Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to own a FieldKit station to have a FieldKit Community account?

Definitely not! Anyone who is interested in environmental sensing, conservation, the FieldKit technology, or the data being discussed is welcome to sign up for the community. All we ask is that you stay on topic and follow our Community Guidelines.

How do I update my password/email address/profile/etc.?

FieldKit’s community forum utilizes single-sign-on with the FieldKit Portal; in other words, you use the same login information to access the community as you do for the portal. To change email or password, change them in the portal and it will map to your account on the forum.

The rest of your information can be updated by logging in and clicking the profile photo (or the initial used in place of a profile photo) in the upper right hand corner of the site (#1 below). From this menu, click the icon that is the profile of a person, furthest to the right (#2 below). On the new sub-menu, click “Preferences” (#3 below).

Under the “Account” area, you can update your photo and display name. Under the “Profile” area, you can update “About Me,” your location, and other personal information. Be sure to click “Save Changes” at the bottom!

I don’t want my information to be visible. How can I make my profile private?

You can make your profile private by following the above steps (Profile Icon>Person Icon>Preferences) and then selecting “Interface” from the left-hand navigation (#1 below). Once here, select “Hide my public profile and presence features” (#2 below) and then click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the screen.

What are Categories?

Categories are general groupings of conversations and topics found in the FieldKit Community. Topics can be posted in only one category at a time. Since this is a new community, we are keeping these pretty broad but may add more later on. Right now, the community categories are:

  • Main Community Hub: for discussing anything related to using FieldKit, from best practices for fieldwork, to how to interpret your data, to connecting with other users in similar areas. In general, if you’re not sure where a discussion should go, it can go here.
  • FieldKit Help: This area is for practical problem solving with your FieldKit. If something isn’t working or you need to troubleshoot an issue, this is the place to post. Our team monitors this forum and will provide support whenever we are able!
  • Community Help and Feedback: Have questions specific to the community site, guidelines, or how to do something? Post them in this category.

What are Tags?

Tags are a flexible, easy way to help organize information within the community. You can apply as many tags as you want to a topic, so that a discussion about using a dissolved oxygen sensor with a class of grade 6 students working in your local wetlands could be tagged with “dissolved-oxygen,” “students,” and “wetlands.” The list of current tags is available here. Have an idea for useful tags that we can add? Let us know in the Community Help and Feedback area!

I see a post that violates the Community Guidelines. What should I do?

First, thank you for helping to take care of the community! Our moderators work hard to ensure that all content is appropriate but sometimes you will see things before we do. If you see a topic that you think may violate our community guidelines you can flag it by clicking the “Flag” button at the bottom of the topic page. If only one post within a topic is inappropriate, you can flag it by clicking the three dots/“show more” icon at the bottom of the post and then selecting the flag icon. This will alert our moderators that the post needs to be reviewed. If multiple people flag a post, the post will be removed until a moderator can review it. Please see the Community Guidelines for more information about how the FieldKit team handles inappropriate posting.