Here are a few excerpts from the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences (AAPS; formerly the Citizen Science Association) January 2025 newsletter (received via email),
AI and the Future of Citizen Science: event and special collection
WEBINAR: Thursday, February 6 [2025], 12pm US Eastern Time
A conversation with editors and leaders
In December we announced a new special collection on the Future of Artificial Intelligence and Citizen Science. This open-access special collection of 12 papers explores the potential of AI coupled with citizen science in accelerating data processing, expanding project reach, enhancing data quality, and broadening engagement opportunities.
To help orient you to the themes covered in the special collection, issue editors Lucy Fortson, Kevin Crowston, Laure Kloetzer, and Marisa Ponti will join us for a special conversation with Marc Kuchner, Citizen Science Officer, NASA, February 6, 12pm ET. This event will go beyond a recap of papers presented in the special collection, and invite panelists to share their thoughts and perspectives on ethical considerations, challenges, and future directions.
Call for Abstracts (closing soon): Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums
A call for abstracts is open for a forthcoming Special Collection in Citizen Science: Theory and Practice which will explore galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) participatory science efforts in order to support and empower the global field of participatory sciences. By sharing innovative practices and advancing theories, this collection will contribute to the continued refinement of best practices in these vital ‘third spaces’ and beyond. Issue overview and submission deadlines and logistics are available on the AAPS website. Abstracts accepted through 28 February 2025.
More events from the AAPS-partnered 2025 NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series:
Artificial Intelligence, Open Data, Funding, and more
The NASA Citizen Science Leaders Series is a professional learning service for those leading, hoping to lead, or wanting to learn more about NASA Citizen Science. The following events are open to the public.
Artificial Intelligence: This event, in collaboration with AAPS, features the issue editors from the new Special Collection sharing their key takeaways and hot takes on the topic.Register here. [February 6, 2025] Noon ET start.
Artificial Intelligence in practice: On February 20 [2025] the Zooniverse’s Dr. Laura Trouille will join us to share new functionality of the Zooniverse platform, including ways that Zooniverse projects are adjusting to work with new Artificial Intelligence/ machine learning tools. Register here.Noon ET start.
Open Data Management plans and long-term archives of citizen science project data: On March 6 [2025] Dr. Steven Crawford who leads NASA’s Open Science work will discuss these issues and more. Register here.3 pm ET start.
Funding: On March 13 [2025] explore landscape of different NASA proposal calls and hear insights on how solicitations are written, how proposals are reviewed, and how funding is handled. Register here.3 pm ET start.
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Members in AAPS Connect can get instant notices when opportunities are posted, often directly from the source. Interested in direct networking with field leaders and being the first to hear of important jobs, grants, and more? Become a member of AAPS (tiered pricing costs as little as $0).
Jobs:
iNaturalist is hiring a Senior Communications Manager responsible for delivering engaging, visual communications about iNaturalist to reach and engage new audiences. Full details here.
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) is hiring an Education coordinator to support activities related to REEF Ocean Explorers and Discovery programming, including K-12 and lifelong learning education and public outreach programs. Full details available here.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology is hiring an Extension Associate to as the thought leader and team leader for Youth and Community Engagement for the Lab both nationally and in international settings, with key responsibilities in strategic planning, partnership development, implementation, and evaluation of impact. Full details available here.
This October 28, 2024 news item on phys.org takes a little while before explaining what ‘extreme’ means in the context of citizen science, Note: A link has been removed,
Besides helping to collect samples or spot butterflies for research projects—non-professionals can now conduct actual laboratory work alongside professional researchers. Together with Danish high schools, the University of Copenhagen has shown that “extreme citizen science” doesn’t just strengthen student motivation for science, but also provides a unique contribution to the monitoring of Denmark’s marine environment.
Registering butterflies and rare mushrooms, collecting water samples or reporting tick bites has become a widespread phenomenon for so-called citizen scientists who voluntarily contribute to various research projects. Citizen science typically involves everyday people helping to collect data or samples that are then analyzed by professional researchers.
Now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark, in collaboration with the Danish National Union of Upper Secondary School Teachers, have gone a step further by “promoting” students to become “real” researchers. The work is published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
In a project that monitors Denmark’s marine environment, high school students don’t just collect DNA samples from Danish fjords, but also conduct DNA analyses in the laboratory [emphasis mine].
Previoulsy, high school classes could visit a laboratory at the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen to conduct parts of analyses under the guidance of researchers. But now, the project has set up local laboratories at high schools in both Herning and Hjørring, Jutland where students can independently conduct lab work with their teachers. This is known as ‘extreme citizen science.’ [emphases mine]
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Student in the lab One of the participating high school students in the lab (credit: Frederik Wolff Nisbeth Teglhus)
“Extreme citizen science is the idea that the role of a researcher becomes ever smaller. The unique and ‘extreme’ aspect is that a larger part of the research process, both fieldwork and lab work, is now handed over to high school students. We were excited to see if it would work and have now seen that it does so exceptionally well,” says project leader Anders P. Tøttrup, Associate Professor of Citizen Science at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
An eye-opener to a new world
The participating high school classes, who come from other Danish high schools in addition to Herning and Hjørring, have collected water samples from Limfjord and other fjords, filtered them for DNA, and conducted PCR analyses of their samples in local laboratories. The goal was to find DNA from specific species such as eel, perch, round goby, warty comb jelly and the toxic algae, Alexandrium ostenfeldii.
According to Daniel Andersen Woo Shing Hai, a biology teacher at Hjørring High School, the project offers something extra for both students and teachers:
“For many students, it’s a big deal to be part of this and an eye-opener to a whole new world. Being out there collecting actual DNA samples and then coming into a real DNA lab and getting that lab feel like you see on TV shows is something that, in my experience, motivates them. I also think that it can inspire them to study biology or science after high school,” says Daniel Andersen Woo Shing Hai.
He adds that there’s something special to gain for teachers as well:
“It’s rewarding to work with cutting-edge developments in biology. Instead of always receiving five to ten-year-old information and then passing it on, one actually plays a part in the production of results that will be published by universities. Plus, as a teacher, it brings subject matter to life — as opposed to just running an experiment for the sake of it, it can be used in a real-world context.”
Even though high school students are the ones wearing the lab coats, there’s no compromise on research quality, emphasizes Frederik Leerhøi, one of research paper’s lead authors and an academic officer at the museum:
“We don’t cut corners on quality. On the contrary, all samples attain a standard that the scientific community accepts as valid results. This is achieved by ensuring that each student runs control tests and by subjecting our results to various algorithms to ensure for their reliability.”
