Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1285850
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2020 COMMERCIAL whilst you sleep and executed automatically and repeat- edly by a computer. Distinguishing bird sounds from oth- er noises in the recordings and iden- tifying the species that produced that sound, are on the other hand, tasks that require human intelligence and expe- rience. Nonetheless, through Artificial Intelligence technologies, a computer may be trained to make decisions based on training data (experience). Much like Alexa can process natural language you speak when you need your lights dimmed, computers can be trained to identify bird sounds. Research on automatic bird sound recognition is still very much lacking when compared to other areas, mostly because demand, and therefore invest- ment, is on the low side. During COV- ID-19 lockdown though, when birders around Europe were mostly confined to their homes, their balconies became the only place where they could get a glimpse of migration, and many start- ed nocmigging to make the most of their time spent indoors. This practice therefore took a big boost in popularity. An additional approach one can take to reduce the complexity of such a pro- ject is by making use of crowd sourcing. If we can, through automatic detection, identify segments which contain pos- sibly interesting sounds, then what re- mains is only listening to a few seconds of bird calls and labelling them. This task is a challenge that many bird en- thusiasts around Europe would be will- ing to take if it's made available to them. If you are familiar with a bird; identify- ing it can be instantaneous, just like you can recognise a song on the radio from the first note. Therefore, if we build a system that uploads recordings of a few seconds in length to a repository where people can go in, listen and label, then we have a hybrid system where the intelligence is shared between computers and hu- mans. Further to that, all the audio clips being labelled by human experts, can eventually be used to train a comput- er to become an artificial expert until eventually there is enough training data to train a classifying algorithm that has a high degree of accuracy. So, what would such an autonomous system, and nocmigging in general, benefit Malta and the world in general? One aspect is monitoring the impact of light pollution. This, rightfully so, is being put high on the agenda of government by the Minister of Environment Aaron Far- rugia who has recently launched new policies and guidelines to address this problem. Malta, as seen from photos taken from space, is like a big lightbulb in the middle of the Mediterranean. Birds and other creatures are disorient- ed by light at night and may waste a lot of energy during migration or even end up stranded. Autonomous bird migra- tion monitoring systems would help in studying the impact of light pollution and also quantify any improvements brought by such policies. Furthermore, combining results from nocturnal mi- gration to diurnal migration can also help us understand and conserve birds and their habitats better. So, great idea, great benefits, where to start? From MITA's Emerging Technol- ogies lab of course. This lab is a space within MITA's headquarters that acts as the perfect incubator for such pro- jects. The lab itself is equipped with dif- ferent tools and emerging technologies that would be most likely too costly for an individual to invest in for a personal project. MITA offers the possibility to its em- ployees to make use of the lab for such projects and sponsors some of the time that one needs to invest. to turn such an idea into something tangible. Addition- ally, through the lab, one can also get access to people with particular skills, that although are not the main focus of the project, are still required to com- plete some of the tasks and therefore reduce the time of delivery. For MITA, the lab is an effective way of encouraging creativity within its work- force. The lab, through such projects, is also allowing MITA to contribute to areas which do not lie within its direct remit but will still benefit communities at large. Such opportunities also instil an appreciation for multi-disciplinary science and perhaps a more academic and scientific approach to IT solutions which often lacks in large, delivery-ori- ented agencies. These projects also encourage cross-departmental sharing of informa- tion and collaboration with knowledge and skills gained from working on such ideas. More often than not, such ideas and solutions can easily apply to other areas within MITA's and Government IT projects. Birds often call during migration, especially when migrating in flocks. The basic tools required for nocmigging are a microphone and a recorder Nocmigging Sound Recorder