Hurray – we have 2 of the 4 videotapes of data complete for dolphin ID confirmation.
I went to school this morning, to Mikura's school. I visited their English class and helped with the lessons. Mostly I just spoke some of the lessons so students could hear a native English speaker. But, I also learn because I listen to the comments made in Japanese. Okay, I also worked on my Japanese grammar today from my lesson book too. My sentences are simple and I want them to be more complex. So, little by little I am learning.
The afternoon was spent reviewing a videotape. Masaki-san, a woman who recently finished her MS on dolphin mother/calf pairs, and I reviewed an hour of video to confirm ID's that I was unsure of or could not make. The procedure is that I review the tape first, trying to confirm as many IDs as possible for each dolphin that swims into view. I can do this for a few hours before I need a break. Then, I meet with other researchers to review, update and confirm specific dolphin identitifications.
From the more than 3.5 hours of video recorded so far this summer, we have confirmed about half. We hope to finish the tapes tomorrow afternoon, assuming of course the sea is not calm enough to allow us on it.
Till tomorrow,
Kathleen