CitSci.org: Cyber-infrastructure support for grassroots conservation, citizen science, and community- based monitoring Greg Newman 1, Alycia Crall 2, Russell

CitSci.org:Cyber-infrastructure support for grassroots

conservation, citizen science, and community-based monitoring

Greg Newman1, Alycia Crall2, Russell Scarpino1, Jim Graham3, and Brian Fauver1

1Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University2University of Wisconsin, Madison and Rutgers University

3Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University

September 11, 2012

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basic tenets

Conference on PPSR • August 4-5, 2012

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand”

~ Chinese Proverb

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basic tenets


“Learn from the masses, and then teach them”

~ Mao Tse-Tung

work with them

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basic tenets


“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery”

~ Mark van Doran

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keys to success


Volunteers, scientists, and mavens!

project coordinators!

volunteers! scientists

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today


countless projects

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today


volumes of data

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today


pre-defined topics

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but what if…


you want to monitor something else?

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what’s needed


“a data management system flexible enough to support the formation of new PPSR projects; a system where anyone, anywhere can create new projects themselves”

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citsci.org


We developed a flexible enterprise-level system (www.citsci.org) to facilitate the creation of new PPSR projects, encourage cross-project synergy, and support project data management needs

• website platform supporting citizen science• bottom-up & top-down approaches• started in 2008

• support full spectrum of PPSR needs

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Manage Members

Create Projects

Build Data Sheets

Collect Data

Analyze Data

Interpret DataGet Feedback

Share Results

www.citsci.org


Begin with the end in mind

Manage Roles

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Market Project Ask

Questions

Manage Members

ID MethodsID Protocols ID Scientists Develop

TrainingsBuild Data Sheets

Buy Burritos!

Begin with the end in mind Order

SuppliesCollect Data

Analyze Data

SummarizeVisualize

Interpret Data

Write Metadata

Give Surveys

Share Results

• website platform supporting citizen science• bottom-up & top-down approaches• started in 2008

• support full spectrum of PPSR needs


Train Members

Do QA/QC

Create Graphs

Run Statistics

Summative Evaluation Get Feedback

Formative EvaluationCreate Projects

Create Logic Model

www.citsci.org

create projects

14Conference on PPSR • August 4-5, 2012

What are your goals, objectives, and

research questions?

What do you want your members to do? Enter data?

See photos? Provide feedback? Perform analyses?

customize project pages


customize project pages


Manage Members

Manage Tabs

Show/Hide Make ActiveChange Position

serve as gatekeepers


Inbox - Pending Requests

Send Email

Post LinksPost Trainings

create datasheets

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Add Species

Add Attributes

Add Site Characteristics


Manage Custom Data Sheets

(Create, Edit, Print)

specify attributes

• growing, yet vetted attributes• species attributes

• height, weight, sex, percent cover, etc.• site characteristics

• abiotic– elevation, slope, aspect, percent nitrogen, percent sand etc.

• biotic– percent litter, percent lichen, etc.

• standardized, interoperable, and flexible

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“if you want to measure it, you can measure it... ...but be sure someone else is not already measuring it!"


analyze data


Dependent Variable (y) Independent Variable

(x)

analyze data

• today• automated charts (e.g., species composition)

• tomorrow• select “response variable” and plot against time• select x and y variables and analyze them• create groups and compare them

• future• develop open APIs, enable R Scripts, etc.• animate and visualize


get feedback


View Real-Time Results

Design Questions

get feedback

• program evaluation• formative and summative possibilities• create your own evaluations to give to your

participants

• coming soon• integrate vetted Cornell Lab DEVISE project

instruments to evaluate participant scientific and environmental literacy


outcomes

• 40+ projects• some 7000+ Observations• report to state herpetologist• peer-reviewed publications• hundreds of participants• scalable

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Invasive bullfrog outcompeting

native: Plains SpadefootWoodhouse Toad


“stony’s story”

• front range pika project• 59 participants• 117 observations• standardized protocol

• volunteers collect data about American pika (Ochotona princeps) and their habitat in high altitude sites to assess impacts of climate change on populations across Colorado

• yielded two comparable efforts: PikaNET (San Juan Mountains) and cascades pika watch


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breed success


Elements of successful PPSR online projects

PPSR Projects

Shared Praxis Amplified Collective Intelligence

Restructured Expert Attention

* Adapted from Michael Neilsen. 2012. Reinventing Discovery.

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motivate


what motivates citizens to participate?

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motivate


let them share ownership

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motivate


prompt them along the way

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motivate


reward and respect them

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reward


are rewards effective?

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reward


communicate and share results

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reward


show progress

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reward


give attribution

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amplify


how can we harness these motivations for our mutual benefit?

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amplify


use shared vocabularies

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amplify


adopt common protocols

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amplify


encourage standards, yet be flexible

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succeed


what types of organizational structures, protocols, and materials

have proven effective?

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succeed


train-the-trainer

the process of training a coordinator who in turn trains volunteers

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succeed


crowd-sourcing

the process of outsourcing tasks to a distributed group of people

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succeed


collaborative, co-created, contributory

so what’s next?

• add event management module• improve online training support• create volunteer tracking module• improve project social marketing abilities• integrate w/ SciStarter to promote projects


continue to support PPSR project needs…

so what’s next?

• develop customized analysis modules• select x and y variables• select statistical analyses• define treatment groups

• add customized reports modules• develop mobile applications• add blog post features


develop new features…

so what’s next?

• encourage synergy / inter-operability• provide data mgmt., visualization, and

analysis services• promote standardization where applicable• create API’s for third party integration• develop web services for data exchange


advance informatics capabilities…

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final thoughts


“Conservation ecology requires … research in what might be called applicable science - a mix of theory, basic research, and illuminating applied examples. It requires analysis and examples of novel ways to develop incentives such that individual self-interests better reinforce [the] social goals of conservation … [and] … it requires experiments in novel ways to develop citizen science as an antidote to the power… that now so distorts the use of information...””

~ C.S. Holling (1998)

acknowledgements

• National Science Foundation• Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory / CSU• Dr. Alycia Crall• Dr. Jim Graham• My Team

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Project Coordinators


Project Volunteers Project Scientists

Documents

CitSci.org: Cyber-infrastructure support for grassroots conservation, citizen science, and community- based monitoring Greg Newman 1, Alycia Crall 2, Russell