Introduction
CyberTracker has grown from a simple hypothesis: The art of tracking may have been the origin of science. Science may have evolved more than a hundred thousand years ago with the evolution of modern hunter-gatherers. Scientific reasoning may therefore be an innate ability of the human mind. This may have far-reaching implications for indigenous knowledge and tracking science.
Further Reading
The Origin of Science
Liebenberg, Louis. 2013.Tracking Science: The Origin of Scientific Thinking in Our Paleolithic Ancestors. Skeptic Magazine. Vol. 18. No. 3.
Liebenberg, Louis. 2013.The Origin of Science. Cape Town: CyberTracker.
Liebenberg, Louis. 1990.The Art of Tracking: The Origin of Science. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.
Born to Run
Conniff, Richard. 2008.Yes, You Were Born to Run. Men’s Health.
Liebenberg, Louis. 2006.Persistence Hunting by Modern Hunter-Gatherers, Current Anthropology. 47:5.
Liebenberg, Louis. 2008.The Relevance of Persistence Hunting to Human Evolution, Journal of Human Evolution. 55, 1156-1159.
Reviving the Dying Art of Tracking
Biesele, Megan and Steve Barclay. 2001.Ju/’hoan Women’s Tracking Knowledge and its Contribution to their Husbands’ Hunting Success.African Studies Monographs, Suppl.26: 67-84, March 2001.
Cunliffe, Stephen. 2013.Tracking with a Master. Africa Geographic.
CyberTracker Tracker Certification
CyberTracker Software for Non-literate Trackers
Ansell, Shuan and Jennifer Koening. 2011.CyberTracker: An integral management tool used by rangers inthe Djelk Indigenous Protected Area, central Arnhem Land, Australia.Ecological Management & Restoration. Vol. 12 No 1 April 2011.
Du Plessis, Pierre. 2010.Tracking Knowledge: Science, Tracking and Technology.
Ens, E.J. 2012.Monitoring Outcomes of Environmental Service Provisionin Low Socio-economic Indigenous AustraliaUsing Innovative CyberTracker Technology.Conservation and Society 10(1): 42-52, 2012
Liebenberg, L., et al., 2016.Smartphone Icon User Interface design for non-literate trackers and its implications for an inclusive citizen science, Biological Conservation, 208 (2017) 155–162 https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.04.033
Liebenberg, Louis, Lindsay Steventon, Karel Benadie and James Minye. 1999.Rhino Tracking with the CyberTracker Field Computer. Pachyderm, Number 27.
Liebenberg, Louis, Edwin Blake, Lindsay Steventon, Karel Benadie and James Minye. 1998.Integrating Traditional Knowledge with Computer Science for the Conservation of Biodiversity. Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies, Osaka, Japan, October 1998.
Liebenberg, Louis. 2011.The Western Kgalagadi Conservation Corridor Project.
Logie, Christopher. 2010.The Literacy of Tracking: A comparative analysis of tracking within two Bushman post-hunter communities.
Mayes, Simon. 2002.CyberTracker Applications in Namibia.
NAILSMA. 2015.Looking After Country: The NAILSMA I-Tracker Story.
Towards an Inclusive Tracking Science
Liebenberg, L., //Ao, . /Am ., Lombard, M., Shermer, M., Xhukwe, . /Uase ., Biesele, M., //xao, D., Carruthers, P., Kxao, . ≠Oma ., Hansson, S.O., Langwane, H. (Karoha) ., Elbroch, L.M., /Ui, N., Keeping, D., Humphrey, G., Newman, G., G/aq’o, . /Ui ., Steventon, J., Kashe, N., Stevenson, R., Benadie, K., du Plessis, P., Minye, J., /Kxunta, . /Ui ., Ludwig, B., Daqm, . ≠Oma ., Louw, M., Debe, D. and Voysey, M., 2021.Tracking Science: An Alternative for Those Excluded by Citizen Science.Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 6(1), p.6. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.284
Liebenberg, Louis. 2015.Citizen science: creating an inclusive, global network for conservation. The Guardian.
