Automated Reports from Citizen Science Apps about occuring observations

Automated Reports in Citizen Science Apps
Sensitive topics like invasive alien species can lead to challenges when utilizing Citizen Science and public involvement. Observations can be time-sensitive, like disaster reports, or topic-sensitive, like controlled pests in agricultural monitoring. Some data categories even include legal requirements, like in the latter example, where new sighti...
Continue reading
  143 Hits
  0 Comments
143 Hits
0 Comments

Our Poster of Community Effects in Citizen Science Apps

Poster of Community Effects in Citizen Science Apps
For our participation in Citizen Science conferences, we have designed one of our this year's conference posters about the Community Effects in Citizen Science Apps and the effects that science communication and interaction have on a Citizen Science project's success. The poster was accepted and presented on several occasions, such as the Aust...
Continue reading
  250 Hits
  0 Comments
250 Hits
0 Comments

New Video! An introduction to the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform

Screenshot-2023-03-21-194915
In the course of our submission to the current "EU Prize for Citizen Science", we have produced a new video as an introduction to the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform. The clip showcases the core aspects of what the platform brings to Citizen Science projects across Europe and beyond. As an interactive toolkit, every Citizen Science App not only ...
Continue reading
  321 Hits
  0 Comments
321 Hits
0 Comments

Custom Project User Roles in Citizen Science Apps

SPOTTERON_UserRoles_CoverText
It is often the case in Citizen Science Apps that participants have different levels of experience, tools, or knowledge levels. Examples of this can emerge in many research topics, from experts on species classification to people with measuring equipment. With the new SPOTTERON platform feature "User Roles," we have created the basis for an extenda...
Continue reading
  707 Hits
  0 Comments
707 Hits
0 Comments

New Direct Communication Tools for Citizen Science Apps: User Message Boards

SPOTTERON_MessageBoards_Full_HD
User-to-user communication and project-to-user communication are essential parts of modern interactive Citizen Science. In the new platform update, we extend the already present features in all Apps on the SPOTTERON platform with another significant upgrade: User Message Boards. Exchanging messages, enabling discussion Being able to contact each ot...
Continue reading
  414 Hits
  0 Comments
414 Hits
0 Comments

How to work with young people in Citizen Science? - Complying with privacy laws and parental consent requirements in Apps

SPOTTERON_ParentalConsent_HD
In many Citizen Science Apps, participants are younger than 16 or 18 years of age. From educational school-based projects to including the youth in workshops, feedback, or data collection: the engagement of younger people is often at the core of Citizen Science projects. To invite underaged children to be active in a digital tool like Citizen ...
Continue reading
  694 Hits
  0 Comments
694 Hits
0 Comments

Working together with the Community for better Data Validation in Citizen Science Apps

Citizen Science Data Quality Validation with the help of the Community
One of the often very time-intensive tasks when running a Citizen Science project is the validation of the gathered data. Is the user-provided information correct? Does the species classification work out? Is the location correct? The complexity of this task grows with the success of a Citizen Science project. When hundreds of new contribution...
Continue reading
  738 Hits
  0 Comments
738 Hits
0 Comments

Map Types for Citizen Science Apps

Map Styles in Citizen Science Apps
In Citizen Science Apps, the map often plays a central role. On SPOTTERON, different map types stand ready for every participant to use as a personal choice and for supporting correct locations when submitting data in the App.  We are always at some place - and the map in a Citizen Science App reflects this connection. In Citizen Science,...
Continue reading
  597 Hits
  0 Comments
597 Hits
0 Comments

Does Data Validation improve with the community's help in Citizen Science Apps?

COVER_01_header-cwa-validation-blitz_v3
The new "Community Data Validation" Feature on the SPOTTERON Platform allows Citizen Scientists to be more deeply involved in the scientific process. The feature update in the ClimateWatch App by Earthwatch Australia allows users not only to submit observations but also to assess the accuracy and support the observations of...
Continue reading
  764 Hits
  0 Comments
764 Hits
0 Comments

EBW - A New App for Monitoring Biodiversity in Agriculture on the SPOTTERON Platform

EBW_Promo_AppTeaser_full-2020_1024x500
"EBW" stands for "Ergebnisorientierte Bewirtschaftung" ("result-oriented management") and is a highly specialized app for farmers and agriculturists to increase biodiversity in Austrian agricultural and natural landscapes. It serves to agree on concrete results or goals as part of an inspection of agricultural areas by experts, which are to be achi...
Continue reading
  670 Hits
  0 Comments
670 Hits
0 Comments