Great potential to improve environmental monitoring
Among other things, the scientific results of the project demonstrate that the round goby, an invasive fish species, and toxic Alexandrium ostenfeldii algae have both spread widely in Denmark. Indeed, the round goby had not previously been registered in Limfjord.
“The method seems quite effective in detecting many species — these algae for example, which we know very little about in Denmark. Even though they can cause shellfish poisoning and are potentially dangerous to both animals and humans, we barely monitor them. So, we want to raise awareness that this DNA method can be used to monitor toxic algae and many other species in our marine environment — possibly in collaboration with high schools,” says Frederik Leerhøi.
The researchers are working to make use of the data and have entered an agreement with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, which will incorporate the project’s data into the national reporting to the EU on invasive species.
“We hope that this setup inspires our international colleagues to do something similar in their countries because it’s plug-and-play, in that DNA analyses can be applied to any species or group of species you’re interested in,” says Anders P. Tøttrup.
According to the researchers, extreme citizen science can make a real difference in the monitoring of marine biodiversity:
“This has great potential to improve our monitoring and thus the conservation of our marine environment, which is generally in poor shape. We don’t monitor nature very well in Denmark today as doing so is resource intense. However, projects like this can be an effective way to collect data from large parts of the country while also motivating young people to engage with and develop an interest in science,” concludes Tøttrup.
The researchers hope to expand the project in such a way that DNA laboratories are established in more Danish high schools.
FACTS: ABOUT THE PROJECT
The citizen science project DNA & Life has run since 2017. The ‘extreme’ version, Extreme DNA & Life, began in 2022.
A total of 3,300 high school students and 140 teachers have collected samples between 2017-2023. The samples cover most of the Danish coastline and fjord systems.
Each biology teacher in the project has completed a course on using lab equipment and methods correctly. After the course, teachers can consult with researchers at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and participate in online webinars.
The project is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
The research article about the project is published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
The authors of the research paper are: Frederik Leerhøi, Maria Rytter, Marie Rathcke Lillemark, Jørgen Olesen, Peter Rask Møller, Nina Lundholm, and Anders P. Tøttrup from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen; Morten Tange Olsen from the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen; Steen Wilhelm Knudsen from NIVA Denmark; Brian Randeris from Silkeborg High School/The Danish Biology Teachers’ Association; and Christian Rix from Rødkilde High School/The Danish Biology Teachers’ Association.
Learn more about the project and find out how to get involved at www.DNApåFORKANT.dk
First, thank you to anyone who’s dropped by to read any of my posts. Second, I didn’t quite catch up on my backlog in what was then the new year (2024) despite my promises. (sigh) I will try to publish my drafts in a more timely fashion but I start this coming year as I did 2024 with a backlog of two to three months. This may be my new normal.
As for now, here’s an overview of FrogHeart’s 2024. The posts that follow are loosely organized under a heading but many of them could fit under other headings as well. After my informal review, there’s some material on foretelling the future as depicted in an exhibition, “Oracles, Omens and Answers,” at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
Human enhancement: prosthetics, robotics, and more
Within a year or two of starting this blog I created a tag ‘machine/flesh’ to organize information about a number of converging technologies such as robotics, brain implants, and prosthetics that could alter our concepts of what it means to be human. The larger category of human enhancement functions in much the same way also allowing a greater range of topics to be covered.
Here are some of the 2024 human enhancement and/or machine/flesh stories on this blog,
As for anyone who’s curious about hydrogels, there’s this from an October 20, 2016 article by D.C.Demetre for ScienceBeta, Note: A link has been removed,
Hydrogels, materials that can absorb and retain large quantities of water, could revolutionise medicine. Our bodies contain up to 60% water, but hydrogels can hold up to 90%.
It is this similarity to human tissue that has led researchers to examine if these materials could be used to improve the treatment of a range of medical conditions including heart disease and cancer.
These days hydrogels can be found in many everyday products, from disposable nappies and soft contact lenses to plant-water crystals. But the history of hydrogels for medical applications started in the 1960s.
Scientists developed artificial materials with the ambitious goal of using them in permanent contact applications , ones that are implanted in the body permanently.
For anyone who wants a more technical explanation, there’s the Hydrogel entry on Wikipedia.
Science education and citizen science
Where science education is concerned I’m seeing some innovative approaches to teaching science, which can include citizen science. As for citizen science (also known as, participatory science) I’ve been noticing heightened interest at all age levels.
It’s been another year where artificial intelligence (AI) has absorbed a lot of energy from nearly everyone. I’m highlighting the more unusual AI stories I’ve stumbled across,
As you can see, I’ve tucked in two tangentially related stories, one which references a neuromorphic computing story ((see my Neuromorphic engineering category or search for ‘memristors’ in the blog search engine for more on brain-like computing topics) and the other is intellectual property. There are many, many more stories on these topics
Art/science (or art/sci or sciart)
It’s a bit of a surprise to see how many art/sci stories were published here this year, although some might be better described as art/tech stories.
There may be more 2024 art/sci stories but the list was getting long. In addition to searching for art/sci on the blog search engine, you may want to try data sonification too.
Moving off planet to outer space
This is not a big interest of mine but there were a few stories,
I expect to be delighted, horrified, thrilled, and left shaking my head by science stories in 2025. Year after year the world of science reveals a world of wonder.
More mundanely, I can state with some confidence that my commentary (mentioned in the future-oriented subsection of my 2023 review and 2024 look forward) on Quantum Potential, a 2023 report from the Council of Canadian Academies, will be published early in this new year as I’ve almost finished writing it.
Some questions are hard to answer and always have been. Does my beloved love me back? Should my country go to war? Who stole my goats?
Questions like these have been asked of diviners around the world throughout history – and still are today. From astrology and tarot to reading entrails, divination comes in a wide variety of forms.
Yet they all address the same human needs. They promise to tame uncertainty, help us make decisions or simply satisfy our desire to understand.
Anthropologists and historians like us study divination because it sheds light on the fears and anxieties of particular cultures, many of which are universal. Our new exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Oracles, Omens & Answers, explores these issues by showcasing divination techniques from around the world.
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1. Spider divination
In Cameroon, Mambila spider divination (ŋgam dù) addresses difficult questions to spiders or land crabs that live in holes in the ground.
