Citizen Science Tools Considerations for a Path Forward Science Online 2013 Raleigh, NC

1. Citizen Science Tools Considerations for a Path Forward Science Online 2013 Raleigh, NC Darlene Cavalier Darlene@SciStarter.com Robert Cheetham Cheetham@azavea.com

2. Objectives • Explore development of a unified methodology for motivation, outreach, data collection and storage that transcends individual STEM domains; • Evaluate feasibility of a flexible toolkit for building customizable research projects within a larger cloud-based framework; • Examine user interface design that will enable citizen scientists to engage in research across multiple topics of interest without having to search through and manage multiple websites.

3. Methodology Interviewed project organizers 2) Reviewed technology frameworks 3) Opened discussion on Citizen Science Community Forum

4. Macro-Trends • More data - big data • Open source • Visualization • Mobile sensors • Low cost sensors • Location-based data

5. Technology Evaluation - Data Collection ODK FormHub Cocoon Sensr (http://sensr.org) Ushahidi EpiCollect PyBossa/Crowdcrafting Zooniverse Amazon Mechanical Turk We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

6. Technology Evaluation - Sensors • Cosm ThingSpeak IOBridge Nimbits OpenRTMS - Funf OGC SensorML SOS • Chaotic, exciting environment: lots of funding and instability. We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

7. Technology Evaluation - Cloud Computing Amazon Web Services OpenStack (Rackspace or HP) Google App Engine recommend EC2 We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

8. . Projects and Platform Evaluation CitSci.org eBird National Geographic Fieldscope Nature's Notebook OPAL Indicia Wild Knowledge WildKnowledge EveryAware eBird EpiCollect iNaturalist CitSci.org Project Noah NatGeo Fieldscope Zooniverse Open Data Kit User interface, other tech evaluations in development We connect them

9. Key Gaps - Technology • (in development) • Platforms: no data collection tools that are really easy to use • No standard for data • aggregation services • Sensors: Many startups - chaotic environment • Needed: • general purpose hardware platform for sensors, • flexible sensor hardware that uses bluetooth to communicate with devices that are connected to a network We connect them “A single key fob sized device that works as a Weather Station, Breathalyzer, Air Quality Monitor, Stud-finder, Gas detector, non-contact thermometer, color sensor, light meter, voltmeter and more…” And it’s networked. Successful KickStarter campaign.

10. Key Gaps - for Scientists • Simple, low cost data collection setup that doesn't require a lot of technical expertise • - Generate iPhone and Android apps, painlessly • Recruit (attract/retain)participants • Acknowledge contributions - motivations and incentives • Outreach and marketing • Data review, cleansing tools • -Data quality assessment - confidence/verification • -Visualization of data We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

11. Key Gaps - for Scientists • Affordable, scalable, tiered subscription based pricing model. • Example might be equivalent of CartoDB for citizen science. • Other: Assemble qualitative data about participants? Archive and retrieve data? • Statistical Analysis (ability to submit R scripts?) Share data with other projects? • Crowdfund development of projects on same platform??

12. Key Gaps - for Participants Unified authentication across multiple projects Find interesting projects - near me Sense of community Privacy - fundamental conflict between sharing data and privacy Visualization of collected data We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

13. March 1, 2013 EXPECTED OUTCOMES: All evaluation and assessment activities will be documented in two white papers and published on the web such that academic, nonprofit and government organizations can use it to support their own citizen science, civic engagement, public safety and crisis response . Build towards a technology blueprint (with wireframes) for a cohesive, cross-disciplinary citizen science platform. We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

14. References • “Guide to citizen science" and "Understanding Environmental Monitoring,"from the UK Environmental Observation Framework and London Natural History Museum. • Franzoni and Sauermann paper on Crowd Science in Social Science Research Network • OPAL Community Environment Report • Kim, Mankoff and Paulos paper on the Sensr framework • CitizenScience.org’s Community Forum:http://www.citizenscience.org/community/blog/2012/11/09/what-tools-and-technologies-are-powering-new-frontiers-for-your-citizen-science-projects/ • Check Scio13 wiki for additional links to resources after 2/1. We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

15. Acknowledgments • Project representatives • Cornell’s Citizen Science Community Forum • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation • Full report will available March 1, 2013. • Darlene Cavalier Robert Cheetham • Founder, SciStarter.com CEO, Azavea • Darlene@SciStarter.comCheetham@Azavea.com • @SciStarter @Azavea We connect them Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”