mobile data collection for citizen science · mobile data collection with open data kit build,...

Mobile Data Collection forCitizen Science

Mike DawsonConservation Education Liaisondawson@stlzoo.org

Stephen LeardIT Analystleard@stlzoo.org

First things first If you -1) have an Android device2) are allowed to download appsand 3) have an internet connection

Download ODK Collect from the Google Play Store to follow along with the demo!

Thoughts on Citizen Science

Mike DawsonConservation Education Liaisondawson@stlzoo.org

Thoughts from around the web

National Geographic - Though citizen science is a relatively new term, people have been participating and contributing to

scientific research for years.

Wikipedia - “Citizen science” is a fairly new termbut an old practice. Prior to the 20th century, science was often the pursuit

of gentleman scientists, amateur or self-funded researchers such as Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles

Darwin.

Cornell Lab - Arguably, the contributions of amateurs to scientific discovery stems from the days of Galileo.

Science 2.0 - …citizen science is not a modern invention, but rather something that has been occurring “for most of

recorded history.”

Citizen Science

A research collaboration between scientists and volunteers

Expands opportunities for scientific data collection, while providing

access to scientific information to community members

Appropriate for large-scale, long term data

Citizen Science

A Long History

Members of the public (i.e., non-professionals/ unpaid scientists) have been conducting scientific research for centuries!

…All over the world!

Cherry blossom flowering records in Kyoto, Japan

Citizen Science

Data collection projects designed to answer a specific scientific question.

Example: How populations change distribution over time

Citizen ScienceProjects can happen at any scale—Continental, national, state, local, etc.

Citizen Science

Sponsoring Organization Volunteers

Citizen ScienceBenefits of the Data

Describe local species diversity

Detect rare and invasive species

Suggest shifts in species diversity, range, and phenology

over time

Serve as an indicator of habitat health

Current international projects

Dragonfly Pond Watch (Sponsored by Migratory Dragonfly Partnership (MDP)

Frog Watch (Sponsored by AZA)

E-Bird (Sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Backyard Bird Count (Sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon)

Project Budburst (Sponsored by the National Phenology Network)

Local Projects

Join the Saint Louis Zoo's FrogWatch Chapter

Help with the Saint Louis Zoo’s Box Turtle Study

Wisdom of Crowd Sourcing

Why Crowd Sourcing Works

A crowd at a county fair accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged (the average was closer to the ox's true butchered weight than the estimates of most crowd members, and also closer than any of the separate estimates made by cattle experts).

Wisdom of Crowd Sourcing

# of Contributors

4,000 experts80,000 articles200 years to developAnnual Updates“8.8/10.0 Reliability”

100,000 amateurs1.6 Million articles5 years to developReal-Time Updates“8.0/10.0 Reliability”

Project Design

Model for developing a citizen science project

1. Choose a scientific question.2. Form a scientist/educator/technologist/evaluator team.3. Develop Goals/Scope of the Project4. Develop, test, and refine protocols, data forms, and educational support materials.5. Recruit participants6. Train participants.7. Accept, Analyze and Display data8. Disseminate results.9. Measure outcomes

Project DesignQuestion

Goals and Scope

Project DesignForm a Planning Group

A successful citizen science project requires a development team comprising multiple disciplines.Form a team of scientists, educators, technologists, and evaluators.

Mobile Data Collection withOpen Data Kit

Build, Collect, Combine, Explore

Stephen LeardIT Analystleard@stlzoo.org

Open Data Kit

Free and open-source

Used by hundreds of surveys and projects worldwide for field data collection

Environmental science

Public Health

Conservation projects

Supported by Google and a growing community of users

Open Source

Code is available to copy, review, and study.

Build

Collect – connect to https://yocs-citizenscience.appspot.com

Collect – download a form to start collecting data

Collect – get some data!

Collect – upload completed forms

Combine – data is uploaded to Aggregate (our site) in real-time

Explore – collected data can be sent to a sheet, map, or db

Citizen Science

NOAA Ocean service

Woods Hole

FrogWatch

iNaturalist

Zooniverse

Global Xplorer

Open Data Kit

Open Data Kit

Open Data Kit build

Getting started with Open Data Kit Collect

Working with ODK Aggregate and Google Drive

Getting started with open source using Github

Mike DawsonConservation Education Liaisondawson@stlzoo.org

Stephen LeardIT Analystleard@stlzoo.org

Thanks for listening!