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Examples include Project Hotspot that is a school-based programme where students develop an understanding of four coastal species in their local area, and interact with national monitoring projects for each species that are set up in iNaturalist. The Landcare Research/Manaaki Whenua-led Garden Bird Survey runs as an annual event covering only 5 days. Momentum is maintained by a Facebook group (NZ Garden Bird Survey), where members regularly post their day-to-day avifauna observations via photos and video, pose questions to other members and share links to bird-related research or interesting articles. Timed events can also be important to the objectives of a project. For example in the Litter Intelligence project run by Sustainable Coastlines, local community groups are encouraged to complete litter surveys in their area with the support of training sessions and an online platform for entering the information they collect. Groups are encouraged to complete a survey at approximately three-monthly intervals to help create a picture of litter density changes over time. In a similar way, crowd-sourcing projects can also use defined areas as a way of attracting attention to the project, for example by engaging kaitiaki and local community groups. Examples of these place-based projects include the Coastblitz model which uses a geo-fence to define project areas. The ‘Place’ functions on iNaturalist are used to map the area of interest and generate lists of the species that are found there. | Examples include Project Hotspot that is a school-based programme where students develop an understanding of four coastal species in their local area, and interact with national monitoring projects for each species that are set up in iNaturalist. The Landcare Research/Manaaki Whenua-led Garden Bird Survey runs as an annual event covering only 5 days. Momentum is maintained by a Facebook group (NZ Garden Bird Survey), where members regularly post their day-to-day avifauna observations via photos and video, pose questions to other members and share links to bird-related research or interesting articles. Timed events can also be important to the objectives of a project. For example in the Litter Intelligence project run by Sustainable Coastlines, local community groups are encouraged to complete litter surveys in their area with the support of training sessions and an online platform for entering the information they collect. Groups are encouraged to complete a survey at approximately three-monthly intervals to help create a picture of litter density changes over time. In a similar way, crowd-sourcing projects can also use defined areas as a way of attracting attention to the project, for example by engaging kaitiaki and local community groups. Examples of these place-based projects include the Coastblitz model which uses a geo-fence to define project areas. The ‘Place’ functions on iNaturalist are used to map the area of interest and generate lists of the species that are found there. | ||
Crowd-sourcing projects may be extremely ambitious! A great NZ example is the current revision of the NZ Bird Atlas by Birds NZ which is targeting a 5-year crowd-sourcing period. The revision makes full use of Web 2.0 technology to engage participants and facilitate data capture in ways not possible two decades ago when the previous version was brought together. Social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram) provide updates on the project, while the international online repository for bird observations eBird is used to house and share the data. | Crowd-sourcing projects may be extremely ambitious! A great NZ example is the current revision of the NZ Bird Atlas by Birds NZ which is targeting a 5-year crowd-sourcing period. The revision makes full use of Web 2.0 technology to engage participants and facilitate data capture in ways not possible two decades ago when the previous version was brought together. Social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram) provide updates on the project, while the international online repository for bird observations eBird is used to house and share the data. | ||
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Revision as of 08:40, 22 August 2020
CitSci project types and NZ examples
Crowd-sourcing
Crowd-sourcing projects involve the leveraging of volunteer effort for the purpose of data collection, and they are usually conceived and designed by formal scientists to address a previously identified question [1]. Advantages of this approach include the potential to acquire data that would be expensive or logistically difficult to obtain due to factors such as the need to cover large geographical scales [2][3]. The participation and ‘ownership’ aspects of crowd sourcing projects often reflect the central role of formal researchers, for example in specifying the project objectives and data collection requirements. However, these projects may also be ‘collaborative’ or ‘co-created’ by design, demonstrating that the central characteristic of crowd-sourcing may be adapted to suit different philosophies and purposes [4]. Benefits of a crowd-sourcing project as opposed to a traditional research project can include the establishment of trust between the community and researchers. This has been clearly documented in logging research in the Western United States, where citizen science initiatives led to a convergence of values between the researchers and logging community that previously had vastly different visions for land use [5]. Crowd-sourcing projects can also help to engage the public in environmental topics and issues, and may include facilitating a sense of ownership over the issues or places involved [6].
