scholarly journals Conceptual Frameworks for Building Online Citizen Science Projects

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Poonam Yadav ◽  
John Darlington
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Citizen Science Project

In recent years, citizen science has grown in popularity due to a number of reasons, including the emphasis on informal learning and creativity potential associated with these initiatives. Citizen science projects address research questions from various domains, ranging from Ecology to Astronomy.  Due to the advancement of communication technologies, which makes outreach and engagement of wider communities easier, scientists are keen to turn their own research into citizen science projects. However, the development, deployment and management of these projects remains challenging. One of the most important challenges is building the project itself. There is no single tool or framework, which guides the step-by-step development of the project, since every project has specific characteristics, such as geographical constraints or volunteers' mode of participation. Therefore, in this article, we present a series of conceptual frameworks for categorisation, decision and deployment, which guide a citizen science project creator in every step of creating a new project starting from the research question to project deployment.  The frameworks are designed with consideration to the properties of already existing citizen science projects and could be easily extended to include other dimensions, which are not currently perceived.

scholarly journals Citizens, Scientists, and Enablers: A Tripartite Model for Citizen Science Projects

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Rhian A. Salmon ◽  
Samuel Rammell ◽  
Myfanwy T. Emeny ◽  
Stephen Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Tripartite Model ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
Citizen Science Project

In this paper, we focus on different roles in citizen science projects, and their respective relationships. We propose a tripartite model that recognises not only citizens and scientists, but also an important third role, which we call the ‘enabler’. In doing so, we acknowledge that additional expertise and skillsets are often present in citizen science projects, but are frequently overlooked in associated literature. We interrogate this model by applying it to three case studies and explore how the success and sustainability of a citizen science project requires all roles to be acknowledged and interacting appropriately. In this era of ‘wicked problems’, the nature of science and science communication has become more complex. In order to address critical emerging issues, a greater number of stakeholders are engaging in multi-party partnerships and research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Within this context, explicitly acknowledging the role and motivations of everyone involved can provide a framework for enhanced project transparency, delivery, evaluation and impact. By adapting our understanding of citizen science to better recognise the complexity of the organisational systems within which they operate, we propose an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative delivery of both valuable scientific research and public engagement.

Co-Designing Mobile Applications for Data Collection in Citizen Science Projects – Challenges and Lessons Learned within the Nachtlicht-BüHNE Project

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Klan ◽  
Christopher C.M. Kyba ◽  
Nona Schulte-Römer ◽  
Helga U. Kuechly ◽  
Jürgen Oberst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Citizen Science Project

<p>Data contributed by citizen scientists raise increasing interest in many areas of scientific research. Increasingly, projects rely on information technology such as mobile applications (apps) to facilitate data collection activities by lay people. When developing such smartphone apps, it is essential to account for both the requirements of the scientists interested in acquiring data and the needs of the citizen scientists contributing data. Citizens and participating scientists should therefore ideally work together during the conception, design and testing of mobile applications used in a citizen science project. This will benefit both sides, as both scientists and citizens can bring in their expectations, desires, knowledge, and commitment early on, thereby making better use of the potential of citizen science. Such processes of app co-design are highly transdisciplinary, and thus pose challenges in terms of the diversity of interests, skills, and background knowledge involved.</p><p>Our “Nachtlicht-BüHNE” citizen science project addresses these issues. Its major goal is the development of a co-design process enabling scientists and citizens to jointly develop citizen science projects based on smartphone apps. This includes (1) the conception and development of a mobile application for a specific scientific purpose, (2) the design, planning and organization of field campaigns using the mobile application, and (3) the evaluation of the approach. In Nachtlicht-BüHNE, the co-design approach is developed within the scope of two parallel pilot studies in the environmental and space sciences. Case study 1 deals with the problem of light pollution. Currently, little is known about how much different light source types contribute to emissions from Earth. Within the project, citizens and researchers will develop and use an app to capture information about all types of light sources visible from public streets. Case study 2 focuses on meteors. They are of great scientific interest because their pathways and traces of light can be used to derive dynamic and physical properties of comets and asteroids. Since the surveillance of the sky with cameras is usually incomplete, reports of fireball sightings are important. Within the project, citizens and scientists will create and use the first German-language app that allows reporting meteor sightings.</p><p>We will share our experiences on how researchers and communities of citizen scientists with backgrounds in the geosciences, space research, the social sciences, computer science and other disciplines work together in the Nachtlicht-BüHNE project to co-design mobile applications. We highlight challenges that arose and present different strategies for co-design that evolved within the project accounting for the specific needs and interests of the communities involved.</p>

