Wolf. One species, three doors.
A fictional mini-platform around the wolf in Switzerland as a use case for multi-track science communication. What a platform can look like when farming, school and the public all need to arrive at the same time.
Wolf. One species, three doors.
A fictional mini-platform around the wolf in Switzerland as a use case for multi-track science communication. What a platform can look like when farming, school and the public all need to arrive at the same time.
A platform that grows without breaking.
What this service is
A platform as a service is a space with several doors that lead to different worlds without diluting each other. A farmer finds different tools here than a teacher, both find their language, both stand on the same data foundation.
The subpage here shows the anatomy of such a platform using the wolf in Switzerland as an example. The data foundation is real, KORA monitoring is robust, conflicts around the wolf are real. The platform is a sketch of how a federal agency, a conservation organisation or a research institute could build this space.
Paths
Three doors for three audiences
Data foundation
KORA · wardens · all paths share it
Modules
Nine tools, three per path
Upkeep
Daily to yearly, declared per module
What it fits, what it doesn't
- topics with several audiences that don't talk to each other
- conflicts with hard data and soft human dimensions
- organisations with a long-term mandate and budget for upkeep
- content that has to flow together from several sources
- one-off campaigns with a sprint character
- topics with only one audience and one message
- platforms without clear data sources behind them
- projects without a multi-year content care mandate
The starting point
A federal agency and a conservation organisation want to communicate the wolf in Switzerland. There is KORA monitoring, kill reports, preventive regulation, herd protection programmes and very different voices from mountain regions and the lowlands.
What if these contents existed as a shared platform. With a live distribution map that everyone uses, with modules that meet each audience in its own language, with an architecture that makes research visible rather than hiding it.
What follows is that platform as a sketch.
Three paths, one data foundation
This is how the wolf platform could be built. The distribution map is for everyone. Each path opens its own modules below, without making the others disappear.
Click a point on the map for details.
Schematic visualisation after KORA monitoring 2025/26. 43 wolf packs documented in Switzerland or cross-border, 38 with reproduction. In a live platform real telemetry and kill data would flow in via API. Exact coordinates intentionally not shown.
- 14:23New wolf sighting Surselva GR · confirmed by KORAFARM
- 08:14Kill report Val Verzasca TI · being processedFARM
- yesterdayFact-check 'Wolves attack humans' updatedPUBLIC
- yesterdayLower-secondary school quiz newly publishedSCHOOL
- 2 days agoHerd-protection guidance Engadine · seasonal updateFARM
Content and tools change with each path.
You work with sheep, goats or suckler cows in summer pasture or year-round in the valley. You need reliable information on pack movements, practical herd-protection tools and a short line to the administration.
My herd-protection plan
Location-based recommendation on livestock guard dog, electric fence, shepherding. Linked to subsidies, the cantonal adviser network and short practice videos from the region.
Updated seasonally · AGRIDEA + cantonal advisers
Wolf push for my region
Short notification for documented kills or confirmed wolf detections in your area. Source KORA, frequency reduced to what's relevant, unsubscribable per season.
Updated daily · KORA API
Kill report in five minutes
Form for game wardens and owners with photo documentation, geo tag, automatic forwarding to the responsible agency. Status traceable through to compensation.
Updated on incident · cantonal warden connection
How the platform works under the hood
A platform is more than its surface. The following sketch shows how real data sources, a shared data foundation and three audience-specific paths fit together.
The platform architecture as a schema. Sources at the top, shared data foundation in the middle, paths at the bottom. Modules per path are described in the tab selection above.
What flows between the paths
The three paths are not isolated. Content and data flow across the platform so that what happens in one path becomes visible in another.
Cross-path flows are editorially curated. No automation turns a single incident into a school story without a human looking at it.
Connecting the strands
BAFU coordinates wolf management, KORA runs the monitoring, AGRIDEA advises on herd protection, BirdLife Switzerland and WWF carry communication. Data, experience and voices exist. What is often missing is the shared space where they meet.
What I contribute here as a platform service: an architecture that connects these existing strands into a shared space. Three paths, one map, one data foundation. Not a conflict ruling. A communication infrastructure where three audiences get their own tools without talking past each other.
How I would build it
Four phases, in this order, with clear handovers and an honest stop point at the end of phase two.
Understand
Conversations with wardens, host organisations, schools, KORA, research. Which paths need a separate door, which content connects, which conflicts are non-negotiable?
Sketch
Wireframe of the paths, definition of the shared data foundation, clarification of API connections. At the end a prototype of path selection plus distribution map. Decision gate for the host organisation.
Build
Frontend in Next.js with static export, map and modules as reusable components. Data connection to KORA, kill-report backend, push service. School pack as printable PDF plus online module.
Hand over
Handover to the host organisation with a care concept and clear responsibilities per path. Training workshop for wardens, teacher associations and the press office.
Scientific foundation
All numbers used here come from public, citable sources. The platform subpage is a use case, the monitoring behind it is real.
Grey-Wolf preview from Descienced
Wolf knowledge in another communication format. Sister project with a direct thematic connection to the platform use case.
Three doors, one data foundation, one mandate
If your topic has several audiences that don't talk to each other and you're looking for a platform that does this together rather than three times in parallel, get in touch.