Volunteers
Volunteers

The task of volunteers is key for The Microbe Directory. We need volunteers to manually annotate microbial characteristics. Computer scientists and data analysts clean and compile data collected from studies, public databases and volunteers.

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How does it work?

Each week volunteers will receive 10 microbial species. We will provide with a set of useful resources where to find the information. Additionally, volunteers are encouraged to research information in scientific articles and other databases. Volunteers should annotate all their species by Sunday each week.

Where would volunteers annotate the information?

Information will be collected through

KoBoToolbox | Data Collection Tools for Challenging Environments⁠

Training sessions will take place before tasks are assigned. Credentials (username and password) to KoBoToolbox will be given to each volunteer after the training session.

The interface of KoBoToolbox microbial survey looks like this:

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During the training session you will learn how to log in and how to submit your data.

Comments from TMD volunteers

We are always guiding and encouraging our volunteers to learn more about microbes. Here are some testimonies:

🔵 Alena Lebron

"It is a very positive and fulfilling experience and I am grateful for an opportunity to take part in this project. Maria and Krista are responsive and helpful in addressing my questions. It was a little challenging to find information about some of the assigned microfungi. Nevertheless, I enjoyed researching the scientific articles and expanding my knowledge about the microbes. Thank you!"

🔵 Abigail Calumpit

"Volunteering with the Microbe Directory has piqued my interest in microbial life. As I'm discovering more and more microbes every week, I am realizing that there is so much more to life than the ones we can visibly see and that most of those living things are still a mystery to us! The experience of learning about a new kind of life inexplicably brings a sense of sublime to me, a feeling that I don't quite experience in other forms of my learning. Although finding for and extracting information about these microbes can be challenging at times, it is definitely rewarding to help contribute to the directory in some way shape or form."

🔵 Anastassiya Skripchenko

"I found it to be very informative, while researching I am learning more things about medical and biological concepts. The survey for each microbe helps to know what to research, I found that it lacked the specific geographical/country positions, although I'm not sure if it would be relevant to this research, it was just what I've noticed. My overall experience as a volunteer was excellent."

Want to contribute?

📧Email us to themicrobedirectory@gmail.com

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