Given the ongoing discussions around how #iNaturalist should respond to a Google.org grant linked to generative AI, here is my personal story on why some web platforms remain precious to me.
Ten years ago, I thought biodiversity informatics (through @gbif, #CatalogueOfLife, #BarcodeOfLife, iNaturalist and a whole ecosystem of intersecting online efforts) was a real contribution we could make to delivering the #SustainableDevelopmentGoals.
Following Brexit, the subsequent US election, the handling of the pandemic, the obvious state capture of governments everywhere by fossil fuel and other extractive interests, etc., I realised the SDGs can probably not be delivered in our current political order.
I did however think we could still use the Internet and #FAIR data to deliver the tools that could help democratic processes to turn things round.
The rampant introduction of #LLM-based pseudo-information engines everywhere on the web has undercut even this restricted hope for what can be achieved. Everywhere, we are at risk of polluting what we know and believe to be true with truth-like, plausible or false supplements that can often only be recognised and separated at significant cost.
Over the last couple of years, I've come to see my focus for this stage of my life to be to do what I can to help maintain clean sources of data and information where provenance is well known and understood. There are fewer and fewer of these. For me, iNaturalist, COL, BHL, #Wikimedia and #InternetArchive have been at the top of the list.
Focusing on where I can actually "make a difference" has helped me to remaining grounded and to feeling life has some value in terrible times. My impression is that many are feeling something similar. iNaturalist is one of the last "real" places on the web, and we are scared that we will lose it and have to cross it of this very short list of human and genuine sites and communities that remain for us.
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