From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit] About me
[edit] "Kotare"?
This is the Māori name for the Sacred Kingfisher, a beautiful bird with a lot of character.
[edit] General
I am a 20 year old university student studying towards a BSc majoring in ecology and biodiversity at Victoria university, Wellington. My Interests include Conservation ( particularly forest conservation) , Tramping (hiking), reading and cross country running. Basically I'm a rabid conservationist - there is so much beauty in nature and so much that it can teach us and it pains me to think that future generations may have to live in a world made drearier by the destruction of so much of it (it's depressing enough living in a New Zealand where 51% of our bird species are now extinct).
"As we extinguish a large portion of our planet's biological diversity, we will also lose a large portion of our world's beauty, complexity, intellectual interest, spiritual depth and ecological health.. [The] future we're presently headed towards is a future of soul-withering biological loneliness" - David Quammen, "Song of the Dodo"
Because the challenges faced by the modern day conservation movement are so massive, it is easy to lose hope but it's important to be positive;
"We may not save all we should like to but we shall save a great deal more than if we had never tried" - Sir Peter Scott, Co founder of WWF.
[edit] Ruminations/thoughts on Wikipedia
In my view, Wikipedia is a truly amazing thing and a success story of mass collaboration. My interest in contributing to this vast encyclopaedia is primarily to contribute articles of an ecological nature, with particular focus on New Zealand species and ecosystems, as there seems to have been relatively little progress made into getting a lot of information in these areas up. I try to focus on getting raw well referenced info. up. "A picture is worth a thousand words" - I contribute photos I have taken to wikipedia articles where needed and appropriate.
- I believe that it is important to cite as many references as possible in wikipidia articles, as academically the information on this site cannot be considered reliable- providing ample references acts to direct individuals to alternative/additional sources of information which are more robust in terms of their academic credibility; proper referencing thus greatly enhances Wikipedia's usefulness for, among other groups of people, students doing research.
- I tentatively support the idea Jimbo has mentioned of having advertisements on wikipedia with all the profits going to charities; this would open a can of worms but at the same time it would allow wikipedia to do alot of good.
- Vast areas of Wikipedia still remain woefully underdeveloped and as far as biology articles go, although a good start has been made, far too many articles (especially those for individual species) are still stubs or lack citations and the amount of activity developing them is minimal- give it 10 years and I think things will be looking a bit better.
[edit] Contributions
[edit] Articles/Stubs I have created
Ngati hotu, Jatun Sacha Foundation, Makaro/Ward Island, Mahoe, Global volunteer network, Kawekaweau, New Zealand Geckos, Earina mucronata, Earina autumnalis, Whitehead (bird) (work in progress), Wrybill, Lake Kohangatera, Lake Kohangapiripiri, Nothofagus truncata, Shore Plover, Drosera stenopetala, Drosera arcturi, Drosera pygmaea, Drosera filiformis,Utricularia australis, Utricularia delicatula, Utricularia dichotoma, Utricularia geminiscapa, Utricularia gibba, New Zealand Striped Skink, Aorangi Range, Mohoua
[edit] Articles i have made major edits to (in some cases built up from scratch)
Tieke, Huia, Ecologyfund.com, Campbell Island Teal, Common duiker, Hoplodactylus, Naultinus, The Beach (novel), Kakapo (place in maori culture section),
[edit] Articles to which I have contributed photos of my own
Winika, HMNZS Rotoiti
[edit] Activity and useful links
