Glossary

A

• ATProto

  Tools
  1. The AT Protocol, the open network that Bluesky runs on. Records are stored in the user's own account and signed by it, so they can be read by many apps and moved to another host.
  See also: Personal data server, DID, BumicertLessons: 09 Bumicerts

• Attribution and agency

  Ideas
  1. The idea that knowledge should keep its source, its consent terms and the people who can correct it as it moves through digital systems.
  See also: Bumicert, Boundary statementLessons: 09 Bumicerts

• AudioMoth

  Tools
  1. A small, open-source sound recorder made by Open Acoustic Devices. It runs on AA batteries and can record a forest on a schedule for weeks.
  See also: Spectrogram, Sample rateLessons: 11 Listening with AudioMoth

B

• Benefit-sharing agreement

  Governance
  1. A signed agreement about what a community receives in return for its data, knowledge or work, in money or otherwise.
  See also: Indigenous Data Council, Conservation Data IncomeLessons: 02 Who decides

• BioBlitz

  In the field
  1. A short, intense effort by a group to record as many species as possible in one area. At Parque das Tribos a three-day BioBlitz produced 160 observations.
  See also: ObservationLessons: 10 Taina

• Boundary statement

  Governance
  1. A short written agreement made before data is collected. It says who may use the data, for what purpose, who reviews new requests, what the community receives, and how the data can be withdrawn.
  See also: Withdrawal, Data councilLessons: 03 Decide before you collect

• Bumicert

  Tools
  1. A public record of a piece of environmental work, published by the community that did it. It says who did the work, what was done and how we know. Bumi means earth in Indonesian and Malay.

  Earlier called Ecocert. The GainForest app now also calls them Certs.

  See also: Hypercert, ATProtoLessons: 09 Bumicerts

C

• CARE principles

  Ideas
  1. Four principles for Indigenous data governance: Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics. Published by the Global Indigenous Data Alliance in 2019.
  See also: FAIR principles, Indigenous data sovereigntyLessons: 06 The CARE principles

• Co-design

  Ideas
  1. Designing a tool together with the people who will use it, starting from the first question, so that their decisions shape what gets built.

  Showing a finished design to a community and asking for approval is consultation, and comes too late.

  See also: Indigenous data sovereignty, Local championLessons: 02 Who decides, 10 Taina

• Conservation Data Income

  Governance
  1. GainForest's way of paying communities for the environmental data they collect, such as tree surveys or forest recordings. The community's data council sets the price.
  See also: Stablecoin, Data councilLessons: 12 Paying for the work

D

• Data as oil

  Ideas
  1. The common picture of data as a raw material to be extracted, refined somewhere else and sold. It treats the people the data comes from as a source.
  See also: Data as soil, Helicopter researchLessons: 01 Oil or soil

• Data as soil

  Ideas
  1. A way of thinking about data as something looked after where it is, by the people it comes from. They decide what is collected, what is corrected and what grows from it.

  The phrase comes from Audrey Tang's statement to the Senate of Canada.

  See also: Data as oil, Indigenous data sovereigntyLessons: 01 Oil or soil

• Data council

  Governance
  1. 1.A small group, usually three to five people chosen by a community, that decides what data goes public, what stays private, who may use it and at what price.
  2. 2.The GainForest Data Council: a network-wide council set up in 2024, with regional representatives elected by GainForest's community partners.
  See also: Indigenous Data Council, Boundary statementLessons: 08 Set up a data council

• DID

  Tools
  1. A decentralised identifier: a permanent ID for an account that stays the same when its name or host changes.
  See also: ATProto, Personal data serverLessons: 09 Bumicerts

F

• FAIR principles

  Ideas
  1. Four principles for sharing scientific data: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. They describe the data, not the people behind it, which is why CARE was written to go with them.
  See also: CARE principlesLessons: 06 The CARE principles

• Free, prior and informed consent

  Governance
  1. The right of Indigenous Peoples to agree to, or refuse, a project that affects them, without pressure, before it starts, and with full information. Set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  See also: Boundary statement, CARE principlesLessons: 06 The CARE principles

G

• GainForest app

  Tools
  1. GainForest's app for communities to log species, sounds, trees and field work, publish projects and Bumicerts, and receive donations.
  See also: Bumicert, ObservationLessons: 09 Bumicerts, 11 Listening with AudioMoth

• GBIF

  Tools
  1. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the largest open database of where species have been recorded. In October 2026 about three in four of its records came from North America and Europe.
  See also: ObservationLessons: 01 Oil or soil

H

• Helicopter research

  Ideas
  1. Research where outside scientists arrive, collect data or samples, and leave without sharing results or benefits with the people who live there.
  See also: Data as oil, CARE principlesLessons: 06 The CARE principles

• House rules for AI

  Governance
  1. Plain-language rules that an AI assistant follows when it works for a community. Each rule names an action, says what happens when someone asks the assistant to break it, and names who can change it.