Asking the spiders a question involves covering their hole with a broken pot and placing a stick, a stone and cards made from leaves around it. The diviner then asks a question in a yes or no format while tapping the enclosure to encourage the spider or crab to emerge. The stick and stone represent yes or no, while the leaf cards, which are specially incised with certain meanings, offer further clarification.
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2. Palmistry
Reading people’s palms (palmistry) is well known as a fairground amusement, but serious forms of this divination technique exist in many cultures. The practice of reading the hands to gather insights into a person’s character and future was used in many ancient cultures across Asia and Europe.
In some traditions, the shape and depth of the lines on the palm are richest in meaning. In others, the size of the hands and fingers are also considered. In some Indian traditions, special marks and symbols appearing on the palm also provide insights.
Palmistry experienced a huge resurgence in 19th-century England and America, just as the science of fingerprints was being developed. If you could identify someone from their fingerprints, it seemed plausible to read their personality from their hands.
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3. Bibliomancy
If you want a quick answer to a difficult question, you could try bibliomancy. Historically, this DIY [do-it-yourself] divining technique was performed with whatever important books were on hand.
Throughout Europe, the works of Homer or Virgil were used. In Iran, it was often the Divan of Hafiz, a collection of Persian poetry. In Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions, holy texts have often been used, though not without controversy.
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4. Astrology
Astrology exists in almost every culture around the world. As far back as ancient Babylon, astrologers have interpreted the heavens to discover hidden truths and predict the future.
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5. Calendrical divination
Calendars have long been used to divine the future and establish the best times to perform certain activities. In many countries, almanacs still advise auspicious and inauspicious days for tasks ranging from getting a haircut to starting a new business deal.
In Indonesia, Hindu almanacs called pawukon [calendar] explain how different weeks are ruled by different local deities. The characteristics of the deities mean that some weeks are better than others for activities like marriage ceremonies.
6 December 2024 – 27 April 2025 ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library
The Bodleian Libraries’ new exhibition, Oracles, Omens and Answers, will explore the many ways in which people have sought answers in the face of the unknown across time and cultures. From astrology and palm reading to weather and public health forecasting, the exhibition demonstrates the ubiquity of divination practices, and humanity’s universal desire to tame uncertainty, diagnose present problems, and predict future outcomes.
Through plagues, wars and political turmoil, divination, or the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown, has remained an integral part of society. Historically, royals and politicians would consult with diviners to guide decision-making and incite action. People have continued to seek comfort and guidance through divination in uncertain times — the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in apps enabling users to generate astrological charts or read the Yijing [I Ching], alongside a growth in horoscope and tarot communities on social media such as ‘WitchTok’. Many aspects of our lives are now dictated by algorithmic predictions, from e-health platforms to digital advertising. Scientific forecasters as well as doctors, detectives, and therapists have taken over many of the societal roles once held by diviners. Yet the predictions of today’s experts are not immune to criticism, nor can they answer all our questions.
Curated by Dr Michelle Aroney, whose research focuses on early modern science and religion, and Professor David Zeitlyn, an expert in the anthropology of divination, the exhibition will take a historical-anthropological approach to methods of prophecy, prediction and forecasting, covering a broad range of divination methods, including astrology, tarot, necromancy, and spider divination.
Dating back as far as ancient Mesopotamia, the exhibition will show us that the same kinds of questions have been asked of specialist practitioners from around the world throughout history. What is the best treatment for this illness? Does my loved one love me back? When will this pandemic end? Through materials from the archives of the Bodleian Libraries alongside other collections in Oxford, the exhibition demonstrates just how universally human it is to seek answers to difficult questions.
Highlights of the exhibition include: oracle bones from Shang Dynasty China (ca. 1250-1050 BCE); an Egyptian celestial globe dating to around 1318; a 16th-century armillary sphere from Flanders, once used by astrologers to place the planets in the sky in relation to the Zodiac; a nineteenth-century illuminated Javanese almanac; and the autobiography of astrologer Joan Quigley, who worked with Nancy and Ronald Reagan in the White House for seven years. The casebooks of astrologer-physicians in 16th- and 17th-century England also offer rare insights into the questions asked by clients across the social spectrum, about their health, personal lives, and business ventures, and in some cases the actions taken by them in response.
The exhibition also explores divination which involves the interpretation of patterns or clues in natural things, with the idea that natural bodies contain hidden clues that can be decrypted. Some diviners inspect the entrails of sacrificed animals (known as ‘extispicy’), as evidenced by an ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet describing the observation of patterns in the guts of birds. Others use human bodies, with palm readers interpreting characters and fortunes etched in their clients’ hands. A sketch of Oscar Wilde’s palms – which his palm reader believed indicated “a great love of detail…extraordinary brain power and profound scholarship” – shows the revival of palmistry’s popularity in 19th century Britain.
The exhibition will also feature a case study of spider divination practised by the Mambila people of Cameroon and Nigeria, which is the research specialism of curator Professor David Zeitlyn, himself a Ŋgam dù diviner. This process uses burrowing spiders or land crabs to arrange marked leaf cards into a pattern, which is read by the diviner. The display will demonstrate the methods involved in this process and the way in which its results are interpreted by the card readers. African basket divination has also been observed through anthropological research, where diviners receive answers to their questions in the form of the configurations of thirty plus items after they have been tossed in the basket.
Dr Michelle Aroney and Professor David Zeitlyn, co-curators of the exhibition, say:
Every day we confront the limits of our own knowledge when it comes to the enigmas of the past and present and the uncertainties of the future. Across history and around the world, humans have used various techniques that promise to unveil the concealed, disclosing insights that offer answers to private or shared dilemmas and help to make decisions. Whether a diviner uses spiders or tarot cards, what matters is whether the answers they offer are meaningful and helpful to their clients. What is fun or entertainment for one person is deadly serious for another.
Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s [a nickname? Bodleian Libraries were founded by Sir Thomas Bodley] Librarian, said:
People have tried to find ways of predicting the future for as long as we have had recorded history. This exhibition examines and illustrates how across time and culture, people manage the uncertainty of everyday life in their own way. We hope that through the extraordinary exhibits, and the scholarship that brings them together, visitors to the show will appreciate the long history of people seeking answers to life’s biggest questions, and how people have approached it in their own unique way.
The exhibition will be accompanied by the book Divinations, Oracles & Omens, edited by Michelle Aroney and David Zeitlyn, which will be published by Bodleian Library Publishing on 5 December 2024.
