Citizen science projects are activities sponsored by a wide variety of organizations so non-scientists can meaningfully contribute to scientific research.
Precis
editActivities vary widely from transcribing old ship logbooks to digitize the data as part of the Old Weather project to observing and counting birds at home or in the field for eBird.[1][2] Participation can be as simple as playing a computer game for a project called Eyewire that may help scientists learn more about retinal neurons.[3] It can also be more in depth, such as when citizens collect water quality data over time to assess the health of local waters, or help discover and name new species of insects.[4][5] An emerging branch of Citizen Science are Community Mapping projects that utilize smartphone and tablet technology. For example, TurtleSAT[6] is a community mapping project that is mapping freshwater turtle deaths throughout Australia.
This list of citizen science projects involves projects that engage all age groups. There are projects specifically aimed at the younger age demographic like iTechExplorers[7] which was created by a 14 year old in the UK to assess the effects of bedtime technology on the body's circadian rhythm and can be completed in a classroom setting. Other projects like AgeGuess[8] focus on the senior demographics and enable the elderly to upload photos of themselves so the public can guess different ages.
Lists of citizen science projects may change. For example, the Old Weather project website indicates that as of[update] January 10, 2015, 51% of the logs were completed.[9] When that project reaches 100 percent, it will move to the completed list.
Worldwide
editCitizen scientists anywhere in the world can participate in these projects.
| Start | End | Project name | Discipline(s) | Sponsoring organization(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019[10] | 2020 | Hubble Asteroid Hunters | Astronomy | Zooniverse, ESA ESDC | Research Paper, Zooniverse |
| 2011 | 2012 | Ice Investigators[note 1] | Astronomy | CosmoQuest.org[note 2] | |
| 2011 | 2012 | Moon Mappers: Million crater challenge[note 3] | Planetary Astronomy | CosmoQuest.org[note 2] | |
| 2022 | ongoing | Spritacular | Meteorology | NASA, Catholic University of America | |
| 2022 | ongoing | Jovian Vortex Hunter | Astronomy | NASA, Southwest Research Institute, Zooniverse | |
| 2023 | ongoing | Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain | History | University of Colorado, Zooniverse, University of Madrid, European Union's Seventh FPRTD | |
| 2022 | ongoing | Cloudspotting On Mars | Astronomy, Planetary Research, Weather | NASA, Zooniverse |
Regional
editThese projects require that citizen scientists be local to a region of study.
Asia
edit| Start | End | Project name | Discipline(s) | Sponsoring organization(s) | Country (or region) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2012 | Citizen Sparrow | Ornithology | Bombay Natural History Society | India | |
| 2019 | Unknown | DustBoy | Air Quality, Environmental science | Unknown | Thailand |
Australasia
edit| Start | End | Project name | Discipline(s) | Sponsoring organization(s) | Country (or region) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2010 | Big Sleep Survey | Sleep | National Science Week Australia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Australia | Big Sleep Survey |
| 2016 | 2016 | South Australia Great Koala Count 2 | Ecology | Discovery Circle, University of South Australia, University of Adelaide | South Australia | |
| 2011 | 2011 | The Multi-tasking Test | Cognitive science | National Science Week Australia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Queensland Brain Institute | Australia | Multi-tasking Test |
| 2015 | 2015 | Peninsular Malaysia Butterfly Count | Lepidoptery | Museum of Zoology, University of Malaya | Malaysia | Results published[11] |
| 2012 | 2012 | Sound Check Australia | Audiology | National Science Week Australia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Acoustic Laboratories | Australia | Sound Check Australia |
| 2001 | 2010 | Value of Patient Testimony | Public Health Research | Case Health Pty Ltd
Outcomes: (1) eBook: 'Those Who Suffer Much, Know Much' 2010 http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/104801/20100925-0000/2010.pdf (2) Spurred significant increase in scientific research into LDN (low dose naltrexone) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22low-dose+naltrexone%22%5BALL+FIELDS%5D+NOT+(dependence%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(dependent%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(oxycodone%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(withdrawal%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(cocaine%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(morphine%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(itch-related%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(drinking%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(alcohol%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(cigarette%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(smoker%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(smoking%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(smokers%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(nicotine%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(detoxification%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(gambling%5BTitle%5D)+NOT+(self-biting%5BTitle%5D) |
