Custom Observer App vs Blue Post Cross

The Custom Observer app, enables data collection using standard methods and protocols to produce credible and actionable insights that address needs and priorities of communities for environmental and ecological monitoring. Our mission is to empower communities to lead in environmental monitoring and research by branding their own app environment in which they can combine diverse data collection methods to drive effective ecosystem stewardship and resource management. The Custom Observer App is a modern approach to caring for and stewarding the land. Data collection priorities are set by communities and collaborating researchers and can range from environmental data related to extreme weather events such as wind speed or storm surge, or ecological indicators such as species distribution and phenology, presence of invasive species or declines in important subsistence species. The app supports the employment of rigorous protocols for data validity and reliability, blending scientific and social methodologies. Moreover, the app supports the assurance of data accuracy by providing detailed quality assurance and control mechanisms. The Custom Observer app is the technical infrastructure for community networks to lead in defining research priorities, generating and managing access to data equitably, and ensuring that future ecological and environmental monitoring strategies, all while also enabling community networks to apply their own branding and look and feel to the app. The Custom Observer App’s core function is to support the implementation of community-driven monitoring programs. Data Collection Programs are sets of related observation activities that group various data collection forms/surveys. The Programs module in the app organizes data collection forms, users, and observations into manageable categories for a defined network of communities and organizations. On the app, an ‘observation’ is a single data point collected in a survey/form related to certain species, environmental variables or events at a specific point in space and time within a data collection program. The mobile app supports the entry of observations while offline, making the system ideal for use in remote areas and tribal communities. The data from observations go through quality assurance and are used in analysis and reporting. Geospatial and mapping functionality supports program effectiveness by allowing users to use relevant GIS map layers and maintain a spatially organized context to their data, contributing to more comprehensive record keeping and informed decision-making.

Blue Post brings the notifications from your other phone to your iPhone. If you carry two phones, the notifications keep arriving on the one that is in your bag. Blue Post lets you read them on the iPhone in your hand, without taking the other phone out. ■ What this app does • Shows the notifications that arrive on your other phone here on your iPhone. They are kept in a list, so you can read them again after you dismiss them. • Sends the notifications that arrive on this iPhone to your other phone, so you can leave this iPhone in your bag instead. • Each direction has its own switch. You can use just one of them. • Shows the battery level of your other phone, and tells you when it is running low. • Shows where you were the last time the two phones were connected, so you can tell where you left the other one. That place stays on this iPhone and is never sent anywhere. ■ Connected directly over Bluetooth The two phones talk to each other directly over Bluetooth. Notifications do not travel over the Internet, there is no account to create, and nothing is sent to us or to anyone else. Because it is a Bluetooth link, the connection depends on the distance between the two phones and on the radio conditions around you, and it can drop. ■ What you need • This iPhone, and one other phone to pair it with. • The other phone must be an Android phone with the Blue Post companion app installed. The two apps are one product: neither half does anything on its own. • Bluetooth turned on on both phones. • Two iPhones cannot be paired with each other. ■ Setting up 1. Install Blue Post on both phones. 2. Grant the permissions this app asks for, in the order it asks. 3. Scan the pairing QR code shown on the other phone. 4. Send yourself a test notification and check that it arrives on the other side. ■ Made for • People who carry two phones — one for work and one for private life, or a main phone and a spare. • People who keep the second phone in a bag or a pocket and miss what arrives on it. • People who would rather not pick up both phones every time one of them buzzes.