Courtesy: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
I’m not sure why the preceding image is used to illustrate the exhibition webpage but I find it quite interesting. Should you be in Oxford, UK and lucky enough to visit the exhibition, there are a few more details on the Oracles, Omens and Answers event webpage, Note: There are 26 Bodleian Libraries at Oxford and the exhibition is being held in the Weston Library,
EXHIBITION
Oracles, Omens and Answers
6 December 2024 – 27 April 2025
ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library
Free admission, no ticket required
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Note: This exhibition includes a large continuous projection of spider divination practice, including images of the spiders in action.
Exhibition tours
Oracles, Omens and Answers exhibition tours are available on selected Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1–1.45pm and are open to all.
Pollinator Pathmaker Eden Project Edition. Photo Royston Hunt. Courtesy Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Ltd
I suppose you could call this a kind of citizen science as well as an art project. A September 11, 2024 news item on phys.org describes a new scientific art project designed for insects,
Gardens can become “living artworks” to help prevent the disastrous decline of pollinating insects, according to researchers working on a new project.
Pollinator Pathmaker is an artwork by Dr. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg that uses an algorithm to generate unique planting designs that prioritize pollinators’ needs over human aesthetic tastes.
Originally commissioned by the Eden Project in Cornwall in 2021, the general public can access the artist’s online tool (www.pollinator.art) to design and plant their own living artwork for local pollinators.
While pollinators – including bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, ants and beetles – are the main audience, the results may also be appealing to humans.
Pollinator Pathmaker allows users to input the specific details of their garden, including size of plot, location conditions, soil type, and play with how the algorithm will “solve” the planting to optimise it for pollinator diversity, rather than how it looks to humans.
The new research project – led by the universities of Exeter and Edinburgh – has received funding from UK Research and Innovation as part of a new cross research council responsive mode scheme to support exciting interdisciplinary research.
The project aims to demonstrate how an artwork can help to drive innovative ecological conservation, by asking residents in the village of Constantine in Cornwall to plant a network of Pollinator Pathmaker living artworks in their gardens. These will become part of the multidisciplinary study.
“Pollinators are declining rapidly worldwide and – with urban and agricultural areas often hostile to them – gardens are increasingly vital refuges,” said Dr Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
“Our research project brings together art, ecology, social science and philosophy to reimagine what gardens are, and what they’re for.
“By reflecting on fundamental questions like these, we will empower people to rethink the way they see gardens.
“We hope Pollinator Pathmaker will help to create connected networks of pollinator-friendly gardens across towns and cities.”
One story features Aristotle and the other features some of the latest (as of October 2024) in citizen science (participatory science) news.
Ancient citizen science
The story about Aristotle’s scientific endeavours and 2,000 year old citizen science is told in an August 15, 2024 essay by Konstantine Panegyres (McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, researching Greco-Roman antiquity, The University of Melbourne) for The Conversation, Note: Links have been removed,
If we want to research a subject, how do we do it? We could read about it in books or do experiments in a lab. Or another way is to find people who know something about it and ask them.
Collecting information from members of the public has long been a method of scientific research. We call it citizen science. According to National Geographic, this is “the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge”.
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Most of us know of Aristotle (384–322 BCE [Before the Common Era]) for his philosophical works, but he was also a great scientist.
Aristotle consulted the general public when undertaking his scientific research projects. He wrote a number of books about animals, the greatest of which was his History of Animals. He also wrote smaller works including Parts of Animals and Generation of Animals. Collectively, these are usually referred to as Aristotle’s biological writings.
The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (approximately 24–79 CE) has told us about some of Aristotle’s research methods when writing these texts.
According to Pliny, Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) – who was Aristotle’s student – supported Aristotle’s research on animals by ordering the public to collaborate:
orders were given to some thousands of persons throughout the whole of Asia and Greece, all those who made their living by hunting, fowling, and fishing and those who were in charge of warrens, herds, apiaries, fishponds and aviaries, to obey [Aristotle’s] instructions, so that he might not fail to be informed about any creature born anywhere.
Modern scholars aren’t certain Alexander actually gave this order. Nonetheless, Aristotle’s writings about animals often refer to information he received from others who worked directly with animals, such as hunters, beekeepers, fishermen and herdsmen.
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As Panegyres notes in the August 15, 2024 essay, Aristotle applied some of his own thinking and research to citizen observations,
Aristotle was at times also critical of the eyewitness information he received. For instance, in Generation of Animals, he says some people told him fish don’t copulate, because they had not seen fish copulating. But he goes on to say these people are wrong – and that he himself knows fish do indeed copulate:
The fish copulate in the same way as dolphins do, by placing themselves alongside of each other […] The fishermen do not notice this […] and so they join the chorus and repeat the same old stupid tale that fish conceive by swallowing the semen.
Aristotle was right. While most fish don’t have sexual intercourse, some do. Clearly, Aristotle had either asked enough people and/or investigated the issue himself to find the truth.
Citizen Science Association (CSA) is now the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences (AAPS) + some news
Is the resemblance of the CSA’s new name to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) purely coincidental? That question is not asked nor answered in the group’s April 2, 2024 blog posting by J_Shirk, which announced the name change, Note: A link has been removed,
For more than ten years, this Association has engaged practitioners from many related traditions, including crowdsourced science, volunteer monitoring, amateur astronomy, community-based research, citizen science, and more. Our new name reflects that broad scope, and helps reveal and engage the rich landscape of practices across the many participatory sciences.
What are the Participatory Sciences?
Participatory sciences combine the strengths of scientific inquiry with the knowledge, insights, and observations of members of the public. Some efforts are scientist-driven, with researchers inviting volunteers to submit data, categorize images, or otherwise assist in answering research questions. Others are community-driven, where communities (of place or interest) leverage science processes to compile evidence and address problems. All efforts are borne from seeing common interests, and developing working relationships, between scientists and public groups to answer questions, accelerate discovery, monitor change, or inform decisions.
Participatory science projects and traditions can be found in almost every field of research. Natural history projects come to mind for many, but research collaborations of these kinds advance work in biomedicine, astronomy, environmental health, history, geography, archaeology, and more. In almost all disciplines, these projects depend on breaking down historic barriers between scientific institutions and members of the public. They also depend on building up new relationships, platforms, strategies, and skills to bring together people, information, and knowledge–difficult work made easier when we can learn from others who have done this before.
