Free books!

Submitted by Ferran Gil on Tue, 01/12/2009 - 09:46.

UPDATE:

The IBC "points" campaign has now come to an end. Thank you to everyone who collaborated with new material. We hope that you all continue contributing and making the IBC an increasingly more valuable tool!

For those of you who earned points up to 31 May, but have not yet used them towards books, you have time to do so until 31 August 2010.

For participants who did not make it to 20 points, we would like to reward your collaboration with the following discounts on your next order (placed before 31 August 2010):

Lynx Edicions, publisher of the Handbook of the Birds of the World, which is the sole sponsor of the IBC, wants to help the IBC grow! They will generously give you discounts and free books in exchange for the points that you earn contributing to the IBC. One of the goals of the IBC is to have at least one video, photograph or sound recording for each species. Lynx’s initiative will motivate contributors to upload material of species not yet covered on the site.

How do I earn points?
To earn points you should contribute a video, photograph or sound recording that will be the first for that species. The points are calculated per species and type of material. For example, if you upload a video of a species without any material, you will receive 1 point. If you then upload a photograph or a sound recording of the same species you will earn another 1 point. This also means that uploading a photograph of a species with many videos (but without any photographs) will give you 1 point, as well! Please note that to be granted a point the material doesn’t necessarily have to be high quality, but the species should be clearly recognizable in the video, photo or sound recording. Points will be accumulated until 31 May 2010, which gives you six months to see how many you can earn!
Please keep in the mind the following notes:

  • While the material doesn't necessarily have to be high quality, the species should be clearly recognizable in the video, photo or sound recording.
  • Only material of live birds will count towards points. Thus, material of museum skins will not count, but material of captive birds will count.
  • All uploaded materials should be properly detailed, including especially the date of the recording, the locality and an accurate description of what is presented in the video, photograph or sound recording. Some common questions on this are answered on the FAQ page.
  • Only material of species currently included on the IBC list, based on the taxonomy from the Handbook of the Birds of the World, will count towards points. We know that some taxonomy is outdated (see FAQ for more information), and this will be updated in due course, but for this special programme the current list should be respected.

I have lots of great videos/photographs/sound recordings of species already covered... should I upload them?
Yes; absolutely! The IBC has been online since 2002, and we have acquired the current level of coverage of species just by totally altruist contributions. This programme is just a 6-month boost, not only to help the IBC cover new species, but also to interest new people in the site. However, the IBC is still a not-for-profit project and while we don’t charge for the use of the site, we also have never paid contributors for material and this isn’t our intention with this initiative from Lynx. Thus, the normal system is the collaborative and voluntary kind in which so many have already participated.

Furthermore, although material of new species is always exciting, having good quality material of species, and showing a variety of biological aspects (different plumages, behaviours, juveniles, etc) of each, is also desirable. The IBC aims to cover each species with as many digital specimens as possible as we imagine the project a bit like a 21st century natural history museum, where, like traditional museums, the more digital specimens we hold, including from different locations, the more useful and interesting the collection is for its users. So, we hope new contributors will get hooked and keep uploading materials even if they are not new for the IBC!

I have lots of points. What now?
Use them to "buy" books! Below is the table of points. For each level you can pick from the corresponding list and contact us with your choice at any time.

Contact us or Lynx Edicions directly if you have any questions.

Spread the word! Let your friends know about this (and the IBC!). The goal of this initiative is to attract new contributors with new material, so that we can make the IBC even more interesting with a greater number of species covered every day!