Cybertracking animals

Wired News has a piece on CyberTracker, "a software program that allows conservationists to record their observations in the field on handheld computers linked to global positioning system, or GPS, units." Scientists and trackers recently used the system to research the impact on an Ebola outbreak on the gorilla population in the Congo, and have also used it to study other animals:

To [Louis] Liebenberg -- the South African founder of CyberTracker Conservation -- these findings not only illustrate the device's ability to enhance scientists' monitoring and interpretation of changes in ecosystems, but they also support the idea that illiterate trackers are just as capable of doing science as researchers with Ph.D.s.

Part of what's interesting here is that CyberTracker shows how handheld computing, GPS, and wireless can be used to improve scientific fieldwork. But the other thing that's intriguing about the project is that it explicitly recognizes the skills and knowledge that native peoples have about local flora and fauna. Native guides and assistants have long been critical to the success of scientific fieldwork, but often have been written out of the official histories.