[Coral-List] Assistance with the Coral Reef Image Descriptions on the Marine Photobank

[Reuven Walder]

Greetings Coral-List,

I ask for your assistance in helping to caption and describe content 
for coral images in the Marine Photobank.  The mission of the Photobank 
is to provide compelling, high-quality images of the marine environment 
royalty-free and for non-commercial use to non-profit organizations, 
educators, researchers, media, government agencies and members of the 
public.  The Marine Photobank project was transferred to SeaWeb 
http://www.seaweb.org/ last fall and I was hired earlier this year to 
manage the growth and creative development of the site.

Many of the images we inherited in the Photobank have inaccuracies 
and/or a lack of descriptive information, however the images are of 
high quality and resolution and simply need better captioning.  This is 
evident in the 'Dead/Dying Reefs' gallery (URL is 
http://gallery.marinephotobank.org/objects/view.acs?object_id=761).

Neither myself nor the photographer who shot the bulk of these images 
are veterans of coral reef ecology as the Coral-list members.  My 
expertise is in rocky shore and kelp forest ecosystems on the U.S. west 
coast.
Therefore, if you are interested in helping to accurately caption 
images as related to the coral systems, I would be most grateful.

I look to experts like you to help with the following caption 
information as related to these images:
- Species ID
- Confirmation of diseased, dying, dead  or healthy coral
- interesting ecological notes
- natural or human-related explanations/theories of impacts to coral or 
coral reef systems
- issues and impacts that coral reef ecosystems face
- description of, or reference to work to protect and restore coral 
systems
- reference to interesting and relevant scientific research

Assistance with a few images can greatly improve our accuracy.  
Furthermore, many images are from the same series, thus information 
provided for one image can be applied to others.

Please send all corrections to me, with reference to the specific URL 
address (web address) for the given image.

Please note that all NEW images submitted to the site are undergoing a 
review process to assure accuracy.

I hesitated in alerting the Coral-List about the Marine Photobank on 
6/15, since I am in the process of over-hauling the site and database.  
However, since there has been frequent mention of uplifted reefs on the 
list, I could not resist alerting you to a few relevant images.  Now I 
ask for your help in this process.

Clearly our galleries are not comprehensive, thus if you or your 
colleagues care to post images about your work, ecological processes, 
marine issues etc. for non-commercial use by the marine community, I 
would be more than happy to discuss.

Stay posted for a re-launch of the new site in the coming months.  In 
the meantime, the current site is fully accessible and you are welcome 
to utilize this free resource of images for non-commercial purposes.  I 
also invite suggestions on features and functions for our overhaul.  
Contact me for an existing list of features and modifications we plan 
to implement.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Reuven Walder - M.S.
Marine Photobank Program Manager
SeaWeb
1731 Connecticut Ave., NW
4th Floor
Washington, DC  20009
www.seaweb.org
rwalder at seaweb.org
(P)202-483-9570 x14
(F)202-483-9354