Download - Citizen Scientists: Design and Practice
Citizen Scientists: Design and Practice
Taking into account volunteers’ needs
Alice Sheppard: UCL ExCiteS, Galaxy Zoo, Society for Popular AstronomyCitizen Science Community Manager
2007: www.galaxyzoo.orgMembers of the public invited to classify 900,000 galaxies from a robotic telescope
Sloan Digital Sky SurveyPhoto: Patrick Galume
The discussion forum became a friendly, helpful community …..
Every newcomer greeted:“Welcome to the zoo”
Everyone had a different expertise so taught others:• practical astronomy• astrophysics – how to read papers, spectra• technical support – how to use the forum• programming – how to search the database
Some projects were started by astronomers
And others by volunteers
A new way of looking at science“But what is the ANSWER?”
There is no answer in the back of a textbook. We write the textbook – and it’s a living textbook that we change all the time!
What does the citizen scientist gain from the project?
Two main possibilities:1. A problem they want to solve (e.g. environmental
threat)2. Pure interest Contribute to
science
Fun
Game/competition
Fame/name on paper
Problem solving
Teaching
Practical education
Community
KnowledgeSkills
Knowledge
Curiosity and beauty
Improve the
world
Which means …
Our survey has to either:
• Be relevant to them
OR
• Be interesting
People will look at dust grains, galaxies and penguins – so don’t worry too much about relevance.
But – what do we want to know? Does that interest them?
1:A task to
do
Citizen scientists
need:
2:Data to use – and mine
3:A place to
talk
1: A task to do
For bottom-up citizen science: they may know already.
For top-down: must be clear. Worth beta-testing questions.
2: DataThis may be:• To analyse• Results of own
investigations• Available not as part of the
project, but scope for bottom-up work
3: A place to talk
Face to face: coffee breaksOnline: a discussion forum• Feedback• News; updates• Q&A and education• Community building• Troubleshooting / technical
support• Further investigations• Retention: what someone
comes for may not be what they stay for
Alice’s Tips
• Praise publicly• Volunteers help each other• Test your interface on:• Slow internet devices; different browsers
• Test your questions on:• Different demographics, ages, languages
• Avoid small / fiddly buttons• Crowdsource useful resources• Blog• Invite volunteers to blog!
Alice’s Tips: Volunteers’ vulnerabilities
A citizen science is alone in a way professional researchers are not.
May lack: • Money• Equipment• Time• Language skills• Education• Health• Social connections
• A well-run community will support each other
• Liveblog conferences, or hold virtual ones!
• Match languages• Invite suggestions for
inclusion• All participation is
useful. Absence is OK.
Case StudiesAs we design our questionnaire, please choose at least one of these individuals and state how you would help them.
If you want to know more about community building or interface design please e-mail Alice at [email protected]