Online Communities in Citizen Science Andrea Wiggins Postdoctoral Fellow University of New Mexico & Cornell University 8 November, 2012
Online Communities in Citizen Science
Aug 31, 2014
Guest lecture for Cornell University Department of Information Science course on Online Communities (3460).
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Online Communities in Citizen Science
Andrea WigginsPostdoctoral Fellow
University of New Mexico & Cornell University
8 November, 2012
What is citizen science?
Members of the public engaging in real-world scientific research
Crowdsourcing
Collaboration
Community
What is citizen science?
= citizen science*
*volunteer
monitoring
cybe
r-in
frast
ruct
ure
crowd-sourcing
publicparticipationin science
scientificcollaboration
onlinecommunities
What is citizen science?
human computation
intelligent mobile sensor
network
Public Participation in Scientific Research
crowdsourcing science ?
Typ(ologi)es of citizen science
Goals and place
Participation in scientific tasks
Contribution types
Participant experiences
and more...
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•Most common
• Observations & measurements
Data processing• On the rise
• Entirely virtual
• Image recognition & puzzle solving
Data transcription• On the rise
•Mostly virtual
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documen(ng*range*shi0s*(Bonter*et*al.*unpublished*data)*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: 100M records
Currently receives about 3M observations/month
Data used in research and decision-making for land management, policy (and recreation)
Crowds vs Communities
Is citizen science crowdsourcing?
When is it crowdsourcing, and when is it not?
What separates a crowd from a community?
Crowdsourcing versus communitysourcing?
Motivations
Galaxy Zoo
Motivations: similar to other participant surveys
Forums: evidence of shared interests & practices
Alice
Reader to Leader......to Scientist!
http://blog.galaxyzoo.org/2009/07/01/shes-an-astronomer-alice-sheppard/
More than just motivation
Motivations
Intrinsic (altruism)
Extrinsic (money)
Dynamic
Personal Values (domain, science)
Individual Goals (contributing)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/verbeeldingskr8/4875710270/
Implications for Design
Who will participate?
Why will they participate?
How will they be rewarded?
How can experiences be expanded?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andymangold/4335799638/
Which Came First?
Science-first project design
Tech focuses on data entry
Experiences are usually simplified science
Citizen-first project design
Tech focuses on ease of use
Experience adapts existing leisure practices
Self-rewarded & socially rewardedhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/hammer51012/495218105/
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!
Primary social & communication tool in virtual (place-independent) projects
But what about...
Place-dependent projects
Pre-existing communities
Scale of participation
Cohesive systems vs system assemblages
What makes it a community?
How did you judge whether a citizen science project you reviewed has an online community or not?
Blogs + forums + social media
Leaderboards, visibility of others’ data, “shared checklists”
Were there signs of offline community?
What are the implications of that?
Communities in Citizen Science
Primary recruitment method (in place-based)
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
Unrealized potential value
Retention tool
Recruitment tool
Capture serendipity
Promote inquiry
Gather evaluation data
More...
Challenges
Strategic implementation required with existing communities
$$$
Active management
Technical resources
Zooniverse research underway to learn more
Yay, Sloan Foundation!
16
Typologies•Lawrence, A. (2006). “No Personal Motive?” Volunteers, Biodiversity, and the False Dichotomies of Participation. Ethics, Place & Environment, 9(3), 279-298.
•Bonney, R., Ballard, H., Jordan, R., McCallie, E., Phillips, T., Shirk, J., et al. (2009). Public Participation in Scientific Research: Defining the Field and Assessing Its Potential for Informal Science Education. A CAISE Inquiry Group Report (Tech. Rep.).
•Danielsen, F., Burgess, N., Balmford, A., Donald, P., Funder, M., Jones, J., et al. (2009). Local participation in natural resource monitoring: a characterization of approaches. Conserva4on Biology, 23(1), 31–42.
•Cooper, C. B., Dickinson, J., Phillips, T., & Bonney, R. (2007). Citizen Science as a Tool for Conservation in Residential Ecosystems. Ecology and Society, 12(2).
•Wilderman, C. C. (2007). Models of community science: design lessons from the field. Proceedings of Citizen Science Toolkit Conference.
•Wiggins, A. & Crowston, K. (2011). From Conservation to Crowdsourcing: A Typology of Citizen Science. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
•Wiggins, A. & Crowston, K. (2012). Goals and Tasks: Two Typologies of Citizen Science Projects. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences.
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