There are a wide range of crowd-sourcing projects in NZ, most of which use mobile apps or online platforms to collect observations. In the biological monitoring space crowd-sourcing projects range from single species platforms that collect sightings of rare or threatened species e.g., for Maui Dolphins, to particular groups such as rare birds, and the collation of ad hoc biodiversity observations on online platforms such as eBird and iNaturalist. Although some crowd-sourcing projects are relatively passive and rely on volunteers to have previously discovered the project, others deploy active promotion and event or school-based formats to encourage participation.
Examples include Project Hotspot that is a school-based programme where students develop an understanding of four coastal species in their local area, and interact with national monitoring projects for each species that are set up in iNaturalist. The Landcare Research/Manaaki Whenua-led Garden Bird Survey runs as an annual event covering only 5 days. Momentum is maintained by a Facebook group (NZ Garden Bird Survey), where members regularly post their day-to-day avifauna observations via photos and video, pose questions to other members and share links to bird-related research or interesting articles. Timed events can also be important to the objectives of a project. For example in the Litter Intelligence project run by Sustainable Coastlines, local community groups are encouraged to complete litter surveys in their area with the support of training sessions and an online platform for entering the information they collect. Groups are encouraged to complete a survey at approximately three-monthly intervals to help create a picture of litter density changes over time. In a similar way, crowd-sourcing projects can also use defined areas as a way of attracting attention to the project, for example by engaging kaitiaki and local community groups. Examples of these place-based projects include the Coastblitz model which uses a geo-fence to define project areas. The ‘Place’ functions on iNaturalist are used to map the area of interest and generate lists of the species that are found there.
Crowd-sourcing projects may be extremely ambitious! A great NZ example is the current revision of the NZ Bird Atlas by Birds NZ which is targeting a 5-year crowd-sourcing period. The revision makes full use of Web 2.0 technology to engage participants and facilitate data capture in ways not possible two decades ago when the previous version was brought together. Social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram) provide updates on the project, while the international online repository for bird observations eBird is used to house and share the data.
- ↑ Bonney, R., Cooper, C. B., Dickinson, J., Kelling, S., Phillips, T., Rosenberg, K. V., & Shirk, J. (2009). Citizen Science: A Developing Tool for Expanding Science Knowledge and Scientific Literacy. Bioscience, 59(11), 977-984. doi:10.1525/bio.2009.59.11.9
- ↑ Dickinson, J. L., & Bonney, R. (2012). Citizen science: public participation in environmental research (Vol. 1). Ithaca: Comstock Pub. Associates.
- ↑ Shirk, J. L., Ballard, H. L., Wilderman, C. C., Phillips, T., Wiggins, A., Jordan, R., . . . Bonney, R. (2012). Public Participation in Scientific Research: a Framework for Deliberate Design. Ecology and Society, 17(2), 29. doi:10.5751/ES-04705-170229
- ↑ Orchard, S. (2019). Growing citizen science for conservation to support diverse project objectives and the motivations of volunteers. Pacific Conservation Biology, 25(4), 342-344. doi:10.1071/PC18011
- ↑ Fernandez-Gimenez, M. E., Ballard, H. L., & Sturtevant, V. E. (2008). Adaptive Management and Social Learning in Collaborative and Community-Based Monitoring: a Study of Five Community-Based Forestry Organizations in the western USA. Ecology and Society, 13(2), 4. doi:10.5751/ES-02400-130204
- ↑ Dickinson, J. L., Shirk, J., Bonter, D., Bonney, R., Crain, R. L., Martin, J., . . . Purcell, K. (2012). The current state of citizen science as a tool for ecological research and public engagement. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10(6), 291-297.
