economic Geography Section, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of
Economics and Business Administration, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen,
Norway. voice: +47 55 95 93 55; fax +47 55 95 95 43
e-mail: Roger.Bivand at nhh.no