Over 200 species of bats are considered threatened, endangered, or critically endangered. Bats are essential to the health of global ecosystems, and the primary cause of their decline is human activity.
Miro, Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects
Based on my research, the goal I set for myself was to create a service that not only raised awareness to help the bat population but actively worked to create real change for bats.
I created a citizen science project with an extensive website that will link the public to what the project has to offer. Community members can participate in hands-on citizen science in various workshops and programs where they are making a positive impact on the bat population.
Noctools is a citizen science project that works to generate awareness of bats by organizing community programs and installing bat houses with artificial intelligence cameras to learn more about the species.
Not a fan of research?
I wasn’t initially familiar with the problem at hand, or how critically endangered bats actually were, so I started my research by diving into finding out more about the species. It seemed obvious that a species becoming endangered was a problem, but what made bats so special?
Turns out, bats do a lot for our ecosystem and most of us don’t even know it. Here are just some of the roles that the bat species plays in our lives:
Over 500 plant species rely on bats to pollinate their flowers (including the agave in your margarita!)
With over 1400 species of bats in the world, they can be found on nearly every part of our planet and can tell us a lot about the state of the environment
They play a critical role in spreading the seeds of trees and other plants, and help regrowth after forest clearance
They consume thousands of insects and other athropods (including pesky mosquitoes) every night to keep those populations down
Bats live on 6 of the world’s 7 continents, all 50 US States, and are essential to the health of global ecosystems. Yet despite how valuable they are, their numbers continue to drop.
While some of the factors leading to their endangerment are endemic to their order, like disease, the primary cause of their decline is human activity. This includes:
The ongoing destruction of natural habitats
The growing use of wind-turbine energy
The proliferation of harmful myths
I started to research little things people can do in their daily life that would help the bat population, and was surprised at how much I found. This got me thinking that if it’s this easy to make a difference, bringing people together could create real change.
Install a bat house in your backyard to give them shelter
Don’t cut down dead trees—some species of bats love hanging out in them
Don’t use pesticides—bats are natural pest controllers
Keep cats in at night to avoid bat injuries due to cat attacks
I met with Dr. Sarah Fritts, a wildlife researcher and bat expert, and professor at Texas State University in the Department of Biology, and gained a lot of insight into the problem at hand. Here were my main takeaways from our interview:
The tools we need aren’t the most accessible.
Dr. Fritts introduced me to tools she uses in her work that help us learn more about bats, such as Kestrel Drops, Echometers, bat houses, and more. However, the fact is that many of these tools are either too expensive or inaccessible to the general public.
Community is key to creating change.
In her own experience, Dr. Fritts explained that she’s found programs are far more successful when utilizing the help of the community (i.e. schools, cities, parks, etc.)
There are lots of things we’re still learning about bats.
We learn new things about bats every day. Tracking key pieces of information like migration patterns, behaviors, reactions to light and noise, etc. is vital for learning how we can help the population.
Because of the very specific problem at hand, it was difficult to be able to generate a survey or user interviews, but my interview with Dr. Fritts along with research into other conservation efforts helped me to figure out what prevents people from contributing to these efforts.
They don’t know how to help
They don’t have the financial resources to donate
They aren’t aware of the problem in the first place
They don’t feel like their contributions make a difference
Many bat species are endangered and without our action, their populations will continue to fall, driving many species to extinction.
Bats are vital to our ecosystems in terms of pest control, pollination, reforestation and biodiversity. Without the bat species, our natural ecosystems would be devastated.
I’m solving the bat population problem, but what audience am I targeting? I created multiple user personas to show the different types of people that could help the cause in their own way.
My research introduced me to citizen science, which is described as the “collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public.” In other words, it’s a collaborative way for people help scientists learn more about a species. There are a number of websites like this out there currently as well as other non-profits working to help bats.
Offers: Although not specifically for bats, Zooniverse is a website that currently hosts over 50 active citizen science projects. Members of the public go through images of different species and answer questions about what they see to help researchers more easily sort through data.
Lacks:Interactivity, community connection, reasons for users to return to the site
Offers: Memberships and accepts donations to help make a difference, holds community events and talks to raise awareness, adopt–a-bat to raise awareness about different species of bats and profits go to research.
Lacks:Interactivity, community connection
Offers: Resources to learn about bats, donation and membership options to contribute to the cause, and various projects to gain involvement from the public in helping the problem.
Lacks:Interactivity, community connection
Offers: Various resources to raise awareness and help the public learn more about bats, and specialize in creating high-quality (and expensive) bat houses for people to put in their yard, which helps provide shelter to bats during a time when their habitat is suffering.
Lacks:Interactivity, community connection, reasons for users to return to the site
AI camera technology was something that came up in my interview with Dr. Fritts. We discussed its emerging possibilities in helping endangered species. Here’s how it’s being used currently to help save wildlife species:
Stopping poachers
Tracking water loss
Counting species
Based on my research, I started to list out How Might We questions to start brainstorming how to get the public involved, eradicate the stereotypes regarding bats, receive funding for a nonprofit, and more.
The public needs a way to increase their awareness of the bat population problem, and become involved in the solution in a fun, educational, and hands-on way so that they can create real change and keep coming back.
I created Noctools, a citizen science project that generates community involvement to raise awareness of the decline of the bat species. The project will host community events and workshops and offer an interactive social platform for members to build their own bat houses and track their colony with AI camera technology.
The name comes from the word, noctule, a common species of bat, combined with the idea of building the community to create change for bats.
I developed two user journey maps to lay out the main features of the website that both user personas would be interacting with.
Noctools holds community workshops and classrooms to gain citizen involvement. The public can come together and build bat houses and learn about the importance of the species through interactive, outdoor hikes. The site offers a search function to browse through local events and programs happening in their area.
Issues addressed: community connection, non-monetary donations, raising awareness, not knowing how to help
Bat houses are a proven way to help combat the habitat destruction that’s contributing to the decline of the bat species. Noctools offers various ways to get more bat houses in more yards around the nation—people can join a workshop to build one, follow a tutorial to build one at home, or customize and order one on the site.
Issues addressed: non-monetary donations, hands-on interactivity
Noctools’ social media platform helps passionate environmentalists connect and share their experiences. This is a way to organize community participation and allows people to see what others in their area are doing with their own backyard bat colonies.
Issues addressed: community connection
Utilizing AI camera technology was a way for citizens to help experts learn more about bats by tracking vital information. Since the technology is new and still learning however, users will periodically update their bat colony’s stats to keep it as accurate as possible and allow users to have a more hands-on experience.
Issues addressed: hands-on interactivity, helping people see how their contributions make a difference
Saving bats is easier than you think.
Feel free to interact with this prototype.
Or click here to open the prototype in a new window.
The power of design in educating people.
The project I created was to help the general public learn more about an endangered species, but I learned so much about the problem myself. It was exciting to learn about a critical problem and how I could help as a designer, even if the project was hypothetical.
There are always ways to improve existing systems.
I love being able to use extensive design research to solve real problems, and I was surprised to find that such a huge problem like the one I was tackling didn’t have a concrete solution in place.
Conduct user testing to validate the clarity of my designs.
For a hypothetical project like this, user testing was difficult to do, but as a UX designer I always want to test my designs with real people to make sure my designs are easily understood.
Extend the project to it’s full potential.
I would love to explore how this program would operate in other ways, such as: an outdoor advertisement campaign to gain awareness, citizens holding their own workshops, pop-up events, packaging design for the bat houses ordered through the website, and more.