Australia | Spurred dramatic increase in scientific research |
Europe
edit| Start | End | Project name | Discipline(s) | Sponsoring organization(s) | Country (or region) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2013 | BBC Lab UK | Psychology | BBC, BBC | UK | Discontinued in 2018, see BBC Lab UK |
North America
edit| Start | End | Project name | Discipline(s) | Sponsoring organization(s) | Country (or region) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 2007 | Birdhouse Network | Ornithology | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | US | [note 4] |
| 1994 | 2011 | House Finch Disease Survey | Ornithology | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | North America | [note 5] |
| 2010 | 2014 | Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas | Herpetology | Natural History Society of Maryland, Inc., Maryland Department of Natural Resources | US (MD) | |
| 2015 | 2015 | McMaster Postcard Project[12] | Archives, Social Science, History | William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University Library | Canada | McMaster Postcard Project |
| 2023 | ongoing | Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring at Elkhorn Slough | Water Quality, Environment | NOAA, California Fish and Wildlife, Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, Monterey County Consolidated Chemistry Lab, Zooniverse | California |
See also
editExternal links
edit- OpenHumans — quantified self projects
- SciStarter — SciStarter lists more than 3,000 active and searchable global citizen science projects
Notes
edit- ^ Formerly Ice Hunters, a project to identify potential targets in the Kuiper belt for the New Horizons spacecraft after it completes its mission to Pluto.
- ^ a b CosmoQuest is sponsored by NASA in partnership with the Astrosphere New Media Association, the STEM Center, UniverseToday, Astronomers without Borders, the Planetary Society, the Ward Beecher Planetarium, the Galileo Teachers Training Program, Swinburne Astronomy Online, Dark Skies, Bright Kids, the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre and its member organizations, the Galileoscope Project and several NASA projects.
- ^ Over a million craters were identified and mapped in late 2012. As of March 2012, 1,207,486 craters have been identified and mapped by the Moon Mappers parent project that continues.
- ^ Formerly The Birdhouse Network which only monitored nests in bird boxes and similar artificial cavities. NestWatch is a new project that collects observations of open nests as well.
- ^ Per the project website, this project was absorbed into the current FeederWatch project.
References
edit- ^ Mapes, Lynda V. (February 16, 2013). "Citizen scientists can be climate sleuths too". Seattle Times. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
- ^ Robbins, Jim (August 19, 2013). "Crowdsourcing, for the birds". New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- ^ "Update: EyeWire". Scientific American. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
- ^ Schilthuizen, Menno; Seip, Lilian; Otani, Sean; Suhaimi, Jadda; Njunjić, Iva (2017-06-12). "Three new minute leaf litter beetles discovered by citizen scientists in Maliau Basin, Malaysian Borneo (Coleoptera: Leiodidae, Chrysomelidae)". Biodiversity Data Journal. 5 (5): e21947. doi:10.3897/bdj.5.e21947. ISSN 1314-2828. PMC 5740419. PMID 29308046.
- ^ "National Monitoring Network of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council".
- ^ "TurtleSAT Community Program > Home".
- ^ "iTech Explorers". SciStarter. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
- ^ "AgeGuess". SciStarter. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
- ^ "old Weather". Zooniverse. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
- ^ Kruk, Sandor; Martín, Pablo García; Popescu, Marcel; Merín, Bruno; Mahlke, Max; Carry, Benoît; Thomson, Ross; Karadağ, Samet; Durán, Javier; Racero, Elena; Giordano, Fabrizio; Baines, Deborah; Marchi, Guido de; Laureijs, René (2022-05-01). "Hubble Asteroid Hunter - I. Identifying asteroid trails in Hubble Space Telescope images". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 661: A85. arXiv:2202.00246. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142998. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 241469611.
- ^ Wilson, John-James; Jisming-See, Shi-Wei; Brandon-Mong, Guo-Jie; Lim, Aik-Hean; Lim, Voon-Ching; Lee, Ping-Shin; Sing, Kong-Wah (2015-11-12). "Citizen Science: The First Peninsular Malaysia Butterfly Count". Biodiversity Data Journal. 3 (3): e7159. doi:10.3897/BDJ.3.e7159. ISSN 1314-2828. PMC 4700385. PMID 26751033.
- ^ Thompson, Nicole (27 Aug 2015). "McMaster crowd-sources archival postcard project". Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved 27 Aug 2015.