Technology in Environmental

Citizen Science projects

Muki Haklay

Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group, UCL

@mhaklay

Outline

• Technology role within citizen science

projects

• Sensors, apps, web – front end

technologies

• Databases, volunteer management,

project management – back end

• Platforms for communication – social

media, blogs

• Project management

Citizen Science overview

Citizen Science

Long running Citizen Science

Ecology & biodiversity

Meteorology Marine

Citizen Cyberscience

Volunteer computing

Volunteer thinking

Passive Sensing

Community Science

Participatory sensing

DIY Science Civic Science

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

participation in Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge

• Reaching out to potential participants

• Providing a structure to data collection processes

• Supporting crowdsourcing and micro-tasking (both data collection & analysis)

• Managing data & ensuring data quality

• Communication and support for volunteers

• Project management

Technology in citizen science

WHAT THE PARTICIPANTS

SEE & USE

Technologies for citizen science

Sensing

Mapping for Change

NoiseWatch

• Developed by Microsoft in collaboration with the European Environment Agency in 2011

• Provide a simple form of recording level of sound and indicating what was recorded

Sensing comparison

• Known instrument

• Pros

– Known performance &

calibration

– Limited functionality

in devices

• Cons

– Specialised recording

– Costs

– Learning how to

operate

• Smartphone

• Pros

– Available, people are

familiar with it

– Storage,

communication

• Cons

– Variability in

performance

– Operating systems,

versions, specific

devices

Experimenting with Sensing

• Can work on

different

devices:

laptops,

different types

of phones

• Limited access

to device

sensors

Apps: web

Web app: volunteer thinking

• Different

platforms

provide

variable

functionality

Apps: mobile

• Required specific

development for each

phone operating

system type (Android,

iOS, Windows) in

addition to web app

• Interface design and

user experience

issues can be

significant

Apps: reusing

existing

platforms

Recruitment Personal goalsLocation context

alerts

Micro taskImmediate feedback

System feedback

Ongoing incentives / motivations

MANAGING INFORMATION &

PARTICIPATION

Technologies for citizen science

-Mapping for Change: UCL’s first Social Enterprise

-Usability Incorporation for Simplified Interface/ Structure

-New Technologies: Leaflet, Angular, HTML5

MfC Community Maps

-Open Source Web API: User Management, Storage and Translation

-Highly Extensible

-New Technologies: Django, HTML5, PostGIS

GeoKey –community mapping

infrastructure

Using existing platform

ArcGIS Online and Survey123

Open Data Kit (ODK)

• Free and open-source set of tools

• Build data collection forms

• Collect data on a mobile device

• Aggregate the collected data

Michalis Vitos, ExCiteS

https://opendatakit.org/

- Sapelli: Pictograms and Decision Trees

-Open Source Android App

-Designed to work with non literate and illiterate participants

Sapelli

Platforms for Citizen Science

Nature observation platforms

• Technical abilities and development time

– platforms offer different level of

flexibility to change

• Evaluate platforms through pilot studies

(end-to-end)

• Costs – paying for a commercial or

academic platforms, or costs of

development and maintenance

Platforms

Recruitment & communication

• Mailing newsletters – Mailchimp

• Blog – Wordpress.com, Medium.com

• Events – meetup.com, Eventbrite.com

• Social Media – Twitter, Facebook,

Instagram…

Platform for communication

Analytics - evaluation

• Identify platforms for project

management – Basecamp, Trello, Slack

• Code & data management – BitBucket,

GitHub

• Document sharing:

DropBox, Google

Drive

• Integration and

procedures

Project management

• Based on the systems and principles that

we’ve covered, sketch the basic

information system and technologies that

can be used for citizen science project on

light pollution

• Discuss the front-end, back-end and

communication aspects

Your turn!