Citizen Science & Geographical Technologies: creativity, learning, and engagement

Citizen Science & Geographical Technologies: creativity,

learning, and engagement

Muki Haklay

Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group, UCL

@mhaklay @UCL_ExCiteS

Acknowledgement

This talk would not be possible without the generosity of

the many people and communities that we have worked

with over the years…

Acknowledgement

… and the funders, project partners, and sponsors that we’ve

worked with (and will work with in the future)

Outline

• Citizen science – why now?

• Citizen science today: across disciplines, technologies,

and levels of engagement

• Pushing citizen science to the extremes

• Learning & creativity in citizen science

• Over to you!

Citizen Science (OED 2014)

citizen science n. scientific work undertaken by members of the

general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of

professional scientists and scientific institutions.

citizen scientist n. (a) a scientist whose work is characterized by a

sense of responsibility to serve the best interests of the wider

community (now rare); (b) a member of the general public who

engages in scientific work, often in collaboration with or under the

direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions; an

amateur scientist.

Citizen Science & Science

Early science (1600’s – early 1800’s)

Professional science (late 1800’s – 1900’s)

Opening Science (since 2000s)


Early science(1600’s – earl 1800’s)



Illiteracy

Basic to High-school

Higher Education


Early science(1600’s – early 1800’s)



Illiteracy


Higher Education

Citizen Science

as Gentlemen/

Gentlewomen

science

Mary Anning (1799-1847)





Illiteracy


Higher Education

Citizen Science

as Gentlemen/

Gentlewomen

science

Citizen Science

diminishing

© WMO–No. 919

Volunteer rainfall observer Rick Grocke checks

the rain gauge at Tanami Downs cattle station in

the Northern Territory of Australia

The era of professional science • Involvement continued: archaeology, astronomy, ornithology,

conservation, meteorology …

• No recognition, views of volunteers as ‘untrustworthy’

contributors

Shoemaker-Levy 9 on 17 May 1994

Why Now?

• Societal trends:

– Education and qualifications

– Leisure

– Sharing economies / peer production systems

• Technological trends:

– Internet access (broadband)

– Collaborative Web

– Mobile devices

– DIY electronics

Years of school completed by population 25+ years 1940-2009

Part of a global trend…

>200 million

Source: UNESCO

… with many PhD students (>1%)

>2.5 million

Source: UNESCO

Leisure

• Across the developed

world there have been a

marked declined in the

number of working

hours

Source: the Atlantic

Sharing economies

• In many areas, especially in production and sharing of

information

Collaborative Web

Active mobile-broadband subscriptions, 2007-2013*

R Nial Bradshaw

DIY electronics





Illiteracy


Higher Education

Citizen Science

as Gentlemen/

Gentlewomen

science

Citizen Science

diminishing

Citizen Science as

open & inclusive

science

Citizen Science Today

Haklay, M., 2013, Citizen Science and Volunteered Geographic Information – overview and typology of

participation in Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge

Citizen Science

Long running Citizen Science

Ecology & biodiversity

Meteorology Astronomy

Citizen Cyberscience

Volunteer computing

Volunteer thinking

Passive Sensing

Community Science

Participatory sensing

DIY Science Civic Science

A new era of citizen science



Citizen Science





Volunteer computing

Volunteer thinking

Passive Sensing

Community Science



Biodiversity/Ecology

Participating in Big Garden

Bridwatch (source: RSPB)

Participating in BioBlitz (source: OPAL, Esri)

Kerski, J., 2016, Mapping BioBlitz Field Data in ArcGIS Online Esri GIS Education Community Blog

Meteorology

• Community Collaborative Rain,

Hail & Snow Network

Rebecca Jacobson

Astronomy

Using an app to learn

about the importance

of dark skies – and

about the stars




Citizen Science





Volunteer computing

Volunteer thinking

Passive Sensing

Community Science



Volunteer computing

You can join World Community Grid at http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/

