Online Communities in Citizen Science Andrea Wiggins Postdoctoral Fellow University of New Mexico & Cornell University 19 November, 2013 & Bird Cams!
Online Communities in Citizen Science & BirdCams
Sep 05, 2014
Guest lecture for COMM/INFO course on online communities at Cornell University.
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Online Communities in Citizen Science
Andrea WigginsPostdoctoral Fellow
University of New Mexico & Cornell University
19 November, 2013
& Bird Cams!
What is citizen science?
Members of the public engaging in real-world scientific research
Crowdsourcing
Collaboration
Community
What is citizen science?
human computation
intelligent mobile sensor
network
Public Participation in Scientific Research
crowdsourcing science ?
Participation in scientific tasksContributory*
Define*a*ques1on/issue*Gather*informa1on*Develop*explana1ons*Design*data*collec1on*methods*Collect*samples*Analyze*samples*Analyze*data*Interpret*data/conclude*Disseminate*conclusions*Discuss*results/inquire*further*
Collabora1ve* CoACreated*PPSR$models:
CAISE Report, 2009
Goals and the role of place
Type Primary Goals Physicality
Action Action & Intervention
✓
Conservation Conservation & Stewardship
✓
Investigation Science ✓
Virtual Science
Education Education & Outreach
✓
Wiggins & Crowston, 2011
Contribution types
Data collection (“sensing”)•Most common
• Observations & measurements
Data processing• On the rise
• Entirely online
• Image recognition & puzzle solving
Data transcription• On the rise
•Mostly online
Participant experience Sharing my data/experiences
• Fits into daily life
• People like to share their passions
Working on their/our tasks
• Novel tasks
• Can reinforce hierarchy
Playing games & solving puzzles
• Fits into daily life
• Explicit symbolic rewards, entertaining
What does it accomplish?
engage%cri)cal%thinking%(Trumbull%et%al%2000)%
science%learning,%bonding%(Kountoupes%and%Oberhauser%2008)%
environmental%ac)on;%social%networks%(Overdevest%et%al.%2004)%
social%capital%(Ballard%2008)%
improved%policy%(Wing%et%al.%2008)%
What does it accomplish?
processing large image data sets(e.g., Zooniverse projects)
documen(ng*range*shi0s*(Bonter*et*al.*unpublished*data)*
iden(fying*poten(al*mismatches*(Batalden*et*al.*2007)*
iden(fying*vulnerable*species*(Crimmins*et*al*2008,*2009)*
health*planning*(Leve(n*and*Van*de*Water*2008)*
an(cipa(ng*effects*on*water*sources*(e.g.,*CoCoRaHS)*
applying human computa:on skills(e.g., Foldit)
Galaxy ZooClassifying images of galaxies
Participation involves:
Looking at pictures of galaxies online
Answering a few questions about them
Started in 2007 by a team of academic astronomers
Instant success and exciting new discoveries
Galaxy Zoo 1, Year 1: 50M classifications, 150K volunteers
Galaxy Zoo 2, Year 2: 60M classifications in 14 months
Hanny’s Voorwerp
Green Pea galaxies
eBird
Collecting bird abundance and distribution data
Participation involves:
Choosing observation methods
Recording bird observations (analog or digital)
Entering observations and metadata online
Launched in 2002 by Cornell Lab of Ornithology (with National Audubon Society)
World’s largest biodiversity data set: 150M records
Currently receives about 3M observations/month
Data used in research and decision-making for land management, policy (and recreation)
ICTs for Citizen Science
Web-based data entry & social tools
“Vanilla” website
CMS
Custom platform
Mobile
Games
CitizenSort image courtesyof Eric Graham
Images courtesy of Nathan Prestopnik and the CitizenSort team at Syracuse University
US NSF Grant # 09-68470
Online Communities
We don’t know much!
Important in entirely online projects
But what about...
Place-dependent projects?
Pre-existing communities?
Scale of participation?
Potential value
Retention tool
Recruitment tool
Capture serendipity
Promote inquiry
Gather evaluation data
More...
Online & Offline Communities
Online interactions
Blogs + forums + social media
Leaderboards, visibility of others’ data, “shared checklists”
Core activities often offline
Observing birds -> go outside!
Non-integrated social activities & technologies
Communities in Citizen Science
In-person recruitment most effective
Not feasible for entirely virtual projects
Important for retention
Come for the coffee, stay for the conversation
Main community engagement strategies
Traditional: tapping into existing communities
Virtual: creating a new community
Challenges
Strategic implementation required with existing communities
$$$
Active management
Technical resources
Zooniverse research underway to learn more
Planet Hunters & Sea Floor Explorers
The Truman Show...Bird Cams!
...For Bird Watchers!Bird Cams!
Bird Cams
Nest cams: spring through early fall
Inside nest boxes (owls, small birds)
Outdoors on larger nests (heron, hawk)
Feeder cams: late fall through early spring
Equipment
Consumer devices for under $100
Nest Cams
“The first video nest cam was created in 1998 by the Midwest Raptor Resource Center to monitor a Peregrine Falcon nest in Iowa” http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/blog-posts/nest-cams-a-wholly-new-view-of-birds/
Over a million people viewed CLO’s Heron and Hawk cams in their inaugural year (2012)
Care & Feeding
BirdCams Project Leader plus seasonal staff
Volunteer moderators
Unpredictable activity
Multiple social media under various control
Emergent Community
Different from most bird cams: live chat
Most people never chat, but many read it
Different reasons to chat (or not)
Unexpected Outcomes
Everyone learns from the birds
Self-organizing cliques
Emotional
Addictive
Empowering
$ustainability
Donation button
Chat groups ran fundraising campaigns
Merchandising
Related Documents