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Here’s some of the latest news from the October 2024 AAPS newsletter (received via email),
This month we are highlighting ways the future of participatory sciences is looking bright, including: early-career passion and enthusiasm for this field, a prestigious award for pioneering platform, iNaturalist, excitement for our upcoming convening in Portland, Oregon, and an invitation to join us for inspiration and action-oriented discussions at the AAPS Member Meeting later this month.
You’ll also find announcements about a new online course on project design, details on an upcoming workshop on the convergence of computational and citizen science research, and free workshop series on science community and policy impact from adjacent organizations supporting this work below.
Join AAPS leaders for an hour of inspiration and action-oriented discussions about how the Associations’ efforts to advance participatory sciences can engage, serve, and support you in your work at the AAPS Member Meeting on October 28th [2024].
This event is open to active members and those interested in learning more about the work of the Association. AAPS is the leading organization and go-to resource center for both leaders and learners in this field. Together, we work to inspire new collaborations, address shared challenges, and raise awareness of the value of these projects to pave the way for future successes. Our new strategic plan outlines concrete steps to get us there. AAPS members have always been at the forefront of innovations in the participatory sciences. Let’s work together to build the future of this field.
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[2025 Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences]
Our 2025 conference will be hosted locally by Oregon State University in Portland, Oregon, a city known for its natural beauty and progressive spirit. Core sessions will be held at the Portland State University campus in downtown Portland with special events at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, World Forestry Center, and OSU Portland Center. Attendees can explore the projects and the unique ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest through field trips–look for pikas in Cascades with the Oregon Zoo, explore the coast with COASST, or embark on an urban adventure as part of your conference experience.
Many important details to help you budget and plan for your trip including a schedule overview, registration rates, and estimated attendee costs, are available on the conference event site.
The call for individual presentations, including posters, will open later this fall. [2024]
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NEW ONLINE COURSE, Citizen and Community Science: Designing Projects for Research & Engagement
The University of New Hampshire has launched a new 6-week, online course focused on designing citizen and community science projects from initial planning to project launch. This course offers hands-on learning, a step-by-step process, and guided coaching for your project design, offered through an asynchronous, 36-hour format for maximum flexibility. You’ll experience the material though videos, recorded presentations, selective readings, interactive discussion boards, hands-on assignments, and optional live Zooms and one-on-one coaching sessions.
Instructors include Malin Ely Clyde and Alyson Eberhardt, who have extensive experience as participatory science practitioners, researchers, and volunteer coordinators with UNH Cooperative Extension and NH Sea Grant. The course runs from Oct. 12 – Nov. 24, 2024. Cost: $999 with some discounts available. Successful completion of the course earns participants a digital badge and a certificate of completion.
The workshop will cover several key focus areas including Human-Computer Teaming, Computational Citizen Science, Citizen Science Data Cyberinfrastructure, the development of affordable sensors for citizen science, and the ethical and social implications of integrating AI with citizen science. The outcomes from this workshop are expected to guide future research agendas and influence government and federal institutions.
The workshop will take place in Washington, DC, from April 8-9 2025 with opening dinner on April 7.
For more information on traveling and application requirements, visit the Open Calls for Participation page. Apply here for the in-person workshop and virtual discussions- deadline October 4, 2025.
In collaboration with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society; and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Day One Project, the CITRIS Policy Lab is hosting a four-part Science Communication and Tech Policy Workshop Series that will equip you with the essential skills to effectively communicate your research to the general public, policymakers, and funders.
As this has been confusing to me with the two terms being used interchangeably, I investigated and, based on the findings, believe that ‘participatory sciences’ is a larger classification (subject) term, which includes ‘citizen science’ as a specific subset (type) of participatory science.
Bearing that in mind, here’s more from a May 29, 2024 letter/notice received via email about an upcoming participatory sciences conference,
There are so many areas where participatory sciences are creating a better understanding of the world around us. Sometimes looking at just one of those areas can help us see where there is real strength in these practices–and where combined work across this field can inspire huge change.
Right now, biodiversity is on my mind.
Last week’s International Day of Biological Diversity invited everyone on the planet to be #PartOfThePlan to protect the systems that sustain us. The Biodiversity Plan calls for scientific collaborations, shared commitments, tracking indicators of progress, and developing transparent communication and engagement around actions by the end of this decade.
Participatory science projects have proven–but underutilized–potential to address spatial and temporal gaps in datasets; engage multiple ways of knowing; inform multilateral environmental agreements; and inspire action and change based on improved understandings of the systems that sustain us.
In this field, we have the the tools, experience, and vision to rise to this global challenge. What would it take to leverage the full power of participatory sciences to inspire and inform wise decisions for people and the planet?
If you are working in, or interested in, the frontiers of participatory sciences to address global challenges like biodiversity, you can be part of driving strategies and solutions at next week’s action-oriented stand on biodiversity at CAPS 2024, [Conference for Advancing the Participatory Sciences] June 3-6. Woven throughout the virtual four-day event are sessions that will both inform and inspire collaborative problem solving to improve how the participatory sciences are leveraged to confront the biodiversity crisis.
There will be opportunities in the program to share your thoughts and experiences, whether or not you are giving a talk. This event is designed to bring together a diversity of perspectives from across the Americas and beyond.
The strand is a collaboration between AAPS [Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences], the Red Iberoamericana de Cienci A Participativa (the Iberoamerican Network of Participatory Science), iDigBio [Integrated Digitized Biocollections], and Florida State University’s Institute for Digital Information & Scientific Communication.
Each day, multiple sessions will convene global leaders, practitioners, and others to discuss how to advance biodiversity knowledge worldwide. Formats include daily symposia, ideas-to-action conversations, virtual multi-media posters, and lightning talk discussions. Our virtual format provides plenty of opportunities for exchanges.
Biodiversity-themed Virtual Posters and Live Poster Sessions
Over one-third of the 100+ posters focus specifically on advancing biodiversity-related participatory science. Each day, poster sessions highlight a selection of posters via lightning talks and group discussions.
The unrestricted exploitation of wildlife has led to the disappearance of many animal species at an alarming rate, destroying Earth’s biological diversity and upsetting the ecological balance Photo:Vladimir Wrangel/Adobe Stock
Squirrels and other members of the family Sciuridae. Credit: Chicoutimi (montage) Karakal AndiW National Park Service en:User:Markus Krötzsch The Lilac Breasted Roller Nico Conradie from Centurion, South Africa Hans Hillewaert Sylvouille National Park Service – Own work from Wikipedia/CC by 3.0 licence
A March 5, 2024 news item on phys.org introduces a story about squirrels, bias, and citizen science,
When biologist Elizabeth Carlen pulled up in her 2007 Subaru for her first look around St. Louis, she was already checking for the squirrels. Arriving as a newcomer from New York City, Carlen had scrolled through maps and lists of recent sightings in a digital application called iNaturalist. This app is a popular tool for reporting and sharing sightings of animals and plants.
