This year there has been some interest in getting schools involved in the GSB, this follows on from the amazind efforts of Edwin Arrigui Torres (https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3534833)in Hulia, Colombia in 2022. The team from Tasmania hada an idea to engage schools in the GSB this year and made a graphic below. I shared this and it generated interest from my friend @Antonio W. Salas in Peru as well as some people in Africa and the mainland of Australia. So i thought it would be an idea to start a forum to keep arecord of some of these ideas. iNaturalist has a lot of material on engaging schools and school children see here the ‘Teacher's Guide’(https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/teacher's+guide) what are your thoughts?

Fantastic to see so many keen area organisers for the #GSB2023 (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/gsb2023?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZUhjwn3HGaK0v1z_X0Ks1Ml9QNSz20nX-dvBdKKWp4-HX3DIccAIJA4G-sppeiD4kpCbBwkKppkRL2kWjfZEROgCgOvyL_YM0QUciRvALvSHw4Zh2wnHTUbQXvDb7WTsQkrrXwSqmiG487egXaTf5iN1Hqn8ZBJUNzBmCsa84u6oR7eMDy1v3gze0f9kIL_1-s&__tn__=*NK-R)in our September English meeting chaired by @Michelle Neil we hope you can join us November 24-27. We held another later in the day chaeired by myself and had African organisers along with cofounders @rod.lowther and @Pete Crowcroft. We hope to have a Spanish meeting shortly, followed by a Portuguese meeting. Resources • Organizer Handbook(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fLtIVhpwqxDsZZterLNblGS-Ti8QxB6vy0C8qzTKFzc/edit?usp=drive_link) • HOSTING A BIOBLITZ(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JRGJuUrPd57fJXx6wkGQUK6dvpzNujEC/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=116150852927853218965&rtpof=true&sd=true) • code_conduct_gsb-English(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wSxSBKVTs-CETp0UTWUTr7pDTX76MKX4/view?usp=drive_link) • Canva Team (https://www.canva.com/brand/join?token=4VFPWj9JM8SHshZOThRH1g&referrer=team-invite)- Shared artwork and graphics editor • Facebook group Add your details to the 2023 Areas List Spreadsheet The 2023 Areas Spreadsheet records information for all the area participating in the Great Southern Bioblitz 2023.  • Please double-check your area to make sure the correct information is included and no changes need to be made.  • Do not reorganize this spreadsheet: it will misalign the information. NOTE: If you make any changes to the spreadsheet, please highlight green: Creating your project: Two ways:  1. Returning organizers should duplicate their project, and  2. New area organisers need to create a new project.  3. Creating a new project - See website: https://www.greatsouthernbioblitz.org/organiser-information (https://www.greatsouthernbioblitz.org/organiser-information) Note. • oragnaisers can be added when the project is created. • once it is created organisers will need to join. • please add @gsbadmin at the creation stage, thie makes it easy to adjuts the project if need be Common Mistakes • Not removing the time element (it should read 24-11-2023 to 27-11-2023 with no minutes or hours • Not defining the ‘area’ - if you can't find your district, LGA, etc please email and we may be able to source the correct file to add your place. • Making the project a ‘members only project’ please make it open for all. • Comments from @tony rebelo area organisers can we standardised the naming convensions, this is a good point as it helps with some back end administration. • Standardise the name in English is the bit in bold 'Great Southern Bioblitz YYYY: area name'. • 'Bioblitz' not 'BioBlitz', • 'Bioblitz YYYY:' not 'Bioblitz YYYY:' or 'Bioblitz YYYY-' the bit following Bioblitz, there have been verious ittirations, but