Public access to Survey 123

[atlantaveld]

Hi,

I'm currently working with a local government in southern Western Australia to deliver a citizen science project on surveying the population and distribution of South Western Snake-necked Turtles - Chelodina colliei. 

We're using Survey123 however only registered users can access offline capabilities. As we are a regional community and working with a fauna species, it is highly likely that a significant number of turtle populations will be in locations that are out of range. I have worked in the community with these turtles as a citizen scientist for over 13 years. The amount of anecdotal information I have been told by local residents and farmers on their experiences with these turtles is really amazing and will never truly able to be captured in a scientific journal article. 

I would love to see some public survey access capabilities be designed into Survey123 so we can start capturing this data, these experiences and stories. The never-before-recorded defensive strategy used by the Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris), to protect against Pyjama Shark (Poroderma africanum) attacks, observed by Craig Foster in My Octopus Teacher (Netflix, 2020 - Directors James Reed 7 Pippa Ehrlich) comes to mind. Of something that one man happened upon that has added something significant and special to our understanding of this species.

What if we can have people who live right next to these animals, be able to record their observations and interactions with them in a way that will really make a difference to our understanding of these and other fauna and flora?  

We could have the opportunity to collect long-term baseline data on species before they become endangered and develop targeted and meaningful conservation, protection and management strategies. that's what I see is one potential for Survey123.