What are NestWatch Communities?

A Way to Monitor Nests Together

NestWatch Communities enable groups of people to share responsibility for entering and managing nesting data by giving each person access to shared nests through their own user accounts. Communities are designed for groups who are comfortable sharing data with each other, for the benefit of the group. Here are some example user groups:

• Nature center staff working with a team of volunteers to monitor nests
• Participants who manage large nest box trails with help from others
• Researchers coordinating the work of multiple nest monitors

Communities are not the same thing as NestWatch Chapters (although Chapters may wish to use this feature), nor are they a separate account type. They’re more like a workspace within the “My Nests” data entry tools that exist to keep your shared sites separate from your personal sites (for example, nests at home that you don’t expect others to visit).

How Does It Work?

To create a Community, make a request to NestWatch staff [link coming soon!]. The person making the request will be designated a “coordinator” of the community by default (this can be changed later, and other co-coordinators can also be added). This initial coordinator can use the invitation feature to invite new members to join by clicking a link. Potential community members will need to have a NestWatch account (or create one) to join.

NestWatch Communities are currently in a testing period. At this time, groups with nest sites that are already in a NestWatch account will need to manually request specific nests to be moved into the Community space (that is, you should not create a duplicate nest site in the Community if you want to keep the history of that nest viewable by all). Nest sites that don’t already exist in NestWatch can be created from within the community and will immediately be accessible to all members.

Coordinators can assign members one of two possible roles: Coordinator or Contributor. Coordinators have more expansive permissions and can edit all nests in the community. Contributors can add data to any nest, but they can only edit data or delete data on nests that they created. Depending on the needs of your community, you can make everyone a coordinator if appropriate.

Here’s a breakdown of what each role can do:

Communities are private for now; there is no public directory. To create your Community, fill out the form here [link coming soon!].