scholarly journals Playing with science

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Greenhill ◽  
Kate Holmes ◽  
Jamie Woodcock ◽  
Chris Lintott ◽  
Brooke D Simmons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Online Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Citizen Science Project ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
User Motivation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine intrinsic forms of motivation and particular incidents of play, socialisation, fun and amusement on an online crowdsourced citizen science platform. The paper also investigates gamised activity (Greenhill et al., 2014) as a form of intrinsic motivation adding a sense of play to work and tasks (Xu et al., 2012). These concepts are explored through close scrutiny of the online citizen science platform Zooniverse.org. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative techniques with an interpretivist approach are used to analyse online content found within citizen science platforms, related forums and social media by examining incidents of play, socialisation, fun and amusement to investigate how these aspects are applied as a form of user motivation. Findings – The authors find that when users classify crowdsourced tasks voluntarily it does not matter how users are classifying as long as it is accurately. However, what does matter is why they are doing it particularly because of the complex processes that builds relationships between users and the platform. The authors present a conceptual model to enable deeper understandings of how forms of social interaction and play are motivating users contributing to citizen science project to participate in the online processes. Practical implications – The findings of this paper provide practical implications for how citizen science, and also other crowdsourcing platforms, can engage with notions of play and gamification to motivate participation. Originality/value – Using detailed examples of online content, the authors reveal how participants of the Zooniverse.org demonstrate aspects of “gamised” behaviour. The authors argue that the exploration of gaming as well as play provides evidence that contributing to citizen science projects can be both utilitarian and hedonic.

scholarly journals Participants’ motivations to contribute to biodiversity citizen science projects

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Lotfian ◽  
Jens Ingensand ◽  
Olivier Ertz ◽  
Sarah Composto ◽  
Mathias Oberson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Citizen Science Project

The public participation in scientific projects (citizen science) is significantly increasing specially with technology developments in recent years. Volunteers play an essential role in citizen science projects, therefore understanding their motivations, and understanding how to sustain them to keep contributing to the project are of utmost importance. This paper presents the analysis of volunteers’ characteristics and their motivations to contribute to a citizen science project, which aims at encouraging citizens to take action for biodiversity. The results from the online survey illustrate that people are more motivated by intrinsic nature-related motives rather than extrinsic motivations.

scholarly journals Aligning Needs: Integrating Citizen Science Efforts into Schools Through Service Requirements

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ginger Tsueng ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Steven M. Nanis ◽  
Andrew I Su
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Science Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Formal Science ◽  
Citizen Science Project

AbstractCitizen science is the participation in scientific research by members of the public, and it is an increasingly valuable tool for both scientists and educators. For researchers, citizen science is a means of more quickly investigating questions which would otherwise be time-consuming and costly to study. For educators, citizen science offers a means to engage students in actual research and improve learning outcomes. Since most citizen science projects are usually designed with research goals in mind, many lack the necessary educator materials for successful integration in a formal science education (FSE) setting. In an ideal world, researchers and educators would build the necessary materials together; however, many researchers lack the time, resources, and networks to create these materials early on in the life of a citizen science project. For resource-poor projects, we propose an intermediate entry point for recruiting from the educational setting: community service or service learning requirements (CSSLRs). Many schools require students to participate in community service or service learning activities in order to graduate. When implemented well, CSSLRs provide students with growth and development opportunities outside the classroom while contributing to the community and other worthwhile causes. However, CSSLRs take time, resources, and effort to implement well. Just as citizen science projects need to establish relationships to transition well into formal science education, schools need to cultivate relationships with community service organizations. Students and educators at schools with CSSLRs where implementation is still a work in progress may be left with a burdensome requirement and inadequate support. With the help of a volunteer fulfilling a CSSLR, we investigated the number of students impacted by CSSLRs set at different levels of government and explored the qualifications needed for citizen science projects to fulfill CSSLRs by examining the explicitly-stated justifications for having CSSLRs, surveying how CSSLRs are verified, and using these qualifications to demonstrate how an online citizen science project, Mark2Cure, could use this information to meet the needs of students fulfilling CSSLRs.

scholarly journals Citizen scientist community engagement with the HiggsHunters project at the Large Hadron Collider

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-373
Author(s):  
A..J. Barr ◽  
A. Haas ◽  
C.W. Kalderon
Keyword(s):  
Large Hadron Collider ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Hadron Collider ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Technical Vocabulary ◽  
Science Community ◽  
High Level ◽  
Citizen Science Project

The engagement of citizen scientists with the HiggsHunters. org citizen science project is investigated through analysis of behaviour, discussion and survey data. More than 38,000 citizen scientists from 179 countries participated, classifying 1.5 million features of interest on about 39,000 distinct images. While most citizen scientists classified only a handful of images, some classified hundreds or even thousands. Analysis of frequently used terms on the dedicated discussion forum demonstrated that a high level of scientific engagement was not uncommon. Evidence was found for an emergent and distinct technical vocabulary developing within the citizen science community. A survey indicates a high level of engagement and an appetite for further citizen science projects related to the Large Hadron Collider.

