Citizen Scientists: Disrupting Science... In A Good Way! - Darlene Cavalier - H+ Summit @ Harvard
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Disrup’ng Science! (in a good way) Humanity + Summit @ Harvard: Rise of the Ci8zen Scien8st Darlene Cavalier Science For Ci8zens h>p://scienceforci8zens.net
description
Darlene Cavalier Science Cheerleader Citizen Scientists: Disrupting Science... In A Good Way! The field of citizen science is experiencing an unprecedented boom in popularity. Impressive numbers of people are inclined to “get their hands dirty” with science, either through recreational activities or full-fledged research projects. To take just a few examples, in the U.S. alone there are 48 million birders, half a million amateur astronomers, and another half a million volunteers who monitor the quality of our waterways. A few years ago when a citizen science project known as “Galaxy Zoo” put out a call for volunteers to analyze telescopic images online, nearly 150,000 people signed up. Not to mention the 90 million Americans who like to work on do-it-yourself projects and the newly christened “Generation Jones,” that sizable hunk of Baby Boomers who yearn to participate and be active. And there's no shortage of opportunities awaiting them now that many--but not all--scientists are taking citizen scientists seriously. “Snow Tweets” enables participants to use Twitter to add their current snow depth measurements to a real-time global map. “Firefly Watch” enlists citizen scientists of all ages to monitor the presence of backyard fireflies; their data is passed along to entomologists studying the insects’ habits. In “Project Gravestone,” volunteers gauge the weathering of tomb stones as an indicator of the acidity of rainwater. And “Solar Stormwatch,” a cousin to “Galaxy Zoo,” asks participants to help track explosions on the sun and track them across space to provide warnings for astronauts and data for solar scientists. So who are these so-called Citizen Scientists and how are they both aiding and disrupting traditional scientific research? Cavalier, aka The Science Cheerleader, and cofounder of ScienceForCitizens.net, will address the scientific and societal implications of Citizen Science. Highlights of her talk will include, but not be limited to: Demographics: Citizen scientists are, literally, everywhere, and they come in all different stripes. What defines them are their particular fields of interest. Star-gazers and water quality monitors, for example, are two different breeds. Motivations: Why would anyone volunteer to spend weekends knee-deep in cold water to track sea turtle eggs, for example? There are three common motivators almost all citizen scientists share. Data: How are scientists using this wealth of data? Fragmentation is still a challenge but some institutions have banded together to collaborate and share data. Future implications:We will likely see an entire academic discipline devoted to the field of Citizen Science or Participatory Research. While practitioners define and refine "best practices" the citizen scientists themselves are beginning to migrate from "data collectors" to policy advocates. Can/should their collective powers be harnessed to shape public policies? Darlene Cavalier is the founder of Science Cheerleader.com, a blog that promotes the involvement of citizens in science and science-related policy. She is also the cofounder of ScienceForCitizens.net, a major multi-functional Web site that encourages and enables lay people to learn about, participate in, and contribute to science through recreational activities as well as formal research. Cavalier held executive positions at Walt Disney Publishing and worked at Discover Magazine for more than a decade. She was the principal investigator of a $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant applied to promote basic research through partnerships with Disney and ABC TV. Cavalier is a former Philadelphia 76ers cheerleader and holds a Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied the role of the citizen in science. She is a writer and senior advisor to Discover Magazine, on the Steering Committee for Science Debate and is organizing an effort to launch the first-
Transcript of Citizen Scientists: Disrupting Science... In A Good Way! - Darlene Cavalier - H+ Summit @ Harvard
Disrup'ng Science!(in a good way)Humanity + Summit @ Harvard:
Rise of the Ci8zen Scien8stDarlene Cavalier
Science For Ci8zensh>p://scienceforci8zens.net
Common Misconception (among scientists)
Who are Ci8zen Scien8sts?
•50 million+ worldwide
•46% surveyed*, hold graduate degrees (na8onal avg is 9.9%**)
•Highly educated, affluent, ac8ve users of the Internet.*2009 Brownstein/Science Cheerleader survey of 150 active citizen scientists
Who are Ci8zen Scien8sts?
MOST CITIZEN SCIENTISTS ARE GEN JONERS: who have an “aching to act.”
Why volunteer for science?
1. To help safeguard or improve the environment.
2. To learn more about a subject I’m interested in.
3. To generally expand my knowledge, broaden my mind.
4. To help improve my community.
5. To help advance science.
Citizen scientists donʼt do scientific research for a living; they practice science for personal satisfaction.
Online data analysis citizen scientists
Demographics: avg age 43 yrs old; 80/20 men/women; 28% hold Masters degree+; 29% hold Bachelors
#1 reason these 250,000+ people volunteer to sort through images of galaxies?
“To contribute to research.”Source: Jordan Raddick (JHU), Galaxy Zoo survey: “Why do people
become citizen scientists?”
Why now?
Internet makes it easy to obtain and share information
Instrumentation is cheaper, more accessible
Mobile smart phones: GPS, digital photography, microscopes, sensors
Open data
Impact?Peer reviewed papers
Discoveries: Amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley, discovered a hole in Jupiter’s atmosphere, the
size of the Earth!
At least three ci'zen scien'sts played key roles in what has become known as Climategate.
Six-‐year-‐old Alyson Yates and her mom, Kate, discovered a rare nine-‐spoKed ladybug
while taking part in Cornell University’s Lost Ladybug ci'zen science project. By running DNA tests, teenagers in NYC found a new breed of cockroach and
discovered food labels lie.
Impact?White House
Increasing number of published papersField of academic study
Policy: Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology
Public Understanding of Science
Buzz
The NY Academy of Sciences: The Growth of Citizen ScienceThe New York Times: A New Kind of Big ScienceO’Reilly Report: Citizen Science and Urban SensingTreeHugger: The Big Deal with Citizen ScienceEducation.com: Citizen Science benefits to childrenSeed Magazine: Creating Citizen ScientistsCNN Citizen Science and Climate Change
And many more.
What we do
We enable regular folks to tap their inner scien8sts and improve the world.
The problem
Millions of people eager to explore science and nature can’t find the thousands of research ac8vi8es they could be par8cipa8ng in.
Our solu'on: the Project Finder
Fireflies, oil spills, the moon, your local river…
Yup, our database has a project for that.
Harnessing the power of America’s greatest resource, to improve our world.