People often start using apps like iNaturalist and eBird when they get interested in a contributory science project (also sometimes called a citizen science project). Armed with cellphones equipped with cameras and GPS, app-wielding volunteers can submit geolocated data that iNaturalist then translates into user-friendly maps. Collectively, these observations have provided scientists and community members greater insight into the biodiversity of their local environment and helped scientists understand trends in climate change, adaptation and species distribution.
But right away, Carlen ran into problems with the iNaturalist data in St. Louis.
“According to the app, Eastern gray squirrels tended to be mostly spotted in the south part of the city,” said Carlen, a postdoctoral fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis. “That seemed weird to me, especially because the trees, or canopy cover, tended to be pretty even across the city.
“I wondered what was going on. Were there really no squirrels in the northern part of the city?” Carlen said. A cursory drive through a few parks and back alleys north of Delmar Boulevard told her otherwise: squirrels galore.
Carlen took to X, formerly Twitter, for advice. “Squirrels are abundant in the northern part of the city, but there are no recorded observations,” she mused. Carlen asked if others had experienced similar issues with iNaturalist data in their own backyards.
Many people responded, voicing their concerns and affirming Carlen’s experience. The maps on iNaturalist seemed clear, but they did not reflect the way squirrels were actually distributed across St. Louis. Instead, Carlen was looking at biased data.
Previous research has highlighted biases in data reported to contributory science platforms, but little work has articulated how these biases arise.
Carlen reached out to the scientists who responded to her Twitter post to brainstorm some ideas. They put together a framework that illustrates how social and ecological factors combine to create bias in contributory data. In a new paper published in People & Nature, Carlen and her co-authors shared this framework and offered some recommendations to help address the problems.
The scientists described four kinds of “filters” that can bias the reported species pool in contributory science projects:
* Participation filter. Participation reflects who is reporting the data, including where those people are located and the areas they have access to. This filter also may reflect whether individuals in a community are aware of an effort to collect data, or if they have the means and motivation to collect it.
* Detectability filter. An animal’s biology and behavior can impact whether people record it. For example, people are less likely to report sightings of owls or other nocturnal species.
* Sampling filter. People might be more willing to report animals they see when they are recreating (i.e. hanging out in a park), but not what they see while they’re commuting.
* Preference filter. People tend to ignore or filter out pests, nuisance species and uncharismatic or “boring” species. (“There’s not a lot of people photographing rats and putting them on iNaturalist — or pigeons, for that matter,” Carlen said.)
In the paper, Carlen and her team applied their framework to data recorded in St. Louis as a case study. They showed that eBird and iNaturalist observations are concentrated in the southern part of the city, where more white people live. Uneven participation in St. Louis is likely a consequence of variables, such as race, income, and/or contemporary politics, which differ between northern and southern parts of the city, the authors wrote. The other filters of detectability, sampling and preference also likely influence species reporting in St. Louis.
Biased and unrepresentative data is not just a problem for urban ecologists, even if they are the ones who are most likely to notice it, Carlen said. City planners, environmental consultants and local nonprofits all sometimes use contributory science data in their work.
“We need to be very conscious about how we’re using this data and how we’re interpreting where animals are,” Carlen said.
Carlen shared several recommendations for researchers and institutions that want to improve contributory science efforts and help reduce bias. Basic steps include considering cultural relevance when designing a project, conducting proactive outreach with diverse stakeholders and translating project materials into multiple languages.
Data and conclusions drawn from contributory projects should be made publicly available, communicated in accessible formats and made relevant to participants and community members.
“It’s important that we work with communities to understand what their needs are — and then build a better partnership,” Carlen said. “We can’t just show residents the app and tell them that they need to use it, because that ignores the underlying problem that our society is still segregated and not everyone has the resources to participate.
“We need to build relationships with the community and understand what they want to know about the wildlife in their neighborhood,” Carlen said. “Then we can design projects that address those questions, provide resources and actively empower community members to contribute to data collection.”
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
A framework for contextualizing social-ecological biases in contributory science data by Elizabeth J. Carlen, Cesar O. Estien, Tal Caspi, Deja Perkins, Benjamin R. Goldstein, Samantha E. S. Kreling, Yasmine Hentati, Tyus D. Williams, Lauren A. Stanton, Simone Des Roches, Rebecca F. Johnson, Alison N. Young, Caren B. Cooper, Christopher J. Schell. People & Nature Volume 6, Issue 2 April 2024 Pages 377-390 DI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10592 First published: 03 March 2024
An April 2, 2024 news item on phys.org is, in fact, an open invitation to participate in data collection for NASA during the April 8, 2024 eclipse,
On April 8, 2024, as the moon passes between the sun and Earth, thousands of amateur citizen scientists will measure air temperatures and snap pictures of clouds. The data they collect will aid researchers who are investigating how the sun influences climates in different environments.
Among those citizen scientists are the fifth- and sixth-grade students at Alpena Elementary in northwest Arkansas. In the weeks leading up to the eclipse, these students are visiting the school’s weather station 10 times a day to collect temperature readings and monitor cloud cover. They will then upload the data to a phone-based app that’s part of a NASA-led program called GLOBE, short for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment.
The goal, according to Alpena Elementary science and math teacher Roger Rose, is to “make science and math more real” for his students. “It makes them feel like they’re doing something that’s important and worthwhile.”
The GLOBE eclipse tool is a small part of the much broader GLOBE project, through which students and citizen scientists collect data on plants, soil, water, the atmosphere, and even mosquitoes. Contributors to the eclipse project will only need a thermometer and a smartphone with the GLOBE Observer app downloaded. They can access the eclipse tool in the app. [emphases mine]
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An April 1, 2024 NASA article by James Riordon, which originated the news item, provides more information about the GLOBE program and the hopes for the April 8, 2024 eclipse initiative,
This is not the first time the GLOBE eclipse tool has been deployed in North America. During the 2017 North American eclipse, NASA researchers examined the relationship between clouds and air temperature and found that temperature swings during the eclipse were greatest in areas with less cloud cover, while temperature fluctuations in cloudier regions were more muted. It’s a finding that would have been difficult, perhaps impossible, without the assistance of numerous amateur observers along the eclipse path, said Marilé Colón Robles, a meteorologist based at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and the GLOBE project scientist overseeing the cloud study portion of the project.
