Partners in Citizen Science: Urban Ecology Center and...
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Partners in Citizen Science: Urban Ecology Center and CitSci.org address data management, quality and stewardship. Citizen Science, as a field and community, has experienced rapid growth in the number of organizations utilizing volunteers to advance science. The Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, WI, engages citizen scientists, with goals of producing high quality, publishable, volunteer- driven research while providing data that adheres to quality standards and is easily accessible. As the Center's projects grow, so does the need to manage increasing amounts of data with limited resources. Partner- ing with CitSci.org, a Colorado State University project, provides a flex- ible web-based portal to host monitoring projects and optimizes the Center's limited resources. One of the Center's goals is to engage Citi- zen Scientists in all aspects of the scientific process. CitSci.org allows the Center to empower its volunteers to not only enter data they collect, but also to summarize and visualize their efforts. In addition, the Center can create and customize its profile and share research with the public using Citsci.org. This partnership addresses the challenges of data qual- ity and stewardship and provides the opportunity for volunteers to be involved in all aspects of the data lifecycle, paving the way for other or- ganizations to maximize the power of their data. The Urban Ecology Center, a non-profit environmental education and community center in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin manages a variety of citizen science monitoring projects including bird, mammal, invertebrate, reptile, amphibian, and vegetation surveys and restoration projects. The goals of the Urban Ecology Center’s citizen science program include: - bridging the gap between community and academia; -increasing scientific literacy in the community; and, -informing the Center’s land stew- ards and researchers on how best to create, restore and manage healthy natural areas in urban settings. CitSci.Org, developed by the Natu- ral Resources Ecology Lab at Colo- rado State University, promotes citizen involvement in scientific research and provides tools and resources that allow organizations to customize their scientific procedures, including managing project members, building custom data sheets, analyzing collected data, and gathering feedback. VOLUNTEERS DATA MANAGEMENT BACKGROUND LOCATION The Urban Ecology Center aims to produce high-quality, publishable research that is driven by our volunteer corps. To be useful to researchers and community members, the data must adhere to rigorous quality standards and be easily accessible to all. Partner- ing with CitSci.org provides our volunteers a way to to enter data using customiz- able forms for snakes, mam- mals, frogs and toads, and turtles (right). The Urban Ecology Center has a strong volunteer coordination department which promotes recurring involvement and volunteer input. The Center encourages volunteers to participate in the data management end of the monitoring projects. CitSci.org provides the ability for volunteers to participate in the entire data cycle beyond collecting data, including entering data into the data portal for each monitoring project, creating weekly reports showcasing the data collected that week, and participating in the analysis for the annual Research and Citizen Science report. Anne Reis 1 , Greg Newman 2 , Jennifer Callaghan 1 and Tim Vargo 1 1 Urban Ecology Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; 2 Colorado State University, Natural Resource Ecological Laboratory, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA The Urban Ecology Center man- ages a network of three urban green spaces in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as field stations for Citizen Science, and outdoor classrooms for environmen- tal education. They are: Riverside Park and the Rotary Centennial Arboretum (40 acres), Washington Park (124 acres) Menomonee Valley's Airline Yards and Stormwater Park (35 acres) WORKSHOPS In addition to monitoring work- shops, the Center now incorporates a data management workshop to teach volunteers on how to use the CitSci.org data portal. Throughout the year, the Center provides weekly updates on opportunities for data management and one-on-one in- struction to use the data portal. ABSTRACT REFERENCES CitSci.org allows volun- teers to visualize the data they collect and enter using the statistics function. This will help in the creation of weekly, bi-monthly and annual reports for the Re- search and Citizen Science program at the Urban Ecol- ogy Center. In addition, re- searchers and volunteers alike will be able to investi- gate long-term trends in the various projects (left). Newman, G., J. Graham, A. Crall and M. Lai- turi. 2011. The art and science of multi-scale citi- zen science support. Ecological Informatics. Vol 6 (3-4): 217-227. Thank you to the Wisconsin Citizen Based Moni- toring Program for the funds to implement this project. CitSci.org maps provide the ability to view the Urban Ecology Center project data and the data of others, allow- ing for the creation of species distribu- tion maps and to add additional surveys or species sightings (right). All research- ers working in this network of field stations are required to open up as much of their research pro- cesses as pos- sible to Citizen Science volunteers, and since 2000, the Urban Ecology Center has involved thousands of volunteers in field re- search.
Transcript of Partners in Citizen Science: Urban Ecology Center and...
