2/10/04
Informal phone interview with Sue Orloff
Wildlife Biologist, co-founder of Ibis Environmental, a small environmental consulting business

Interviewer: Denise

What is your comfort level/experience with computers?
Comfortable with computers, but not a “techie.” Sue says that if she can understand how to use an interface, then anyone can.

How might you use MaNIS?
She would use it to research a particular geographic location before she goes out into the field. For example, she might want to look at the historical distributions of a particular species in a specific river area. She mainly is interested in amphibians in her work, but might use MaNIS on occasion.

Have you any other databases or online resources in your work?
She uses CNDD (California Natural Diversity Database) frequently in her work to gather background information before going into the field. She would probably use something like MaNIS in a similar way.

How might we contact other wildlife biologists?
She could put us in touch with the Wildlife Society. They have a listserv where we could post messages to about 1000 wildlife professionals. This might be useful for surveys or to get feedback about specific ideas.

Would you be interested in participating in usability studies of MaNIS?
Yes!