iNaturalist
iNaturalist is a free app that enhances the power of community science. In a nutshell, the way it works is that someone with the app can take a photo of any living organism (plant, animal, mushroom, lichen) and upload it to the app. The app will not only help to identify the organism, but it will allow experts to look at the photos and fine-tune the identification. Ideally, the user has their location services turned on, which allows the photo to have a location tagged to it. This tells iNaturalist and other scientists where those species were seen, and it helps them to narrow down what species it most likely is! At some point we can definitely have a little workshop, but here's the best way to get started:
The iNaturalist Getting Started Page
Here's a sweet little video someone made showing how to use iNaturalist
In the Smokies we have a program called “Smokies Most Wanted” to try and get folks to use iNaturalist to help us understand where different species are found. You can learn more about that program, and find some helpful iNaturalist tips and tricks towards the bottom of the page here: https://dlia.org/smokiesmostwanted/