it looks like the consensis is what we should move towards • not 'GSB' • Spanish was agreed to be 'Gran Biobúsqueda del Sur YYYY:' by Spanish organisers, some Equadorian organizers prefered the original 'Gran Bioblitz del Sur 2023:' which has been in use in Ecuador. • Portuguese is 'Grande BioBlitz do Hemisfério Sul YYYY:' What to do next? Engage with local interest groups Questions that may be asked • What's the purpose? • To increase biodiversity awareness by engaging local communities in citizen science • Is there any goal? • To increase local participation in citizen science • Boost knowledge of local biodiversity and the records in Atlas of Living Australia, GBIF and other databases.  • What's in it for our group, how do we benefit? • Increase community awareness of local interest groups or areas. • Generate local dynamic species lists for community or ecotourism engagement.   • What is the target audience? (depends on the context) • Students, all ages • Retirees older people • Nature volunteer groups, ie friends of parks/reserves or other groups. • Local scout groups • The platform does not recognise local species. • The platform has an AI that uses the database of images to recognise species.  Some areas or species have few images making  recognition unreliable. This will improve as the platform is used. Note: DON’T use Seek. • How is the event coordinated? • Training  iNaturalist videos are here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials (https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials))  GSB Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@greatsouthernbioblitz1046/videos (https://www.youtube.com/@greatsouthernbioblitz1046/videos) Encourage holding events such as  • ‘Moth night’ • Rockpool ramble • Bioblitz in a park • beachcombing Virtual Events If you are hosting a virtual event open to everyone for theGreat Southern Bioblitz 2023 please use this form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGotaHEicV60kkV16hvUgbTmUTjP6V2wahFL432df1Cs0Jng/viewform?usp=pp_url)to add it to the 2023 Events Calendar! All Participants  • Allows certificates • Contact via newsletters etc https://bit.ly/GSBParticipants(https://bit.ly/GSBParticipants) Please provide questions below learn more https://linktr.ee/gsbioblitz(https://linktr.ee/gsbioblitz) #biodiversity & #CitizenScience (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/citizenscience?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZUhjwn3HGaK0v1z_X0Ks1Ml9QNSz20nX-dvBdKKWp4-HX3DIccAIJA4G-sppeiD4kpCbBwkKppkRL2kWjfZEROgCgOvyL_YM0QUciRvALvSHw4Zh2wnHTUbQXvDb7WTsQkrrXwSqmiG487egXaTf5iN1Hqn8ZBJUNzBmCsa84u6oR7eMDy1v3gze0f9kIL_1-s&__tn__=*NK-R)across #Oceania (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/oceania?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZUhjwn3HGaK0v1z_X0Ks1Ml9QNSz20nX-dvBdKKWp4-HX3DIccAIJA4G-sppeiD4kpCbBwkKppkRL2kWjfZEROgCgOvyL_YM0QUciRvALvSHw4Zh2wnHTUbQXvDb7WTsQkrrXwSqmiG487egXaTf5iN1Hqn8ZBJUNzBmCsa84u6oR7eMDy1v3gze0f9kIL_1-s&__tn__=*NK-R)#Africa (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/africa?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZUhjwn3HGaK0v1z_X0Ks1Ml9QNSz20nX-dvBdKKWp4-HX3DIccAIJA4G-sppeiD4kpCbBwkKppkRL2kWjfZEROgCgOvyL_YM0QUciRvALvSHw4Zh2wnHTUbQXvDb7WTsQkrrXwSqmiG487egXaTf5iN1Hqn8ZBJUNzBmCsa84u6oR7eMDy1v3gze0f9kIL_1-s&__tn__=*NK-R)& #southamerica(https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/southamerica?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZUhjwn3HGaK0v1z_X0Ks1Ml9QNSz20nX-dvBdKKWp4-HX3DIccAIJA4G-sppeiD4kpCbBwkKppkRL2kWjfZEROgCgOvyL_YM0QUciRvALvSHw4Zh2wnHTUbQXvDb7WTsQkrrXwSqmiG487egXaTf5iN1Hqn8ZBJUNzBmCsa84u6oR7eMDy1v3gze0f9kIL_1-s&__tn__=*NK-R)

This post will provide updates on the results of the GSB2022, please share your adventures below.