scholarly journals Cloud-based Software Platforms for Citizen Science: Implications and opportunities for biodiversity standards

Author(s):  
Peter Brenton

Whether community created and driven, or developed and run by researchers, most citizen science projects operate on minimalistic budgets, their capacity to invest in fully featured bespoke software and databases is usually very limited. Further, the increasing number of applications and citizen science options available for public participation creates a confusing situation to navigate. Cloud-based platforms such as BioCollect, iNaturalist, eBird, CitSci.org, and Zooniverse, provide an opportunity for citizen science projects to leverage highly featured functional software capabilities at a fraction of the cost of developing their own, as well as a common channel through which the public can find and access projects. These platforms are also excellent vehicles to facilitate the implementation of data and metadata standards, which streamline interoperability and data sharing. Such services can also embed measures in their design, which uplift the descriptions and quality of data outputs, significantly amplifying their usability and value. In this presentation I outline the experiences of the Atlas of Living Australia on these issues and demonstrate how we are tackling them with the BioCollect and iNaturalist platforms. We also consider the differences and similarities of these two platforms with respect to standards and data structures in relation to suitability for different use cases. You are invited to join a discussion on approaches being adopted and offer insights for improved outcomes.

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cherry

Abstract Sociological research on wildlife typically looks at how nonhuman animals in the wild are hunted, poached, or captured for entertainment, or how they play a symbolic role in people’s lives. Within sociology, little research exists on how people appreciate nonhuman animals in the wild, and how people contribute to wildlife conservation. I explore birding-related citizen science projects in the US. Citizen science refers to scientific projects carried out by amateurs. Literature on citizen science focuses on the perspective of professional scientists, with the assumption that only professional scientists are concerned with the quality of data from citizen science projects. The research showed birders share this skepticism, but they still find satisfaction in participating in citizen science projects. This paper contributes to sociological understandings of wildlife conservation by showing how birders’ participation in citizen science projects helps professional scientists study environmental problems such as climate change and its effects on wildlife.


Author(s):  
Nur Maimun ◽  
Jihan Natassa ◽  
Wen Via Trisna ◽  
Yeye Supriatin

The accuracy in administering the diagnosis code was the important matter for medical recorder, quality of data was the most important thing for health information management of medical recorder. This study aims to know the coder competency for accuracy and precision of using ICD 10 at X Hospital in Pekanbaru. This study was a qualitative method with case study implementation from five informan. The result show that medical personnel (doctor) have never received a training about coding, doctors writing that hard and difficult to read, failure for making diagnoses code or procedures, doctor used an usual abbreviations that are not standard, theres still an officer who are not understand about the nomenclature and mastering anatomy phatology, facilities and infrastructure were supported for accuracy and precision of the existing code. The errors of coding always happen because there is a human error. The accuracy and precision in coding very influence against the cost of INA CBGs, medical and the committee did most of the work in the case of severity level III, while medical record had a role in monitoring or evaluation of coding implementation. If there are resumes that is not clearly case mix team check file needed medical record the result the diagnoses or coding for conformity. Keywords: coder competency, accuracy and precision of coding, ICD 10


1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
J. R. Lawrence ◽  
N. C. D. Craig

The public has ever-rising expectations for the environmental quality of the North Sea and hence of everreducing anthropogenic inputs; by implication society must be willing to accept the cost of reduced contamination. The chemical industry accepts that it has an important part to play in meeting these expectations, but it is essential that proper scientific consideration is given to the potential transfer of contamination from one medium to another before changes are made. A strategy for North Sea protection is put forward as a set of seven principles that must govern the management decisions that are made. Some areas of uncertainty are identified as important research targets. It is concluded that although there have been many improvements over the last two decades, there is more to be done. A systematic and less emotive approach is required to continue the improvement process.


Author(s):  
W. Ostrowski ◽  
K. Hanus

One of the popular uses of UAVs in photogrammetry is providing an archaeological documentation. A wide offer of low-cost (consumer) grade UAVs, as well as the popularity of user-friendly photogrammetric software allowing obtaining satisfying results, contribute to facilitating the process of preparing documentation for small archaeological sites. However, using solutions of this kind is much more problematic for larger areas. The limited possibilities of autonomous flight makes it significantly harder to obtain data for areas too large to be covered during a single mission. Moreover, sometimes the platforms used are not equipped with telemetry systems, which makes navigating and guaranteeing a similar quality of data during separate flights difficult. The simplest solution is using a better UAV, however the cost of devices of such type often exceeds the financial capabilities of archaeological expeditions. <br><br> The aim of this article is to present methodology allowing obtaining data for medium scale areas using only a basic UAV. The proposed methodology assumes using a simple multirotor, not equipped with any flight planning system or telemetry. Navigating of the platform is based solely on live-view images sent from the camera attached to the UAV. The presented survey was carried out using a simple GoPro camera which, from the perspective of photogrammetric use, was not the optimal configuration due to the fish eye geometry of the camera. Another limitation is the actual operational range of UAVs which in the case of cheaper systems, rarely exceeds 1 kilometre and is in fact often much smaller. Therefore the surveyed area must be divided into sub-blocks which correspond to the range of the drone. It is inconvenient since the blocks must overlap, so that they will later be merged during their processing. This increases the length of required flights as well as the computing power necessary to process a greater number of images. <br><br> These issues make prospection highly inconvenient, but not impossible. Our paper presents our experiences through two case studies: surveys conducted in Nepal under the aegis of UNESCO, and works carried out as a part of a Polish archaeological expedition in Cyprus, which both prove that the proposed methodology allows obtaining satisfying results. The article is an important voice in the ongoing debate between commercial and academic archaeologists who discuss the balance between the required standards of conducting archaeological works and economic capabilities of archaeological missions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbora Duží ◽  
Robert Osman ◽  
Jiří Lehejček ◽  
Eva Nováková ◽  
Pavel Taraba ◽  
...  

