Chat and Search

The 'Chat and Search' function is provided for users who wish to break away from the formal structure of this website and start to engage in their own study of the issues by asking their own specific questions and searching for specific information. The facility is provided by Google "Notebook", an artificial intelligence tool that allows users to interact with a 'chatbot' but that restricts the research to a specific knowledge base rather than the entire Internet. Use the link above to enter the Google "Notebook" and to get started ...

The 'Knowledge Base' that the Google Gemini "Notebook" has been provided with contains all the base knowledge contained within this website which includes:

• All the text from the 'threads' contained within the 'themes' and 'topics' topics covered in the main website

• Information texts about the 48 'sites of natural interest' that were surveyed in the Sidmouth Nature project

• Some additional papers and texts that are freely available for use from other sources that compliment the website content

Clicking the link above will open the 'chat' window in Google Gemini "Notebook". Here you simply type in your question into the 'inoput' box, press go, and wait for your answer! You can save the answer as a 'note' and you can ask follow-up questions.

You can use this facility in a number of ways. For example:

• You can ask what pages on the website have information about a particular subject (eg: The Byes or Sid Vale Association')

• You can ask for a summary of all the information available about a particular subject (eg: Coastal Erosian or Fungi Habitats)

• You can ask for an analysis in table form about a particular subject (eg: Table of Sites and the specific conservation measures being employed on each)

This is a true "AI" enable function and you can use it in the same way as you would any other AI driven software (eg: ChatGPT or DeepSeek); you are only limited by the extent of your prompts and you can be sure that any answers you get are grounded only in the content on the Wild Side of Sidmouth website. 

A more advanced use of the Gemini "Notebook" is available by clicking on the link in the notebook to the 'studio'. You can save the answers of your questions in the chat area to notes and then download them or perform other actions ont them with the predefined functions within the studio:

• Create a video on specific aspects of the data in various formats

• Create a podcast explanation, debate or critique of content

• Create a Powerpoint presentation of content

• Create various reports and documents for specific purposes including some predefined formats; briefing paper, study guide, blog post etc.

• Create a Mind Map, a quiz to test your knowledge or flashcards to revise the content

This a an ideal facility for those really wishing to study the issued covered in this website. Armed with information from the Wild Side of Sidmouth one can then venture into the wider Internet and do deeper research to the level you require.