Partners in Citizen Science: Urban Ecology Center and CitSci.org address data management, quality and stewardship.
Citizen Science, as a �eld and community, has experienced rapid growth in the number of organizations utilizing volunteers to advance science. The Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, WI, engages citizen scientists, with goals of producing high quality, publishable, volunteer-driven research while providing data that adheres to quality standards and is easily accessible. As the Center's projects grow, so does the need to manage increasing amounts of data with limited resources. Partner-ing with CitSci.org, a Colorado State University project, provides a �ex-ible web-based portal to host monitoring projects and optimizes the Center's limited resources. One of the Center's goals is to engage Citi-zen Scientists in all aspects of the scienti�c process. CitSci.org allows the Center to empower its volunteers to not only enter data they collect, but also to summarize and visualize their e�orts. In addition, the Center can create and customize its pro�le and share research with the public using Citsci.org. This partnership addresses the challenges of data qual-ity and stewardship and provides the opportunity for volunteers to be involved in all aspects of the data lifecycle, paving the way for other or-ganizations to maximize the power of their data.
The Urban Ecology Center, a non-pro�t environmental education and community center inMilwaukee County, Wisconsin manages a variety of citizen science monitoring projects including bird, mammal, invertebrate, reptile, amphibian, and vegetation surveys and restoration projects. The goals of the Urban Ecology Center’s citizen science program include:- bridging the gap between community and academia; -increasing scienti�c literacy in the community; and, -informing the Center’s land stew-ards and researchers on how best to create, restore and manage healthy natural areas in urban settings. CitSci.Org, developed by the Natu-ral Resources Ecology Lab at Colo-rado State University, promotes citizen involvement in scienti�c research and provides tools and resources that allow organizations to customize their scienti�c procedures, including managing project members, building custom data sheets, analyzing collected data, and gathering feedback.
VOLUNTEERSDATA MANAGEMENT
BACKGROUND
LOCATION
The Urban Ecology Center aims to produce high-quality, publishable research that is driven by our volunteer corps. To be useful to researchers and community members, the data must adhere to rigorous quality standards and be easily accessible to all. Partner-ing with CitSci.org provides our volunteers a way to to enter data using customiz-able forms for snakes, mam-mals, frogs and toads, and turtles (right).
The Urban Ecology Center has a strong volunteer coordination department which promotes recurring involvement and volunteer input. The Center encourages volunteers to participate in the data management end of the monitoring projects. CitSci.org provides the ability for volunteers to participate in the entire data cycle beyond collecting data, including entering data into the data portal for each monitoring project, creating weekly reports showcasing the data collected that week, and participating in the analysis for the annual Research and Citizen Science report.
Anne Reis1, Greg Newman2, Jennifer Callaghan1 and Tim Vargo1
1Urban Ecology Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; 2Colorado State University, Natural Resource Ecological Laboratory, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
The Urban Ecology Center man-ages a network of three urban green spaces in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as �eld stations for Citizen Science, and outdoor classrooms for environmen-tal education. They are:
Riverside Park and the Rotary Centennial Arboretum (40 acres),
Washington Park (124 acres)
Menomonee Valley's Airline Yards and Stormwater Park (35 acres)
WORKSHOPS
In addition to monitoring work-shops, the Center now incorporates a data management workshop to teach volunteers on how to use the CitSci.org data portal. Throughout the year, the Center provides weekly updates on opportunities for data management and one-on-one in-struction to use the data portal.
ABSTRACT
REFERENCES
CitSci.org allows volun-teers to visualize the data they collect and enter using the statistics function. This will help in the creation of weekly, bi-monthly and annual reports for the Re-search and Citizen Science program at the Urban Ecol-ogy Center. In addition, re-searchers and volunteers alike will be able to investi-gate long-term trends in the various projects (left).
Newman, G., J. Graham, A. Crall and M. Lai-turi. 2011. The art and science of multi-scale citi-zen science support. Ecological Informatics. Vol 6 (3-4): 217-227.
Thank you to the Wisconsin Citizen Based Moni-toring Program for the funds to implement this project.
CitSci.org maps provide the ability to view the Urban Ecology Center project data and the data of others, allow-ing for the creation of species distribu-tion maps and to add additional surveys or species sightings (right).
All research-ers working in this network of �eld stations are required to open up as much of their research pro-cesses as pos-sible to Citizen Sciencevolunteers, and since 2000, the Urban Ecology Center has involved thousands of volunteers in �eld re-search.
