Do you ever wonder how animals communicate? Scientists do, and by studying animal
communication they gain valuable insights into how our own human language may have evolved.
The Project
VoCallBase is a web-based platform that brings together thousands of recordings of animal vocalisations from around the world. Scientists use these recordings to explore how animals communicate and how communication has evolved.
However, before the recordings can be used for research, they need to be annotated and transformed into valuable scientific data. To annotate means to mark the beginning and the end of a vocalisation. Computer tools can help with this analysis, but they first need to learn from human observations. Humans identify and check vocalisations, and their contributions are then used to improve automated methods.
Collaborate. Annotate. Discover.
The VoCallBase collection of recording is vast, and scientists need you. Helping them out will give you a unique opportunity to listen to animal recordings from around the world collected by researchers. Sounds that you might never otherwise encounter.
You do not need to be an expert, but you will probably become one!
You will start with simple tasks such as marking the beginning and end of each vocalisation. If you want more, you can also learn to recognise different species, distinguish between different types of vocalisation, and develop your ability to recognise patterns in sound.
How it works
You will use a simple online tool.
You will listen to audio recordings.
You will also see the sounds as images (called spectrograms).
To begin, you will mark where animal vocalisations starts and ends.
We will provide training and support in English, German and French to help you get started. You can work at your own pace, while enjoying the unique opportunity to listen closely to the sounds of nature.
Let me know when VoCallBase launches!
Leave your email address, and we will let you know as soon as the project is ready for your contribution.
No newsletter. No spam. Just one message when VoCallBase launches.
Who is behind VoCallBase?
VoCallBase is a project of the NCCR Evolving Language, a nationwide interdisciplinary research consortium. It brings together researchers from the humanities, language and computer science, the social sciences and the natural sciences. Together, they investigate how language evolved and how it may change in the future.
Contact
Vanessa Pasci
education@evolvinglanguage.ch