2. Citizen Science
Volunteer rainfall observer Rick
Grocke checks the rain gauge at
Tanami Downs cattle station in the
Northern Territory of Australia
Audubon Cal.
Scientific activities in which non-
professional scientists volunteer
to participate in data collection,
analysis and dissemination of a
scientific project.
WMO–No. 919
8. Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science
Problem Classification Visualisation &
Data collection Action
definition & basic analysis analysis
9. PhD
Postgraduate
University/College
High School
Basic School
10.
11. We need science and engineering
solutions to complex interrelated
issues
Increased demand
50% by 2030 (IEA)
Energy
Climate
Change
Food Water
Increased demand Increased demand
50% by 2030 30% by 2030
(FAO) (IFPRI)
Professor John Beddington
Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government ,2009
12.
13.
14. ‘Extreme’ Citizen Science
‘Normal’ Citizen ‘Extreme’ Citizen
Science Science
Users Educated, usually with Everyone, regardless of
some domain level of literacy
knowledge
Locations Wealthy, populated and Everywhere
popular
Role Data collection and Problem definition,
entry analysis, use outcomes
Mode of work Crowdsourcing Collaborative and
participatory science
15. Participation in Citizen Science
• Collaborative Science – problem
Level 4 ‘Extreme’
definition, data collection and analysis
Level 3 ‘Participatory • Participation in problem definition
science’ and data collection
Level 2 ‘Distributed
• Citizens as basic interpreters
Intelligence’
Level 1
• Citizens as sensors
‘Crowdsourcing’
16. Extreme Citizen Science group
• Focus on ‘Extreme’ Citizen Science (ExCiteS) –
the theory, methodologies, techniques and
tools that will allow any community, regardless
of their literacy, to start bottom-up citizen
science activity, collect the data, analyse the
results and act on the outcomes .
• In addition, develop the ‘science of citizen
science’ – understanding data quality,
participation, engagement and contribution
17. Building an Air Quality Egg
Sensors in the Egg:
• MQ-7 for Carbon Monoxide
• DHT temperature
• humidity sensor
• Nitrous Dioxide sensor
inserted/welded onto an Arduino ProtoShield –
connected via LAN to feed data to COSM
Cindy Regalado, ExCiteS
Cindy Regalado, ExCiteS Cindy Regalado, ExCiteS
18. Science has no borders
Together with the Mildmay
Community Centre community
researchers from all over London
will be initiating Extreme Citizen
Science initiatives based on the
principles of Civic Science
(questioning the state of things) Cindy Regalado, ExCiteS
and taking a DIY approach
facilitated by the Public
Laboratory for Open Technology
& Science
32. Extreme Citizen Science
• Mutual learning – learning about the issues
together with the community
• How to ensure data quality, coverage?
• What kind of research can be done when
(functional) literacy is an issue?
• Ethical issues – informed consent, reuse of
data etc.
• Cultural issues – initiatory cycles, societal roles
33. Credits
Support for the research kindly provided by:
UCL Graduate School Research Fund,
ESRC ‘Conserving Biodiversity That Matters: The Value of Brownfield Sites’ project
RGS/IBG Small Research Grant
UrbanBuzz: Building Sustainable Communities (HEFCE)
London Sustainability Exchange (LSx)
London 21 Sustainability Network
EPSRC Challenging Engineering Award ‘Extreme Citizen Science’, ‘Challenging RISK’
EPSRC Adaptable Suburbs project
EU FP7 EveryAware, Citizen Cyberlab project
Google Research Awards
Amazon Web Services Education Grants
Special thanks to the participants and the communities that work with us
And our partners: Royal Geographical Society, ESRI, Helveta and U-Blox