Yelka Mikolji - You cannot protect what you don't even know exists. - Tech for nature

[yelkamikolji]

My name is Yelka Mikolji. I am a computer scientist who spent her life working with relational databases. My brother Ivan is a river explorer and wildlife videographer. Together we have a motto: "You cannot protect what you don't even know exists". We document what exists in rivers. Our work is the fusion between nature, science, and art. We create educational products that protect the freshwater ecosystems of the world.

I came across the concept of graph databases because of an app that I want to create. One of the things our users most request is "I am recreating an Amazon River aquarium. How do I know which fish goes with which? Which plant should I use? Which substrate?" This is called a "sympatry" relationship, and the more I found out about graphs, the more I think they are perfect for that.

Another issue is that the fish species origin databases use very old technology and need to be updated. That's how I found out about graphs4good and the International Salmon Data Laboratory project. They also mention how the fish species origin databases need to be reworked. I would love to incorporate that into my project and help with the ISDL project.

So I am a newbie with graphs, have ambitious goals, and hope to become an active part of the community. Please let me know if you've worked on the ISDL project, or if you've incorporated knowledge graphs into projects related to nature.

[ehume123]

Hi Yelka,

This is a fascinating use case for Neo4j, and I look forward to learning more about the benefits that graph databasing can bring to your field of expertise.

Best,
Eric