Keep talking to make fieldwork a true team effort, says a_osiecka
Frequent discussion of plans and progress is crucial on camping expeditions, for example, when other forms of communication are unavailable.I’ve been involved in field biology for more than a decade. I started in forest ecology, transited through offshore observations of marine mammals and I now mostly record animal sounds on land and at sea. Many people enter fieldwork not knowing how difficult it often is.
But the nature of fieldwork means there are many factors that my team and I simply cannot control: the animals we study might not show up, equipment might fail suddenly, the weather might be terrible. Because of this, we are usually unable to schedule work in advance, and will often not know that we’re going to work until the last moment.
Such uncertainty can be difficult for everyone, of course. We can’t plan days off, and often can’t even do our laundry without wondering whether we’ll be called on duty in the middle of it. Yet there are people who’ll be hit particularly hard by all this: carers, and those doing a second job or navigating long-distance relationships, might all need fair warning on when to expect to travel.
A shared calendar is an excellent way to share your plans . Before the field season starts, make a list of tasks and — when applicable — an approximate timeline, and keep these updated in your team’s online shared spaces. If you work in a place with no or limited Internet connection, pin or write these updates on a physical board instead. If even that is impossible — for example, while camping — simply discuss progress and plans daily.
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