Volunteer Thinking

Passive Sensing




Citizen Science





Volunteer computing

Volunteer thinking

Passive Sensing

Community Science



Mapping for ChangeEveryAware website at http://www.everyaware.eu

Download WideNoise at http://cs.everyaware.eu

October2012

More information at http://publiclaboratory.org

DIY/Civic Science

Coming soon: the Crowd & the Cloud

Follow the Crowd & the Cloud at crowdandcloud.org

Gathering pace…

http://ecsa.citizen-science.net/sites/ecsa.citizen-science.net/files/ECSA_Ten_principles_of_citizen_science.pdf

http://ecsa.citizen-science.net/sites/ecsa.citizen-science.net/files/ECSA_Ten_principles_of_citizen_science.pdf

Problem

definitionData collection

Visualisation &

analysisAction

Classification

& basic analysis

Basic School

High School

Postgraduate

PhD

Literacy

Current Citizen Science

University/

College

Problem

definitionData collection

Visualisation &

analysisAction

Classification

& basic analysis

Basic School

High School

University/

College

Postgraduate

PhD

Literacy

Where next for Citizen Science?

Participation in citizen science

• Collaborative science – problem definition, data collection and analysis

Level 4 ‘Extreme/ Up-Science’

• Participation in problem definition and data collection

Level 3 ‘Participatory science’

• Citizens as basic interpreters Level 2 ‘Distributed

intelligence’

• Citizens as sensors Level 1

‘Crowdsourcing’

Haklay. 2013. Citizen Science and volunteered geographic information: Overview

and typology of participation, Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge



Extreme Citizen ScienceExtreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) is a situated,

bottom-up practice that takes into account local

needs, practices and culture and works with broad

networks of people to design and build new devices

and knowledge creation processes that can transform

the world.

Creating technologies that are designed to be

embedded within participatory processes.

Engagement: Free, Prior Informed Consent

44

Jerome Lewis, ExCiteS

Participatory Software design

Recording community resources

Towards Intelligent Maps

Survey 123

ArcGIS Web Services

Ashaninka village “Apiwtxa”

José Frank Melo

Community based monitoring

Carolina Comandulli

Earthquake preparedness

What Citizen Science offers?

• Learning to volunteer for a wider goal (contribute to

science)

• Awareness of environmental and scientific issues

• Education in science, technology, engineering &

mathematics

• Developing new skills and insights

• Linking studies to place and local community

• Adapting to different types of learning

What do they learn?

1. Task/game mechanics

2. Pattern recognition

3. On topic learning

5. Off topic knowledge and skills

4. Scientific process

6. Personal development

Participationas volunteer

Source: Laure Kloetzer, University of Geneva

See citizencyberlab.eu

Rich diversity:• A taxonomy on learning outcomes

in citizen science projects • 3 mains categories:

1. personal development, 2. generic knowledege &

skills, 3. project-specific knowledge

and skills

Source: Laure Kloetzer, University of Geneva

Model for volunteers who lead projects

Source: Charlene Jennett, UCL

Doing It Together Science ‘escalator’

See TogetherScience.eu

Start you own project

Other opportunities

• Join the Citizen Science Association, or the European

Citizen Science Association – both have education

working groups

• Link to local or national projects (e.g. eBird, iNaturalist,

CoCoRHaS)

• Check citizenscience.gov and SciStarter.com

• Let’s talk more in the unconference session (Tuesday

8:30am)

Conclusions

• Citizen science has grown dramatically over the past

decade

• With suitable effort, it is possible to engage people at

all levels, and all stages of the process

• Citizen science provide ample opportunities for

creativity and learning, and geographical technologies

have a major role to play in this

• Follow us:

– http://www.ucl.ac.uk/excites

– Twitter: @UCL_ExCiteS @mhaklay

– Blog: http://uclexcites.wordpress.comhttp://povesham.wordpress.com

– [email protected]

http://povesham.wordpress.com/

Citizen Science & Geographical Technologies: creativity, learning, and engagement

Technology