Liebenberg, L., et al., 2016.Smartphone Icon User Interface design for non-literate trackers and its implications for an inclusive citizen science, Biological Conservation.208 (2017) 155–162.https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.04.033
MARK ELBROCH, TUYENI H. MWAMPAMBA, MARIA J. SANTOS, MAXINE ZYLBERBERG, LOUIS LIEBENBERG, JAMES MINYE, CHRISTOPHER MOSSER, and ERIN REDDY. 2011.The Value, Limitations, and Challenges of Employing Local Experts in Conservation Research. Conservation Biology. 25 (6), 1195-1202.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01740.x
Citizen Science in Ecology: the Intersection of Research and Education. Author(s): Christopher A. Lepczyk, Owen D. Boyle, Timothy L. Vargo, Philip Gould, Rebecca Jordan, Louis Liebenberg, Susanne Masi, William P. Mueller, Michelle D. Prysby and Hague Vaughan.Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Vol. 90, No. 3 (July 2009), pp. 308-317
Silvertown, Jonathan. 2009.A new dawn for citizen science.Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol.24 No.9.
Preventing Human Outbreaks of Ebola
Rouquet, Pierre, Jean-Marc Froment, Magdalena Bermejo, Annelisa Kilbourn, William Karesh, Patricia Reed, Brice Kumulungui, Philippe Yaba, André Délicat, Pierre E. Rollin, and Eric M. Leroy. 2005.Wild Animal Mortality Monitoring and Human Ebola Outbreaks, Gabon and Republic of Congo, 2001–2003. Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 11, No. 2, February 2005
Science and Environmental Education in Elementary, Primary and Secondary Schools
BioKIDS
NatureMapping
Cynthia Sims Parr, Tricia Jones and Nancy Butler Songer.CyberTracker in BioKIDS: Customization of a PDA-based scientific data collection application for inquiry learning. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Scientific Research
Rob Williams, Erin Ashe, Katie Gaut, Rowenna Gryba, Jeffrey E. Moore, Eric Rexstad, Doug Sandilands, Justin Steventon, Randall R. Reeves. 2017.Animal Counting Toolkit: a practical guide to small-boat surveys for estimating abundance of coastal marine mammals.Endang Species Res.
Ashe,E., D. P. Noren & R. Williams. 2009.Animal behaviour and marine protected areas: incorporating behavioural data into the selection of marine protected areas for an endangered killer whale population. Animal Conservation 13 (2010) 196–203.
Foxcroft, Llewellyn C.,David M. Richardson, Mathieu Rouget and Sandra MacFadyen. 2009.Patterns of alien plant distribution at multiple spatial scales in a large national park: implications for ecology, management and monitoring. Diversity and Distributions, 15, 367–378.
National Parks and Protected Areas
Using technology in the fight against rhino poaching.
SMART Conservation Partnership
Bergl, Richard, Andrew Dunn, and Aaron Nicholas. 2009.AFRICA’S MOST ENDANGERED APE: Using Technology and Partnerships to Save the Critically Endangered Cross River Gorilla. CONNECT.
Kruger,Judith M. and Sandra MacFadyen. 2011.Science support within the South African National Parks adaptive management framework. Koedoe 53(2).
LEFRANC, HUGUES, REGINO NÚÑEZ & JUSTIN STEVENTON. 2009.NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR LONG-TERM BIODIVERSITY MONITORING. In C. Hurford, M. Schneider & I. Cowx (eds.), Conservation Monitoring in Freshwater Habitats. Springer.
Cybertracker Monitoring Program in the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas
CyberTracker Monitoring Programme. 2007. EC Grant Contract—External Aid Contract ref. nr.: B7-6200/02/0407/TF
Community Forest Management
Peters-Guarin, Graciela and Michael K. McCall. 2010.Community Carbon Forestry (CCF) for REDD Using CyberTracker for Mapping and Visualising of Community Forest Management in the Context of REDD.
Farming
De Villiers, M & K.L. Pringle. 2007.Seasonal occurrence of vine pests in commercially treated vineyards in the HexRiver Valley in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. African Entomology 15(2): 241–260.