Question Less Tedious Ways To Log Dives?

[tursiops]

I don't understand why tolerating an hour of jumpy, boring footage is better than a minute or two of talking to a voice-to-text converter.

 

[Kimela]

I find it soul numbingly boring to log dives with pen & paper or even most digital apps that require extended proactive input or sentence formation to describe parts of the dive. I have severe ADHD and am a lazy programmer so I loathe monotony and always think of how to automate stuff.

I understand that most modern dive computers log the coordinates, depths and duration of the dive: but what if you want to add more detail for your own memories as well as posterity and sharing with friends?

I also find the act of lugging around elaborate camera setups to be cumbersome.

These are my ideas so far to automate logging dives, and maybe even make it fun.

• A backplate/BCD mounted GoPro that all you have to do is turn on at the beginning of the dive. The entirety of the dive is logged in full HD or 4k video. Just bring along spare batteries and SD cards.
  My main hurdle with this so far is that I dislike a purely FPV implementation and would much rather have a sort of 3rd person view of myself/the diver. Could this be done accomplished with any special mount perhaps extending out from the lower back? An extreme option may be to also deploy the iBubble drone, but it's 1 more thing to worry about, transport and deal with so isn't optimal. An FPV GoPro in itself is still far better than nothing, especially if the mount is easily transplantable to your buddy's BCD (in which case you do get 3rd person shots of yourself).
• A series of voice prompt questions (answerable by voice, and automatically transcribed to Text) to describe the dive. (How was this dive? What did you see? How was the current? What was the most memorable part of the dive?) + a prompt to connect or sync the data/stats from the computer for the specific dive.
• Publish the full raw unedited video + answers to the prompt questions + the stats from the Dive computer to a web based blog/platform. I am thinking a Django app.
• Outsource the editing of the full raw video, to trim shots of interest and correspond them to parts of the blog page (such as the answer to 'what was most memorable). An AI model could do it, but getting human help on Fiverr shouldn't cost more than $10 per edited video and perhaps less than $5 if its enough videos at once. Have the AI or human video editor upload the edits directly on the blog. I'd review them and approve to publish.
• Social media and/or instant messenger sharing of the dive report/blog page. "Hey ma, look at me with whale sharks in ____ " < out goes the txt automatically on WhatsApp/whatever upon being published. Friends/sharing list customizable.

So when all is said and done, the system would work in a damn near fully automated way requiring nothing more than switching on the GoPro before each dive, and answering the voice prompt questions upon end of each dive (on cellphone or any device).

I'd highly appreciate any constructive feedback to implement these things, and welcome collaboration!

Maybe hire a videographer for every dive?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I find it soul numbingly boring to log dives with pen & paper or even most digital apps that require extended proactive input or sentence formation to describe parts of the dive. I have severe ADHD and am a lazy programmer so I loathe monotony and always think of how to automate stuff.

I understand that most modern dive computers log the coordinates, depths and duration of the dive: but what if you want to add more detail for your own memories as well as posterity and sharing with friends?

I also find the act of lugging around elaborate camera setups to be cumbersome.

These are my ideas so far to automate logging dives, and maybe even make it fun.

• A backplate/BCD mounted GoPro that all you have to do is turn on at the beginning of the dive. The entirety of the dive is logged in full HD or 4k video. Just bring along spare batteries and SD cards.
  My main hurdle with this so far is that I dislike a purely FPV implementation and would much rather have a sort of 3rd person view of myself/the diver. Could this be done accomplished with any special mount perhaps extending out from the lower back? An extreme option may be to also deploy the iBubble drone, but it's 1 more thing to worry about, transport and deal with so isn't optimal. An FPV GoPro in itself is still far better than nothing, especially if the mount is easily transplantable to your buddy's BCD (in which case you do get 3rd person shots of yourself).
• A series of voice prompt questions (answerable by voice, and automatically transcribed to Text) to describe the dive. (How was this dive? What did you see? How was the current? What was the most memorable part of the dive?) + a prompt to connect or sync the data/stats from the computer for the specific dive.
• Publish the full raw unedited video + answers to the prompt questions + the stats from the Dive computer to a web based blog/platform. I am thinking a Django app.
• Outsource the editing of the full raw video, to trim shots of interest and correspond them to parts of the blog page (such as the answer to 'what was most memorable). An AI model could do it, but getting human help on Fiverr shouldn't cost more than $10 per edited video and perhaps less than $5 if its enough videos at once. Have the AI or human video editor upload the edits directly on the blog. I'd review them and approve to publish.
• Social media and/or instant messenger sharing of the dive report/blog page. "Hey ma, look at me with whale sharks in ____ " < out goes the txt automatically on WhatsApp/whatever upon being published. Friends/sharing list customizable.