GLOBE program volunteers across North America uploaded data coinciding with the July 21, 2017 event to this map. A high concentration of observers make the path of totality in the western part of the U.S. stand out.
Credit: NASA Globe program
The number of weather stations along this year’s eclipse path is limited, and while satellites give us a global view, they can’t provide the same level of detail as people on the ground, said Ashlee Autore, a NASA Langley data scientist who will be conducting a follow-up to the 2017 study. “The power of citizen science is that people make the observations, and they can move.”
It’s still unclear how temperature fluctuations during a total eclipse compare across different climate regions, Colón Robles said. “This upcoming eclipse is passing through desert regions, mountainous regions, as well as more moist regions near the oceans.” Acquiring observations across these areas, she said, “will help us dig deeper into questions about regional connections between cloud cover and ground-level temperatures.” The studies should give scientists a better handle on the flow of energy from the Sun that’s crucial for understanding climate.
In many areas, citizen scientists are expected to gather en masse. “We’re inviting basically all of El Paso to campus,” said geophysicist and GLOBE partner John Olgin of El Paso Community College in Texas. The area will experience the eclipse in near totality, with about 80% of the Sun covered at the peak. It’s enough to make for an engaging event involving citizen scientists from the U.S. and Juarez, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande.
Just a few minutes of midday darkness will have the long-term benefits of increasing awareness of NASA citizen science programs, Olgin said: “It’s going to inspire people to say, ‘Hey look, you can actually do stuff with NASA.’”
More than 30 million people live along the path of the 2024 eclipse, and hundreds of millions more will see a partial eclipse. It will be another 20 years before so many people in North America experience another total solar eclipse again.
With this in mind, Colón Robles has a piece of advice: As the Moon actively blocks the Sun, set your phone and thermometer aside, and marvel at one of the most extraordinary astronomical events of your lifetime.
Visit NASA’s Citizen Science page to learn how you can help NASA scientists study the Earth during eclipses and all year round. The GLOBE Program page provides connections to communities of GLOBE participants in 127 countries, access to data for retrieval and analysis, a roadmap for new participants, and other resources.
For anyone who wants to experience all of the ways that NASA has made their citizen science April 2024 eclipse projects accessible there’s NASA’s ‘general eclipse’ webpage.
Results of a large-scale innovative Citizen Science experiment called Project M which involved over 1000 scientists, 800 samples and 110 UK secondary schools in a huge experiment will be published in the prestigious RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) journal CrystEngComm on 29 January 2024. The paper is titled: “Project M: Investigating the effect of additives on calcium carbonate crystallisation through a school citizen science program”. The paper shares a giant set of results from the school citizen scientists who collaborated with a team at Diamond to find out how different additives affect the different forms of calcium carbonate produced. These additives affect the type of calcium carbonate that forms, and thus its properties and potential applications. Being able to easily produce different forms of calcium carbonate could be very important for manufacturing.
Lead authors Claire Murray, Visiting Scientist at Diamond and Julia Parker, Diamond Principal Beamline Scientist and expert in calcium carbonate science who conceptualised the project, analysed the data, wrote and edited the manuscript explain that despite nature’s ability to precisely control calcium carbonate formation in shells and skeletons, laboratories around the world are often unable to exact the same level of control over how calcium carbonate forms. Nature uses molecules like amino acids and proteins to direct the formation of calcium carbonate, so we were interested in discovering how some of these molecules affect the calcium carbonate that we make in the lab.
Project M engaged the students and teachers as scientists, making different samples of calcium carbonate under varying conditions with different additives. 800 of these samples were then analysed in just 24 hours in April 2017 using the X-ray powder diffraction technique at on beamline I11 at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron. This created a giant set of results which form the basis of the publication. A systematic study of this scale has never been completed anywhere else in the world.
The goal of this project was to find out how using different additives like amino acids affect the structure of the calcium carbonate. The mineral has three main forms called ‘polymorphs’ – vaterite, calcite and aragonite – which can be identified using X-ray powder diffraction at Diamond’s beamline l11. Diamond Light Source produces one of the brightest X-ray beams on planet Earth, which allow scientists to understand the atomic structure of materials. Scientists come from all over the UK and further afield to use these X-rays – as well as infrared and ultraviolet light – to make better drugs, understand the natural world, and create futuristic materials. Understanding the impact of different additives on the production of polymorphs is of huge interest in industry such as in manufacturing, medical applications such as tissue engineering and the design of drug-delivery systems, and even cosmetics.
However, mapping such a large parameter space, in terms of additive and concentration, requires the synthesis of a large number of samples and the provision of high throughput analysis techniques. It presented an exciting opportunity to collaborate with 110 secondary schools making real samples to showcase the high-throughput capability of the beamline, including rapid robotic changing of samples, which means diffraction patterns can be collected and samples changed in less than 90 seconds.
“The project was led by a scientific question we had,” explained Claire Murray. “The idea to involve school students and teaching staff in the preparation of the samples followed naturally as we know Chemistry projects are underrepresented in the citizen science space. The contribution that student citizen scientists can make to research should not be underestimated. These projects can provide a powerful way for researchers to access volumes of data they might struggle to collect otherwise, as well as inspiring future generations of scientists.”
The project was designed with kit and resources to support the schools to learn new techniques and knowledge and to provide them with space to interact and engage with the experiment. After analysis at Diamond, the students had the opportunity to look at their results, see their peaks and determine what sort of polymorphs they had produced, and compare their results with the results obtained by different samples and different schools at different locations in the UK.
Gry E. Christensen, former student and Project M Scientist at Didcot Girls’ School, Didcot commented; “It was an amazing journey and I recommend that if any other schools have a chance to help with a similar project, then jump on board, because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the students, and you feel you can make a positive change to the world.”
“The fact that we didn’t know the answer yet was a motivational factor for the students,” explains Claire Murray. “The teachers told us they took everything more seriously, because this was real science in action – it really meant something. They shared how the students were excited to translate their lab skills to this experiment and that the students were able to contextualise their learning from their prescribed textbooks and lab classes. Teachers also highlighted their own interest and curiosity as many of them have trained as chemists in their education. They appreciated the connection to real science for themselves and the opportunity for continued professional development.”
