Get the fish Species ID flashcards

First, install Anki flashcard software onto your computer or phone. For Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android, Anki is free, but you have to buy the app for an iPhone. Sorry. I am glad that Anki's developer has found a way to support making Anki free for most platforms, but I say that as the proud owner of an Android.

Next, either:

• use Import File (see button at bottom of Anki's Decks screen) to import an Anki flashcards Package file (with file extension .apkg) which contains the flashcards (& photos) you want. (Perhaps some nice person has emailed you the file. Alternatively, for a limited time only, you can download it from this page by clicking the File button at the bottom of this wikiSift page.) When importing, select Files of type "Packaged Anki Deck (*.apkg *.zip)", which include card design, card data, and possibly how much you have learnt re which cards. (For this initial import, do not select Files of type "Text separated by text or semicolons (*)" - that is what you would do later if you want to top up your data from the _spreadsheet_.)
• use Get Shared (see button at bottom of Anki's Decks screen) to find an Anki flashcards Package that has been publicly shared on the Anki website at ankiweb.net/shared/decks/. I (will CCCCC) have shared a package that only includes photos that have been licensed for public use. While you are there, you might like to try loading some other Anki flashcards Packages, such as for learning a language.

I developed the fish Species ID flashcards on Anki version 2.0.52. The deck has no plugins, so it should work fine with the new Anki version 2.1.

Here are Licensing details you should consider before on-sharing this deck or its source spreadsheet.

Here are notes on how to add species and photos to the Fish Species ID Anki deck.

And below is what the Anki answer card looks like on a PC. You can get the same functionality on you phone, Mac, or Linux, with your learning synchronised across all your devices. The links take you to various photo galleries and encyclopaedic content re the species and its Genus, Family etc - this can greatly assist learning how to identify a species.

The Again|Good|Easy buttons at the bottom of the screen specify how long before you want to review the card. Click Again (or hit 1) if you are struggling with this species and want to see it again in 1 minute, click Good (or hit 2 or the spacebar) if you want to see the card again in 10 minutes, or click Easy (or hit 3) if you are confident you know this fish and only need it reviewed 4 days from now. Those re-learning intervals get adjusted as you go along - the the intervals with which cards are re-presented for revision are adjusted according to the feedback the user gives re their ease of learning, and the algorithms involved took years of pedagogical research and development.

Here is the code I used to implement the links and variable number of photos. Cool, eh.