Abstract Citizen science is a relatively new phenomenon in the Czech Republic and currently a general overview of existing citizen science projects is not available. This presents the challenge to uncover the ‘hidden’ citizen science landscapes. The main objective of this paper is to explore the (public) representation of citizen science (CS) projects and to describe their heterogeneity. The study aims to answer the question of what type of projects in the Czech Republic meet the definition of citizen science. Based on a specific methodological data-base search approach, we compiled a set of CS projects (N = 73). During the classification process, two general citizen science categories were identified. The first group (N = 46) consists of “pure” CS projects with a prevalence towards the natural sciences, principally ornithology, and thus corresponding to general European trends. Citizens usually participate in such research in the form of data collection and basic interpretation, and a high level of cooperation between academia and NGOs was detected. The second group of “potential” CS projects (N = 27) entails various forms of public participation in general, frequently coordinated by NGOs. Based on these results, we discuss the position of citizen science in the Czech Republic, including socially-oriented citizen science. Further research is strongly encouraged to achieve a more in-depth insight into this social phenomenon.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Meschini ◽  
Mariana Machado Toffolo ◽  
Chiara Marchini ◽  
Erik Caroselli ◽  
Fiorella Prada ◽  
...  

The quality of data collected by non-professional volunteers in citizen science programs is crucial to render them valid for implementing environmental resources management and protection plans. This study assessed the reliability of data collected by non-professional volunteers during the citizen science project Scuba Tourism for the Environment (STE), carried out in mass tourism facilities of the Red Sea between 2007 and 2015. STE involved 16,164 volunteer recreational divers in data collection on marine biodiversity using a recreational citizen science approach. Through a specifically designed questionnaire, volunteers indicated which of the seventy-two marine taxa surveyed were observed during their recreational dive, giving an estimate of their abundance. To evaluate the validity of the collected data, a reference researcher randomly dived with the volunteers and filled in the project questionnaire separately. Correlation analyses between the records collected by the reference researcher and those collected by volunteers were performed based on 513 validation trials, testing 3,138 volunteers. Data reliability was analyzed through 7 parameters. Consistency showed the lowest mean score (51.6%, 95% Confidence Interval CI 44.1–59.2%), indicating that volunteers could direct their attention to different taxa depending on personal interests; Percent Identified showed the highest mean score (66.7%, 95% CI 55.5–78.0), indicating that volunteers can correctly identify most surveyed taxa. Overall, results confirmed that the recreational citizen science approach can effectively support reliable data for biodiversity monitoring, when carefully tailored for the volunteer skills required by the specific project. The use of a recreational approach enhances massive volunteer participation in citizen science projects, thus increasing the amount of sufficiently reliable data collected in a reduced time.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiwen Hu ◽  
Zhangqiu Huang

In the scientific sphere, understanding the way naming rules strengthen the integrity and quality of naming zoonotic diseases and viruses remains nominal rather than substantial. Arguably, the looming worry is that the public is susceptible to the stigmatized proper names like German measles in the leading journals. Our survey indicates that some stigmatizing names have always come at the cost of unintentional sociocultural impacts, despite their seemingly harmless origins. This study first unveils that terminological evolution of German measles is on the wrong side of history.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1726-1741
Author(s):  
Colin Chapman ◽  
Crona Hodges

This chapter considers the potential for citizen science to contribute to policy development. A background to evidence-based policy making is given, and the requirement for data to be robust, reliable and, increasingly, cost-effective is noted. The potential for the use of ‘co-design' strategies with stakeholders, to add value to their engagement as well as provide more meaningful data that can contribute to policy development, is presented and discussed. Barriers to uptake can be institutional and the quality of data used in evidence-based policy making will always need to be fully assured. Data must be appropriate to the decision making process at hand and there is potential for citizen science to fill important, existing data-gaps.


SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401667177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Edgar ◽  
Joe Murphy ◽  
Michael Keating

Cognitive interviewing is a common method used to evaluate survey questions. This study compares traditional cognitive interviewing methods with crowdsourcing, or “tapping into the collective intelligence of the public to complete a task.” Crowdsourcing may provide researchers with access to a diverse pool of potential participants in a very timely and cost-efficient way. Exploratory work found that crowdsourcing participants, with self-administered data collection, may be a viable alternative, or addition, to traditional pretesting methods. Using three crowdsourcing designs (TryMyUI, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and Facebook), we compared the participant characteristics, costs, and quantity and quality of data with traditional laboratory-based cognitive interviews. Results suggest that crowdsourcing and self-administered protocols may be a viable way to collect survey pretesting information, as participants were able to complete the tasks and provide useful information; however, complex tasks may require the skills of an interviewer to administer unscripted probes.


Author(s):  
Hatice Uenal ◽  
David Hampel

Registries are indispensable in medical studies and provide the basis for reliable study results for research questions. Depending on the purpose of use, a high quality of data is a prerequisite. However, with increasing registry quality, costs also increase accordingly. Considering these time and cost factors, this work is an attempt to estimate the cost advantages of applying statistical tools to existing registry data, including quality evaluation. Results for quality analysis showed that there are unquestionable savings of millions in study costs by reducing the time horizon and saving on average € 523,126 for every reduced year. Replacing additionally the over 25 % missing data in some variables, data quality was immensely improved. To conclude, our findings showed dearly the importance of data quality and statistical input in avoiding biased conclusions due to incomplete data.


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