My Research

Presenting DCL at the 2019 TSA Symposium

• 7 August 2019

Abstract

Digital Chelonian Log: Making Data-keeping Accessible and Sharable to Both the Hobbyist and the Professional

Although keeping data and records about turtles and tortoises is time-consuming and effortful, it is yet a very important task to accomplish for both hobbyists and professionals. Today, whilst few software allow one to keep chelonian records, they tend to be unhandy and costly for both the private keeper and institutions. To overcome these problems, we introduce Digital Chelonian Log (DCL), a free web-based software that not only offers a wide range of data-keeping features, but also offers inter-users data sharing. Indeed, sharing private data and logs is of high importance for research and conservation purposes, as it could ease and enhance contributions to chelonian knowledge. To that extent, DCL was specifically designed for easily keeping and sharing uniformed chelonian records that respond to both conservationists and hobbyists needs. DCL allows one to track a specimen’s general information, basic and advanced measurements, courtship behavior, clutch information, health records, pictures, and life events. In addition, DCL offers various graphical visualization tools such as graphs or matrices and allows a user to store numerous types of documents such as CITES papers, DNA paperwork, Veterinary paperwork, or various permits. Users can control both their personal privacy as well as their specimen’s privacy with a fine granularity, allowing them to make certain data public, as well as to connect with other users. Finally, Digital Chelonian Log was designed with the latest web technologies and is therefore highly user-friendly, of a simple usability, and provides safe data storage with daily backups. By the mean of an Internet connection and a web browser, the software is accessible from any device, i.e., PC, laptops, tablets, and phones from any geographical locations, thus allowing one to access data at home or even on the field. A year after DCL was officially released, 60 users have joined our community with 525 specimens being safely recorded and 443 amongst which are publicly shared.

The African Chelonian Institute hosted a DCL training at the Rhodin Center

• 4 December 2018

December 4, 2018, the African Chelonian Instute hosted an online training at their breeding facility, the Rhodin Center. This online training led by me and Tomas Diagne had an objective of promoting data log practices through DCL. ACI and some other African wildlife organisations, namely the "Village des Tortues du Sénégal", "Département de biologie animale université de Dakar", and "Service des eaux et forêts de Mbour" took part in the virtual tour.

The Pondcast Special - Digital Chelonian Log Tutorial

• 6 August 2018

DCL Trailer

• 5 August 2018

https://dcl.theturtleroom.com

What it DCL ?

DCL is a web-based software that allows one to keep uniformed Chelonian data and log on a digital form. It offers a wide range of data-keeping features and inter-users data sharing. Specifically, it allows to track a specimen’s general information, measurements, courtship behavior, clutch information, health records, pictures, life events, and documents, as well as providing various graphical visualization tools such as graphs or matrices. DCL was designed to keep data that respond to both conservationists and hobbyists needs. The goal and purpose of DCL is three-folded:

• Making data-keeping accessible for hobbyists
• Enhance collaboration between hobbyists and researchers
• Deepen Chelonian knowledge and improve chelonian research and conservation

Husbandry Tips

• 12 April 2016

Working in collaboration with the husbandry and habitat design experts on staff, tTR's educational writers have compiled a list of “tips” and “tricks” divided into four categories: Water, Enclosure, Diet, and Health & Medical. While these tips are not species-specific, they will answer many of the “how do I do that…” questions turtle and tortoise keepers have as they learn about all the things that go into making their turtle or tortoise’s quality of life as optimal as possible. We hope that these husbandry tips can answer many of these questions in one place.
We hope that even if you don't need this resource, that you'll keep it bookmarked for when a friend or acquaintance needs this resource to help answer some of their questions.

Husbandry Tips section is an educational resource. It does not cover all "tips of the trade", nor can we guarantee all information in this section. While theTurtleRoom's staff and contributors have significant experience, these "tips of the trade" are just that – "tips" or "suggestions".

https://africanchelonian.org

• 09 March 2015

The ACI staff is very pleased to announce the launch of its first official website. This means a lot to us as we can now share our daily work with the world. This website was designed to expose what we do in order to promote the long-term conservation of turtle, tortoise and terrapin populations across the African continent and, more precisely, how we want to achieve this goal, what are our plans, and how are we going to do it. Through the blog section, our purpose is also to inform you about what is going on with turtles and tortoises across Africa.
In addition to sharing more details about what we do at the African Chelonian Institute, we really hope this website will help to raise global awareness on the plight of African turtle and tortoise species.
As a non-profit organization, we would like to thank all of our partners for their support. A special thank goes to Steve Enders and theTurtleRoom, who designed this website for us. Please make sure to visit their website and support them as well in their goal to aid in the education, conservation, and survival of the world’s turtle and tortoise species. Finally, we want to thank WMPL.org for providing the software enabling us to run the site in both English and French.

World Turtle News

• 27 February 2015

We are excited to launch a new daily blog resource that should run about 5 or 6 days a week. World Turtle News is a new resource that will bring you news article from all over the world related to freshwater turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles. As hobbyists is it important to be aware of what is happening in the Chelonian world not only in our own country but across the globe. New species discovered, new species endangered, smugglers being caught, new lands being protected... WTN will keep you informed and will bring news related to Conservation, Ecology, Education, Crime & Punishment, Health & Medical, Biology, Obituaries, and Blog articles. Additionally, a featured trivia section will highlight turtle literatture that you should not miss, a "Did You Know" fact which will highlight some secrets kept by our Chelonians, some species facts, and much more.

The Pondcast, Episode 12: Escape To Africa

• 18 December 2014

Guest Kévin Labille joins John and Anthony to talk about the Chelonians of Africa. Topics include: Pelusios seychellensis never existed; Cyclanorbis elegans (Nubian Flapshell Turtle) is nearly extinct, but almost noone seems to notice; Pelomedusa being split into 10 species from 1; Lack of interest in African freshwater turtles by American keepers; and the work now being done by Tomas Diagne and the African Chelonian Institute (ACI). Stay tuned for increased collaboration between the ACI and tTR.

• 10 December 2014

It is after several years of email communication with Tomas Diagne upon the topic of Arican Chelonian that Tomas offers me to join his organization as a Communication Officer. My deep interest in the genuses Pelusios and Pelomedusa as well as my willingness to promote his work on African Chelonian conservation amongst the turtle community have caught Tomas' attention. Being busy and lacking a person in charge of promoting and communicating his organization's work, Tomas was convinced that I could fill the gap amongst his team.

Native Species Map

• 29 July 2014

Natice Species Map is an interactive map that allows one to check what species of turtles and tortoises are native to a particular country or region of the world. The counts of species in a given region only include native species; however, introduced species have been included in the species lists. Where sea turtles are concerned, we have chosen to list only those species that nest within the region. World, continent, or regions, a simple click allows you to quickly know which species are found there.

• 21 July 2014

It is with honor and great pleasure that I join theTurtleRoom upon Steve Ender's request. My background as computer scientist as wel as my early work on the first desktop version of Digital Chelonian Log have seduced his team. I will be joining the team as a Educational Resource Developer as well as Staff Writer wherein my goals will be to produce computer-based resources to strenghten the Educational content of the organization. Additionally, I will write content such as species profiles or blog posts.