Possible Group Chat Options

I took the liberty of looking up a couple of options that would make group chatting a little easier (and more efficient than one-on-one texts or emails).

Skype
So the first one that I figured the most people would be familiar with is Skype. Skype is a very popular video-chatting program that also has group messaging. I've used it before and it works pretty well, even for sending files back and forth. It's used for both professional and personal types of communications, and so it would likely serve our purposes fairly well. It also comes in iPhone and Android apps, as well as Windows, Mac, and Linux. So really anybody can use it. The main drawback from Skype would appear to be that it doesn't have in-browser options, so you have to download the apps or programs, and that in order for Skype to be useful, you have to be signed in at all times, which for some may either not be possible or may not be desirable.
Some useful links:
Skype Download (computers)- http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/ 
Skype Download (iPhone)- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skype-for-iphone/id304878510?mt=8 
Skype Download (Android)- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skype.raider 

GroupMe
I've only recently discovered GroupMe, and to be honest to some degree I find it less invasive than Skype. Like Skype, GroupMe allows a group chat in which you can see what each member is saying, and also allows one-on-one messaging. Also like Skype, it comes in iPhone and Android flavors, but it also has an in-browser option for people that do not wish to download anything (or people that just need to access it when they aren't near a device that is capable of using the apps). The apps are pretty simple and run in the background so you will tend to forget they're even there unless you are using them. They act much like text messaging, sending you a small notification when somebody replies to the group chat (which may have the potential for being annoying if for some reason you want to ignore the group chat, but I imagine there are ways to silence it). Another useful feature is that this app seems to store everything that is sent in their logs, so if a new member joins the group, they can see everything that has been said since the group was created, which is good for adding any of our professional contacts, as well as for passing the project on to the next class that takes over. It could also potentially be useful for interacting with the various groups involved. So far, the main drawback to this option is just that I haven't had time to get familiar with it, and so I don't know what all it can do or can't do. So far it seems solid and I hear that a number of UCA RSOs and even teachers and classes are using it, so that may be a good indicator of the usefulness of the apps. Either way, I'll drop a few links for them below as well.
Some useful links:
GroupMe (Online)- https://groupme.com/
GroupMe (iPhone)- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/groupme/id392796698?mt=8
GroupMe (Android)- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.groupme.android

If anybody else knows of some good, free apps or programs that compete with these, or if you want to weigh in on your opinions of either one (or if you know more than I do about GroupMe, which shouldn't be hard), please comment and let us know. For now, my tentative vote is for GroupMe, just because I think it has a lot of potential.

My On-Site Photos (The 6 "Best" of the day)- Kell Sullins

I can't figure out how to make it so that you can either make the smaller images bigger, or how to hide the bigger images behind some sort of "spoiler alert" type of device. So I settled for the XL images (original size is about 4x the XL image). If anybody knows how to fix that, let me know.

White Oak Bayou Impressions (Day 1)

Kell Sullins

Date: Friday, January 24, 2014,

Location: White Oak Bayou three sample sites

Time spent on site: 1:45-4:30

Team members: Scott Owen, Sally Entrekin, Environmental Practicum Class (2014)

So my very first thought about the White Oak Bayou: "So this road just dead ends here? Wait...Oh." I'm a bit slow sometimes. But I came prepared for a cold day out, and by prepared I mean the usual cold weather gear plus an unusually large camera. I intended to take numerous photos of the White Oak Bayou (WOB), but unfortunately very few turned out that great. Specifically the animals in the area seemed to have a sense for when I was about to snap the photos, and they literally moved at the last second to prevent me from getting any good shots of them. There were some deer in the distance, birds in the tops of the trees and passing overhead (there is something very cool about seeing a large shadow before you see the bird it belongs to), and signs of other animals as well.

There were also signs of people, such as crushed beer cans, a destroyed and abandoned couch, and some sheet plastic discarded near the entry site (Ali took up the task of collecting as much trash as she could along our journey, an admirable effort to say the least). It may be something to consider to include park sized trash cans and/or recycling bins (perhaps some like the dual purposed ones UCA uses) in both the degraded area and at the accessible areas of the construction site once the road is underway. Another thing that I am pleased with is how much of the area stands out perfectly in my memory. Anybody that knows me knows I have no sense of memory, and yet I can recall almost perfectly what each area we went to looked like. I can even remember the distinct smell of methane near pre-impact site 1, with the frozen dragonfly and the beautiful trees nearby. Frankly, half of the pictures I should have taken were so mesmerizing that I forgot to use my camera.

I honestly can't wait until the weather warms up and I get a chance to hear and hopefully see the amphibians that are my focus in the project. I look forward to working alongside Scott, Dr. Entrekin, and the rest of the class (and anybody else that happens to join in).

Professional meeting opportunities

Arkansas Academy of Science, April 4-5th at Harding University in Searcy http://arkansasacademyofsci.ipage.com/aasmeetings.html

American Fisheries Society Meeting, February 26-28th, Rogers, Arkansas
http://www.sdafs.org/arkafs/AFS/index.html

Lake Conway Watershed Meeting, February 25th, 6pm, Conway, Arkansas Natural Resource Center

White Oak Bayou - Day 1
Date: Jan. 24th 2014
Location: White Oak Bayou
Time: 1:30-4:30
Members: Scott Own, Sally Entrekin, Environmental Practicum Class

Friday we met up with Scott Owen and got the chance to visit so of the sites we will be studying in the White Oak Bayou. We learned about some of the different vegetation that makes up the bayou, some of the biological life living there such as beavers with really alter the hydrology of the watershed. We also learned about fun ways that the middle school students in the area are learning about the wetlands and basic lab materials for testing things such as water quality. I took some binoculars to the first sight to try to spot any birds that would be using the watershed. One of the first birds I saw when I arrived was a yellow-belied sapsucker which was exciting enough because it was too early in the day and also late in the afternoon to experience to much avian activity. The second site we went to was a little more open and wet and Scott showed us what a soil profile of the wetland should look like. Before leaving, Scott gave us his information and said that he needed to talk to a friend from the Audubon Society to get more information about the bird activity in the wetlands. There is not a lot of research on wetland birds in Arkansas or how habitat fragmentation effects them; so this should be a great learning experience.

http://ar.audubon.org/

Day One in the Field:

Alyson Stepina

Date: Friday, January 24, 2014

Location: White Oak Bayou

Time spent on project: 1:45-4:30

Team members: Scott, Dr. Entrekin, and all of the class members

Scott met us at the White Oak Bayou to show us the sites that we would be working at and answer any questions we had. The first site that we went to was more of a degraded site that had trash, 4 wheeler tracks, and a power line. The next site was a good example of how much the water line changes and how much canopy cover there is in some places. While we were at this site Dr. Entrekin also suggested that I also look into insects that use wood for laying their eggs. We also used our time with Scott to brainstorm ways that we could teach the middle school students and learn a little more about what equipment they currently have. Next we drove to the other site and saw how there can be different types of wetlands very close together. We looked at a possible site but we did not get to explore due to lack of time. Scott also showed us a trick to determine if we were in a wetland using the soil. Going to wetland and seeing the actual sites gave us more prospective as to what we are actually doing and how it will help them once the road is built. 

View of sites visited

I looked a the sites visited with Scott on Google Earth. It helped put it all in perspective. Here is jpeg, but I suggest you all look at the sites via go

ogle earth and go back through the history to see the remarkable change.