scholarly journals Auto-filtering validation in citizen science biodiversity monitoring: a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Maryam Lotfian ◽  
Jens Ingensand ◽  
Olivier Ertz ◽  
Simon Oulevay ◽  
Thibaud Chassin
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Expert Review ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Automatic Filtering ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Citizen Science Project

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Data quality is the primary concern for researchers working on citizen science projects. The collected data by citizen science participants are heterogeneous and therefore must be validated. There are several validation approaches depending on the theme and objective of the citizen science project, but the most common approach is the expert review. While expert validation is essential in citizen science projects, considering it as the only validation approach can be very difficult and complicated for the experts. In addition, volunteers can get demotivated to contribute if they do not receive any feedback regarding their submissions. This project aims at introducing an automatic filtering mechanism for a biodiversity citizen science project. The goals of this project are to first use an available historical database of the local species to filter out the unusual ones, and second to use machine learning and image recognition techniques to verify if the observation image corresponds with the right species type. The submissions that does not successfully pass the automatic filtering will be flagged as unusual and goes through expert review. The objective is on the one hand to simplify validation task by the experts, and on the other hand to increase participants’ motivation by giving them real-time feedback on their submissions. Finally, the flagged observations will be classified as valid, valid but uncommon, and invalid, and the observation outliers (rare species) can be identified for each specific region.</p>

Surveying the citizen science landscape

First Monday ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Wiggins ◽  
Kevin Crowston
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Project Design ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Combined Features ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Citizen science has seen enormous growth in recent years, in part due to the influence of the Internet, and a corresponding growth in interest. However, the few stand-out examples that have received attention from media and researchers are not representative of the diversity of the field as a whole, and therefore may not be the best models for those seeking to study or start a citizen science project. In this work, we present the results of a survey of citizen science project leaders, identifying sub-groups of project types according to a variety of features related to project design and management, including funding sources, goals, participant activities, data quality processes, and social interaction. These combined features highlight the diversity of citizen science, providing an overview of the breadth of the phenomenon and laying a foundation for comparison between citizen science projects and to other online communities.

scholarly journals Aligning Needs: Integrating Citizen Science Efforts into Schools Through Service Requirements.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 56-82
Author(s):  
Ginger Tsueng ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Steven Max Nanis ◽  
Andrew I Su
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Community Service Organizations ◽  
Formal Science ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Citizen science is an increasingly valuable tool for both scientists and educators. For researchers, citizen science is a means of more quickly investigating questions which would otherwise be time-consuming and costly to study. For educators, citizen science offers a means to engage students in actual research and improve learning outcomes. Since most citizen science projects are usually designed with research goals in mind, many lack the necessary educator materials for successful integration in a formal science education (FSE) setting. In an ideal world, researchers and educators would build the necessary materials together; however, many researchers lack the time, resources, and networks to create these materials early on in the life of a citizen science project. For resource-poor projects, we propose an intermediate entry point for recruiting from the educational setting: community service or service learning requirements (CSSLRs). Many schools require students to participate in community service or service learning activities in order to graduate. When implemented well, CSSLRs provide students with growth and development opportunities outside the classroom while contributing to the community and other worthwhile causes. However,  CSSLRs take time, resources, and effort to implement well. Just as citizen science projects need to establish relationships to transition well into formal science education, schools need to cultivate relationships with community service organizations. Students and educators at schools with CSSLRs where implementation is still a work in progress may be left with a burdensome requirement and inadequate support. With the help of a volunteer fulfilling a CSSLR, we investigated the number of students impacted by CSSLRs set at different levels of government and explored the qualifications needed for citizen science projects to fulfill CSSLRs by examining the explicitly-stated justifications for having CSSLRs, surveying how CSSLRs are verified, and using these qualifications to demonstrate how an online citizen science project, Mark2Cure, could use this information to meet the needs of students fulfilling CSSLRs.

scholarly journals A Framework for Classifying Participant Motivation that Considers the Typology of Citizen Science Projects

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 704
Author(s):  
Maryam Lotfian ◽  
Jens Ingensand ◽  
Maria Antonia Brovelli
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Science Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Comprehensive Knowledge ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Citizen science, the participation of the public in scientific projects, is growing significantly, especially with technological developments in recent years. Volunteers are the heart of citizen science projects; therefore, understanding their motivation and how to sustain their participation is the key to success in any citizen science project. Studies on participants of citizen science projects illustrate that there is an association between participant motivation and the type of contribution to projects. Thus, in this paper, we define a motivational framework, which classifies participant motivation taking into account the typologies of citizen science projects. Within this framework, we also take into account the importance of motivation in initiating and sustaining participation. This framework helps citizen science practitioners to have comprehensive knowledge about potential motivational factors that can be used to recruit participants, as well as sustaining participation in their projects.

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