This post is part of a Fieldwork Tips series.
Laptops, tablets, phones, e-readers… We are surrounded by technology and it is now possible to be paperless (to various extend, depending on your circumstances). There are more and more apps aiding with data collection and collation in the field too. Apps are used for citizen science, for example to record the location of plants and animals, as well as to georeference and date phenological events (e.g. flowering). Given all this it is worth considering whether one (or more) of those apps couldn’t make your life easier during fieldwork.
Several people I know use apps while in the field, from apps allowing collection of behavioural data, through using phones as cameras and/or digiscoping to take ID photos, using phones to generate random numbers on the go and checking GPS coordinates, keeping several guidebooks and protocols in a soft form instead of lugging around hefty books, getting access to geographical information systems (GIS). A phone or tablet can also act as a recording device as most have microphones, or could be used as an accelerometer, stopwatch, clicker…
You can also use the technology to prep, for instance by taking photos of articles, textbook chapters and other documents that you might want to have access to while away on fieldwork - it takes up less space in the suitcase than physical copies. You can keep materials and get apps that will be helpful in an emergency - send out your GPS position with a message or help with first aid.
Do remember that devices are vulnerable to weather conditions though and that you can never fully rely on data being kept safe forever, so have a good back up strategy in place. A battery bank and a waterproof case/bag are probably a good idea! If you need internet make sure to check the connection beforehand too. It goes without saying that you need fairly reliable access to power in order to keep your devices charged, so if you are somewhere very remote with unpredictable weather it might be easier to record your data “old school” and not rely on the technology too much!
I wanted to find some examples of different apps and give you links and I came across this great list from the Bruna Lab. Also, check out Kirsty MacLeod’s life hacks for fieldwork and smartphone apps, as well as Ambika Kamath’s post on smartphones in the field.