Randy Orwin is the Treasurer, IT Manager and Data Curator for Cooloola Coastcare. Randy has been heavily involved in the use of technology for over 30 years. During his lifetime he has spent thousands of hours helping people learn to use various types of technology. Early in his career as an educator, he started teaching teachers how to use tech in their classrooms, then spent many years as the Tech Director for a school system in the Seattle area. Currently he is the Associate Director for Learning Technologies at the University of Washington Information School in Seattle. When it comes to the environment, Randy is Past President of Cooloola Coastcare Association Inc. and is currently the Treasurer. Additionally, he manages all things tech related, including the organisation’s Google Workspace for Nonprofits and all data collected by the organisation. He has been teaching people about using tech in the field since 2017 and recently taught a tech in the field workshop at the 2023 Australian Citizen Science Association Conference.

This workshop will be all about using various technologies in the field. Mobile phones, GPS units, hand lenses, DSLRs and various apps. Given iNaturalist is so popular and is now tied to the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), we will spend time looking at the basics of iNat and diving into some of the more advanced features of the app, both on mobile and on the desktop. 

For those that use a DSLR in the field, we will walk you through the process of bulk updating the metadata of your photos to include GPS information. 

Bring your phone, DSLR, laptop and an eagerness to learn.