Mobile Data Collection for Citizen Science · Mobile Data Collection with Open Data Kit Build,...
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Mobile Data Collection for Citizen Science Mike Dawson Conservation Education Liaison [email protected] Stephen Leard IT Analyst [email protected]
Transcript of Mobile Data Collection for Citizen Science · Mobile Data Collection with Open Data Kit Build,...
Mobile Data Collection forCitizen Science
Mike DawsonConservation Education [email protected]
Stephen LeardIT [email protected]
First things first If you -1) have an Android device2) are allowed to download appsand 3) have an internet connection
Download ODK Collect from the Google Play Store to follow along with the demo!
Thoughts from around the web
National Geographic - Though citizen science is a relatively new term, people have been participating and contributing to
scientific research for years.
Wikipedia - “Citizen science” is a fairly new termbut an old practice. Prior to the 20th century, science was often the pursuit
of gentleman scientists, amateur or self-funded researchers such as Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles
Darwin.
Cornell Lab - Arguably, the contributions of amateurs to scientific discovery stems from the days of Galileo.
Science 2.0 - …citizen science is not a modern invention, but rather something that has been occurring “for most of
recorded history.”
Citizen Science
A research collaboration between scientists and volunteers
Expands opportunities for scientific data collection, while providing
access to scientific information to community members
Appropriate for large-scale, long term data
Citizen Science
A Long History
Members of the public (i.e., non-professionals/ unpaid scientists) have been conducting scientific research for centuries!
…All over the world!
Cherry blossom flowering records in Kyoto, Japan
Citizen Science
Data collection projects designed to answer a specific scientific question.
Example: How populations change distribution over time
Citizen ScienceProjects can happen at any scale—Continental, national, state, local, etc.
Citizen Science
Sponsoring Organization Volunteers
Citizen ScienceBenefits of the Data
Describe local species diversity
Detect rare and invasive species
Suggest shifts in species diversity, range, and phenology
over time
Serve as an indicator of habitat health
Current international projects
Dragonfly Pond Watch (Sponsored by Migratory Dragonfly Partnership (MDP)
Frog Watch (Sponsored by AZA)
E-Bird (Sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Backyard Bird Count (Sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon)
Project Budburst (Sponsored by the National Phenology Network)
Local Projects
Join the Saint Louis Zoo's FrogWatch Chapter
Help with the Saint Louis Zoo’s Box Turtle Study
Wisdom of Crowd Sourcing
Why Crowd Sourcing Works
A crowd at a county fair accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged (the average was closer to the ox's true butchered weight than the estimates of most crowd members, and also closer than any of the separate estimates made by cattle experts).
Wisdom of Crowd Sourcing
# of Contributors
4,000 experts80,000 articles200 years to developAnnual Updates“8.8/10.0 Reliability”
100,000 amateurs1.6 Million articles5 years to developReal-Time Updates“8.0/10.0 Reliability”
Project Design
Model for developing a citizen science project
1. Choose a scientific question.2. Form a scientist/educator/technologist/evaluator team.3. Develop Goals/Scope of the Project4. Develop, test, and refine protocols, data forms, and educational support materials.5. Recruit participants6. Train participants.7. Accept, Analyze and Display data8. Disseminate results.9. Measure outcomes
Project DesignQuestion
Goals and Scope
Project DesignForm a Planning Group
A successful citizen science project requires a development team comprising multiple disciplines.Form a team of scientists, educators, technologists, and evaluators.
Mobile Data Collection withOpen Data Kit
Build, Collect, Combine, Explore
Stephen LeardIT [email protected]
Open Data Kit
Free and open-source
Used by hundreds of surveys and projects worldwide for field data collection
Environmental science
Public Health
Conservation projects
Supported by Google and a growing community of users
Open Source
Code is available to copy, review, and study.
Build
Collect – connect to https://yocs-citizenscience.appspot.com
Collect – download a form to start collecting data
Collect – get some data!
Collect – upload completed forms
Combine – data is uploaded to Aggregate (our site) in real-time
Explore – collected data can be sent to a sheet, map, or db
Citizen Science
NOAA Ocean service
Woods Hole
FrogWatch
iNaturalist
Zooniverse
Global Xplorer
Open Data Kit
Open Data Kit
Open Data Kit build
Getting started with Open Data Kit Collect
Working with ODK Aggregate and Google Drive
Getting started with open source using Github
Mike DawsonConservation Education [email protected]
Stephen LeardIT [email protected]
Thanks for listening!
