Dear Dunkadoo Users,
It has been almost eight years since we founded Dunkadoo to support scientific research and education. In the past few years, each of us has faced major challenges that have made it extremely difficult to keep Dunkadoo running, but somehow we’ve managed to keep Dunkadoo operational. We have each had many sleepless nights, urgent issues that we needed to respond to from hospital rooms, and few breaks in service of supporting all of you and your organizations’ missions. We have made these sacrifices because we have believed strongly in Dunkadoo’s role as a powerful tool to enable researchers and educators to make a real impact.
Today, Dunkadoo’s software is in need of significant updating due to requirements from the mobile app stores. When Russell first wrote the Dunkadoo cloud and mobile software, it was an unpaid, volunteer, full-time job for a year, and that level of time commitment isn’t possible to update the software at this time. Additionally, there is a continuing and growing demand for user support that has outpaced our ability to provide it. Sadly, this has put us in a position where the 2023 Fall Migration will be our last season operating Dunkadoo.
Migrate to Dunkadoo Partners
Dunkadoo has worked with HawkCount.org and Trektellen.org since our founding, and they are two amazing organizations that have been supporting bird migration count sites for many years. For those of you who do not know, here’s a quick intro:
- HawkCount.org is a service provided by the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) and volunteer Jason Sodergren. For raptor migration sites, HawkCount.org offers a website that can be used on mobile devices to enter count data.
- Trektellen.org provides both an Android app, iOS app, and website that has been used in Europe for migration counts and banding (“ringing” to the Europeans) with increasing growth around the world, and this service is run by volunteer Gerard Troost. Trektellen offers a mobile app (that has many similarities to the Dunkadoo app) that can be used for any type of migration counts.
These two organizations may have resources that can help you continue managing your field research data digitally, and we would encourage you to learn more and see if they may be a good fit for you and your work. Click this link to provide representatives from these two organizations with your contact information to learn more:
Exporting Your Data
Dunkadoo makes it easy for you to export all of your data, and you will need to do this before June 30, 2024.
- Log into the website
- Go to the Project page for each of your projects
3. Select “Download Data”
4. Download the “CSV” and “JSON” versions for your Observations.
5. Download the “CSV” and “JSON” versions for your Metadata.
Closing Thoughts
It is truly a sad moment. It has been a great privilege and pleasure getting to know our users: the dedicated people who selflessly collect field data for research and educational purposes. We hope you feel that we’ve provided you with a valuable tool and great user support.
We wish you all the best in the years to come,
– Russell and Carol
FAQ
How long will the Dunkadoo.org website be available to export my data?
Dunkadoo will keep the servers running for you to export all of your data until June 30, 2024.
We will not continue to send reminder emails to export your data, and we will not be performing exports on your behalf. It is the responsibility of each organization to download and backup your project data.
How long can I continue using Dunkadoo?
All cloud services will end on July 1, 2024. Prior to that time, we do not plan to make any changes to the features offered by Dunkadoo’s software. On this date, Dunkadoo will formally delist its mobile apps from the app stores, and the Dunkadoo websites will go dark. Running Dunkadoo’s cloud services has been a considerable expense, and it is not possible to keep these services running without financial and technical resources.
You are free to continue using Dunkadoo as you have up to that date, but the end of the 2023 Fall Migration (i.e., December 2023) is the last point at which Dunkadoo’s volunteer team will be able to provide support.
Will the Dunkadoo team help me with exporting my data or migrating to another service?
No, the Dunkadoo team is not able to provide ongoing support or assistance with moving to other services.
If you have a very large dataset (many thousands of observations and metadata reports) that you are migrating to a different database schema, reach out to support@dunkadoo.org. We may be able to provide you with a more complex data format to facilitate a cross-database import. Please note that this export will not be preferable to the majority of users, and the already provided CSV/JSON exports will be more suitable in almost all scenarios.
Will my data being stored with Dunkadoo be sent to another company or organization?
Dunkadoo’s servers will be going offline on July 1, 2024, and the organization’s databases will be stopped at that time.
As has always been the case, the data inputted into Dunkadoo is owned by the organization that collected the data, and Dunkadoo will continue to comply with its Privacy Policy and Service Terms and Conditions.
If your project data is currently being submitted to HawkCount.org, the final data submission will occur on January 31, 2024. If you did not explicitly request that your data be synchronized with HawkCount.org for a specific project, no data has been forwarded to HawkCount.org or any other organization.