‘The project offered our pupils a unique opportunity to take part in genuine scientific research and should act as a blueprint for future projects that aim to engage young people in science beyond the classroom.’ Adds Matthew Wainwright, teacher and Project M Scientist at Kettlethorpe High School, Wakefield.
Exploring the role of amino acids in directing crystallisation with the Project M Scientists was an opportunity and an honour for the authors. Julia Parker explained; “In our work we see how we can draw novel scientific conclusions regarding the effect of amino acids on the structure of calcite and vaterite calcium carbonate polymorphs. This ability to explore a wide parameter space in sample conditions, whilst providing continued educational and scientific engagement benefits for the students and teachers involved, can we hope in future be applied to other materials synthesis investigations.”
Project M enabled schools to carry out real research and do an experiment that had never been done before, in their own school laboratory. It was the first ‘citizen science’ project run by Diamond, which transported Diamond science to schools and enabled the production of a considerable set of results, which has now resulted in this successful publication in CrystEngComm.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper, Note: the Project M Scientists are listed as authors,
Project M: investigating the effect of additives on calcium carbonate crystallisation through a school citizen science program by Claire A. Murray, Project M Scientists, Laura Holland, Rebecca O’Brien, Alice Richards, Annabelle R. Baker, Mark Basham, David Bond, Leigh D. Connor, Sarah J. Day, Jacob Filik, Stuart Fisher, Peter Holloway, Karl Levik, Ronaldo Mercado, Jonathan Potter, Chiu C. Tang, Stephen P. Thompson, and Julia E. Parker. CrystEngComm, 2024,26, 753-763 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CE01173A First published: 29 Jan 2024
I got this invitation from a professor at the University of Montpellier (Université de Montpellier, France) in a February 1, 2024 email (the project ‘Wild river battle’ is being run by scientists at ETH Zurich [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich]) ,
Dear all,
I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to share an exciting opportunity for all of us to contribute to the safeguarding of wild rivers worldwide.
We are launching a Citizen Science project in collaboration with Citizen Science Zurich, utilizing AI and satellite imagery to assess and protect the natural state of rivers on a global scale. Whether you have a passion for river conservation or simply wish to contribute to a meaningful cause, we invite you to join us in this impactful game.
It only takes 3-5 minutes, and the rules are simple: click on the riverscape that you find the wildest (you can also use the buttons under the images).
Thank you very much for your time in advance, and I look forward to witnessing our collective efforts make a positive impact for the conservation of our precious rivers. And we are open to receive any feedback by mail (shzong@ethz.ch) and willing to provide more information for those who are interested (https://ele.ethz.ch/research/technology-modelling/citizen-river.html).
Best regards and have fun!
Nicolas Mouquet
Scientific director of the Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity (CESAB) 5 Rue de l’École de Médecine 34000, Montpellier
A citizen science project combining AI and satellite images to evaluate rivers’ wildness.
Wild rivers are an invaluable resource that play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and supporting biodiversity. Rivers of high ecological integrity provide habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal species, and their free-flowing waters provide a large number of services such as freshwater, supporting the needs of local communities. Protecting wild rivers is essential to ensure long-term global health, and it is our responsibility to develop management schemes to preserve these precious habitats for future generations.
Wild stretches, supporting the highest levels of biodiversity, are disappearing globally at an extremely fast rate. Deforestation, mining, pollution, booming hydropower dams and other human infrastructures are built or planned on large rivers. The increasing pressure of human activities has been causing a rapid decline of biodiversity and ecological function. We should act now to protect the rivers and be guided by the current state of rivers to identify unprotected areas that are worth being included in conservation plans. However, there is still no map of global wild river segments which could support such global conservation planning, nor a tool to monitor the wilderness of rivers over time under global changes.
How we find wild rivers, evaluate their wildness, and why we need your help
We will evaluate the level of wildness of river sections from satellite images. Remote sensing is the most efficient method for monitoring the landscape on a global and dynamic scale. Satellite images contain valuable information about the river’s course, width, depth, shape and surrounding landscape, which allow us to assess how wild they are visually.
You and other citizen scientists can help us score the wildest river sections from satellite images. Using the ranking from citizen scientists, we will run a ranking algorithm to give each image a wildness score depending on the many pairwise comparisons. These images with a wilderness score will act as a training dataset for a machine learning algorithm which will be trained to automatically score any large river segment, globally. With an accurate river wildness model, we will be able to quickly assess the wildness of the global river sections. Using such a tool, we can for instance find the river sections that are still worth protecting. This pristine river map will provide invaluable insights for conservation initiatives and enable targeted actions to safeguard and restore the remaining pristine rivers and monitor the trajectories of rivers around the world.
How to do it?
Rivers will first be segmented into river sections with the surrounding environment as a whole landscape bounding box. The river sections will be identified by citizen scientists and your interpretation to form a reference dataset. The game (you can click the corresponding language to access it with different language versions. English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese) is easy (thanks to Citizen Science Zurich); you just have to click on the riverscape you find more wild, or click the button under the rivers. For mobile users, please use the buttons.
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Before you get started there will be this,
Your participation in the study is voluntary.
Statement of consent
By participating in the study, I confirm that I:
* have heard/read and understood the study information. * had enough time to decide on my participation in the study. * voluntarily participate in the study and agree to my personal data being used as described below.
Participants’ information will be handled with the utmost confidentiality. All data collected, including but not limited to demographic details, responses to survey questions, and any other pertinent information, will be securely stored and accessible only to authorized personnel involved in the research. Your personal identity will be kept strictly confidential, and any published results will be presented in aggregate form, ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified. Furthermore, your data will not be shared with any third parties and will only be used for the specific research purposes outlined in the introduction page prior to participating in the study.
We are ecologists at ETH Zurich that are foucusing on biodiversity monitoring in the large river corridors. Learn more about us from our homepage. Chair of Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution
Who contributes
All the people that have interest in protecting wild rivers can participate this project, and of course non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and river management bureau like CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône) also showed great interests in this project.
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Should you be inspired to do more, Citizen Science Zurich lists a number of projects (ranging from the Hair SALON project to FELIDAE: Finding Elusive Links by Tracking Diet of Cats in Environment to more) on this page. It’s a mixed listing of those that are completed or looking for participants and/or looking for financial resources.
There is also a Citizen Science Portal (a Canadian federal government project) that was last updated January 15, 2024. Some of the projects are national in scope while others are provincial in scope.