One of my favorite examples suggesting the possible revival of amateur science is CyberTracker, "a software program that allows conservationists to record their observations in the field on handheld computers linked to global positioning system, or GPS, units." Scientists and trackers recently used the system to research the impact on an Ebola outbreak on the gorilla population in the Congo, and have also used it to study other animals. As Wired News reported in 2004,

To [Louis] Liebenberg -- the South African founder of CyberTracker Conservation -- these findings not only illustrate the device's ability to enhance scientists' monitoring and interpretation of changes in ecosystems, but they also support the idea that illiterate trackers are just as capable of doing science as researchers with Ph.D.s.

The CyberTracker is just one of many high-tech gadgets available to conservationists, who increasingly turn to tools such as DNA analysis and satellite imagery to gain a more detailed understanding of nature.

Liebenberg came up with the idea of the CyberTracker while hunting with the indigenous Bushmen trackers of the Kalahari Desert. Fascinated with tracking since childhood, Liebenberg, an author and scientist, developed the theory that the ancient hunter-gatherer practice represents nothing less than the origins of science.

Tracking an animal requires a process of making observations and testing hypotheses that is akin to scientific reasoning, he explained.

Once necessary for survival, however, it is now a dying art. Today, Liebenberg said, he knows of only about six older Bushmen who remain subsistence hunters. Most youngsters now attend school, unlike their illiterate elders, but seldom learn the skills and encyclopedic knowledge necessary for tracking.

If a way could be found to put the Bushmen's ancient knowledge to use for conservation purposes, he realized, both nature and the struggling Bushman communities would benefit. In 1996, Liebenberg and computer scientist Lindsay Steventon released the first CyberTracker model, with the aim of turning tracking into a modern profession.

That year, trackers Karel Benadie and James Minye used the CyberTracker to study the endangered black rhino in the Karoo National Park in South Africa, gathering data on the animals' eating patterns and vulnerability to poaching. In 1999, Liebenberg, Steventon and the two illiterate trackers published the findings in the academic journal Pachyderm.

Part of what's interesting here is that CyberTracker shows how handheld computing, GPS, and wireless can be used to improve scientific fieldwork. But the other thing that's intriguing about the project is that it explicitly recognizes the skills and knowledge that native peoples have about local flora and fauna. Native guides and assistants have long been critical to the success of scientific fieldwork, but often have been written out of the official histories.