So when all is said and done, the system would work in a damn near fully automated way requiring nothing more than switching on the GoPro before each dive, and answering the voice prompt questions upon end of each dive (on cellphone or any device).

I'd highly appreciate any constructive feedback to implement these things, and welcome collaboration!

I think you want a dive version of this.

 

[tursiops]

Maybe hire a videographer for every dive?

Or just a scribe to do the logging. Let them decide how best to do it.

 

[Kimela]

Everyone is different, but I've found the only really important things to remember from each dive are EXTRAORDINARY sightings/events, as well as how much weight I needed, what I was wearing for thermal protection and what was the water temp. I can't imagine reviewing much more from previous dives. But we're all wired differently. I might have a much shorter attention span.

 

[TooCold]

I'd highly appreciate any constructive feedback to implement these things, and welcome collaboration!

Is this as a personal DIY project, or are you hoping/planning a little commercial venture, maybe starting out with something like a kickstarter campaign?

If the former, then go for it and have fun. Product innovation always runs into "gotcha"s, hurdles, and "didn't think of that...", so the innovator always learns a lot along the way.

If it's the latter, I'd keep in mind the crusty addage "A cool idea does not a product make," (or sometimes "...is not a business plan").

My first specific suggestion would be that you do some useability research:

Go ahead and mount a camera as planned and shoot the videos for at least 10 dives. Do your best to ignore the presence of the camera, and focus on the dive. Even better, mount the system on your buddy's gear, and tell him to just ignore it. Remember your purpose is a system to log dives, not a system for underwater videography. If you change your behaviour then you've defeated the purpose of the system.

Don't look at the video at all until after all the dives are done.

Then sit down and watch the videos end-to-end, editing for clips worth retaining. Make notes during this work on your process, decision points, questions that arose. This will give you a first idea of (1) what you would have to include in the instruction manual for your 3rd party editors, (2) the level of decision-making sophistication required, and (3) the time budget per video - just for the editing.

If the results look promising, incorporate what you've learned and iterate.

Oh, and ...

Could this be done accomplished with any special mount perhaps extending out from the lower back?

Very bad idea. Anything mounted in a fixed position to your gear that extends away from your body, especially if it isn't in your field of view, is a serious safety hazard, to you, and to divers and reef life around you.

Good luck.

 

[sea_ledford]

So getting up to change the channel on a TV is hard, so you want to create a circuitboard hooked up to IR beamer, keypad and write the software to make a remote control?

The idea is that once all setup, an automated system can require little to no ongoing effort. "A few lines of text" day after day, dive after dive is tedious over time.

But would you have or use a tv remote if it cost $1500 to purchase, and $5-10 every time you want to change the channel?

And how many dives a day are you doing? When I was super busy dive guiding, I could do a few days of 5 dives in a row, but 2-3/day was more normal . Liveaboard guides probably do 5 per day, 5 or 6 days per week. Extremely active divers with awesome diving minutes away MIGHT do one dive a day, or maybe 3-4 on a weekend. Regular very active divers probably do 5-10 per month. Most divers do 5-10 every couple years.

This part is a great idea:

• A series of voice prompt questions (answerable by voice, and automatically transcribed to Text) to describe the dive. (How was this dive? What did you see? How was the current? What was the most memorable part of the dive?) + a prompt to connect or sync the data/stats from the computer for the specific dive.

But I just tested the Shearwater app on an iphone. Voice to text is no problem. So you would just need your interview prompts written down, and problem solved.

Aside from the video production crew.

 

[Thunder Struck]

I log with Dive Log on my phone. It pairs to my Deep6 Excursion DC that I can download the details of the dive via Bluetooth LE. If I want to make comments about the dive without typing them in, I simply hit the microphone button on the keyboard and start describing the dive. The phone will transcribe to text with reasonable accuracy what I tell it. Easy peasy.

 

[gerald werner]

Paralenz probably had similar ideas. They had a 3rd person viewer that attaches to the hip, gps, depth info in video and an app to create a story. In the last round they got 4.5 million funding. Last month they went bankrupt. The 3rd person viewer was wobbly, transfer to the app took 6 hours for one hour video. CUstomer service horrible. The battery was not replaceable, only lasted one dive, and took 4 hours to recharge. It takes a lot to develop an idea into a useful product. You are suggesting a solution for a problem that does not exist.

 

[Rob9876]

Or just a scribe to do the logging. Let them decide how best to do it.

A scribe you say! I like it. Now I'm thinking more of a sidekick to follow behind the OP and sing songs recounting prior dives.