  Audrey Tang calls this a community's own code of conduct for AI agents.

  See also: Taina, Data councilLessons: 04 House rules for AI, 10 Taina

• Hypercert

  Tools
  1. An open format for recording a claim of impact: who did the work, what it was, when and where. A Bumicert is a hypercert for environmental work.
  See also: BumicertLessons: 09 Bumicerts

I

• Indigenous Data Council

  Governance
  1. The council of four Indigenous and local communities around Manaus that was a member of the ETH BiodivX team in the XPRIZE Rainforest, chaired by Marina Mura. It approved the prices paid for data collected during the 2024 finals.
  See also: Data council, Benefit-sharing agreementLessons: 02 Who decides, 08 Set up a data council

• Indigenous data sovereignty

  Ideas
  1. 1.The right of Indigenous Peoples to govern data about themselves, their lands, languages and knowledge: how it is collected, used, shared, corrected or withheld.
  2. 2.Used of an AI system: the people it represents can inspect, correct, reject, move away from or retire it. Where it was trained or hosted does not decide this.
  See also: CARE principles, The right to remain unmodeled, Co-designLessons: 02 Who decides

L

• Local champion

  Governance
  1. A community member who runs the tools after a workshop: keeps the devices working, approves who can use them and teaches others.
  See also: Co-design, Raspberry PiLessons: 07 Local first

• Local first

  Ideas
  1. A way of building tools so that the first copy of the data and the first decision about it stay with the community, and the core tasks keep working on a bad connection.
  See also: Raspberry Pi, TainaLessons: 07 Local first

O

• Observation

  In the field
  1. A record that a species was seen or heard at a place and time, ideally with a photo or recording, a name and the person who made it.
  See also: GBIF, TainaLessons: 10 Taina

• OpenDroneMap and WebODM

  Tools
  1. Free, open-source software that turns overlapping drone photos into maps, height models and 3D models on your own computer. WebODM is its browser interface.
  See also: OrthomosaicLessons: 13 Mapping from above

• Orthomosaic

  In the field
  1. A single map stitched from many overlapping aerial photos and corrected so that distances on it are true.
  See also: OpenDroneMap and WebODMLessons: 13 Mapping from above

P

• Personal data server

  Tools
  1. The server where an ATProto account keeps its records. Anyone can run one, and an account can move from one to another.
  See also: ATProto, DIDLessons: 09 Bumicerts

R

• Raspberry Pi

  Tools
  1. A cheap computer about the size of a deck of cards. Communities near Manaus run their own Taina on one, so their records stay on a device they hold.
  See also: Local first, TainaLessons: 07 Local first

S

• Sample rate

  In the field
  1. How many times per second a recorder measures sound. Higher rates capture higher-pitched sounds: 48 kHz covers most birds, frogs and insects.
  See also: AudioMoth, SpectrogramLessons: 11 Listening with AudioMoth

• Spectrogram

  In the field
  1. A picture of a sound recording, with time across and pitch up the side. Calls of different animals show up as different shapes, which makes them easier to find and label.
  See also: AudioMoth, Sample rateLessons: 11 Listening with AudioMoth

• Stablecoin

  Tools
  1. A digital currency tied to a regular currency, usually the US dollar, that can be sent to a phone without a bank account. USDC is one example.

  Whether it helps depends on fees, cash-out options and trust in each place.

  See also: Conservation Data IncomeLessons: 12 Paying for the work

T

• Taina

  Tools
  1. 1.GainForest's AI assistant on Telegram, shaped with Indigenous and local communities around Manaus. She helps people identify species from photos and voice notes and saves observations to the community's own record.
  2. 2.Pi-Tainá: the open-source version that each community runs on its own Raspberry Pi, with rules in a plain text file it can change.
  See also: House rules for AI, Raspberry Pi, ObservationLessons: 10 Taina

• Teachable Machine

  Tools
  1. A free tool from Google that trains a small image or sound model in the browser. Lesson 01 uses it to show how a model depends on its examples.
  Lessons: 01 Oil or soil

• The right to remain unmodeled

  Ideas
  1. The right of a people to keep their knowledge out of AI models altogether, and to have that refusal respected without being asked again.

  Audrey Tang's phrase: Indigenous data sovereignty includes the right to participate, but also the right to withhold, refuse and remain unmodeled.

  See also: Indigenous data sovereignty, Boundary statementLessons: 05 The right to say no

• Transcultural sovereignty

  Ideas
  1. A community's right to decide how, and whether, its knowledge is translated into other cultures and languages, including by AI.
  See also: Indigenous data sovereigntyLessons: 02 Who decides

W

• Withdrawal

  Governance
  1. Taking data back out of a project. A withdrawal promise only means something if the steps are written down: which files, where, deleted by whom, and how quickly.
  See also: Boundary statementLessons: 03 Decide before you collect