Spatial Data Recording for Citizen Science Apps

SPOTTERON_SpacialData_Cover SPOTTERON Spatial Data in Citizen Science
Many Citizen Science and User Engagement projects utilize more than only point data for locations and spatial dimensions. Examples are plentiful - from setting up transects for counting butterflies to recording habitats and transformations. Spatial Data Recording in Citizen Science Apps For that purpose, we have developed a new feature for all Citi...
Continue reading
  831 Hits
  0 Comments
831 Hits
0 Comments

Adapting Citizen Science App-Icons to a new technology

Adaptive Citizen Science App Icons on SPOTTERON
All Apps have a thing in common. They have an App-Icon. This visual element is one of the first things a participant in a Citizen Science App sees - and this makes it a vital part of a project. The first encounter with the App-Icon is already happening on the App Store page. Here, the App-Icon of a Citizen Science App represents a project and serve...
Continue reading
  791 Hits
  0 Comments
791 Hits
0 Comments

User Mentions and Push Notifications - Enabling immediate direct communication for all Citizen Science Apps

The new User Mentions feature for Citizen Science App communication
Imagine a Citizen Scientist asking a question inside your project's App. What if a reply directly reaches the user on the smartphone with a beep as soon it is posted? This next level of immediacy is now a reality with the new "User Mention" feature for all Apps on the SPOTTERON platform. The new functionality enables direct and personal commun...
Continue reading
  836 Hits
  0 Comments
836 Hits
0 Comments

A Milestone for Citizen Science: SPOTTERON 3.0 is here!

Spotteron3_Cover_Citizen-Science-Milestone
It has been a busy year here at SPOTTERON. Despite the ongoing global pandemic, we are happy that a new platform generation is finally ready for your Citizen Science Apps! After months of building up the groundwork, thorough evaluation, testing and improving, we are excited to present you the new and most extensive Citizen Science Platform we've ev...
Continue reading
  1468 Hits
  0 Comments
1468 Hits
0 Comments

Making Data Meaningful: Data Visualization Overlay in Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform

Spotteron_2_7_Data_Viz_Feature3

The new "Data Visualization Overlay" brings interactive data visualizations to all Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform. Significant relationships are illustrated with one click and presented in a visually appealing way.

Continue reading
  1864 Hits
  0 Comments
1864 Hits
0 Comments

E-Mail Subscription to your Citizen Science Project on the SPOTTERON Platform

SPOTTEREON_EmailSubScriptionFeature_Header_Blog

For Citizen Science projects that want to get in touch with their users via newsletters, SPOTTERON offers an "e-mail subscription" feature, that any project on the platform can utilize right from the start.

Continue reading
  1225 Hits
  0 Comments
1225 Hits
0 Comments

Offline Maps and Spots for Citizen Science on Field Trips

Offline_Maps
Summertime and the living is easy - especially for Citizen Scientists contributing their observations to projects running on the SPOTTERON platform. Excursions and field trips are excellent opportunities to observe nature in all its glory. From the phenological development of indicator plants for projects such as Climate Watch Australia or the ZAMG...
Continue reading
  1108 Hits
  0 Comments
1108 Hits
0 Comments

Blocking Content in Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON platform

Spotteron_User_Blocking_Feature

Publishing Smartphone Apps on the App Stores for Android and IOS comes with necessities within the set of rules defined by Apple and Google. All Apps on the platforms must accept the terms of services and given rules to be able to have a presence on the App Stores. Sometimes this also comes with surprising challenges, as we have experienced a short while ago. 

Continue reading
  969 Hits
  0 Comments
969 Hits
0 Comments

Better science data over time in Citizen Science Apps: introducing the Nearby-Spots feature

Better science data over time in Citizen Science Apps: introducing the Nearby-Spots feature

As a project partner on the SPOTTERON platform, you can now gently guide the Citizen Scientists contributing to your project to make better, more accurate observations in the Apps, thus making the data you're trying to obtain better and easier to manage.

Continue reading
  928 Hits
  0 Comments
928 Hits
0 Comments

New Citizen Science features in SPOTTERON 0.2.4

New Citizen Science features in SPOTTERON 0.2.4

If you've subscribed to our newsletter, its no big news at all: Last week, the new Citizen Science project by Vetenskap och Allmänhet (Science and Public) and the Universities of Gothenburg and Stockholm has been pre-released on Android and is in review by Apple. Time to go into depth what new features are available also for your own Citizen Science project in SPOTTERON!

Continue reading
  1412 Hits
  0 Comments
1412 Hits
0 Comments

Short News

  • A new paper titled "Citizen Science Approaches for Water Quality Measurements" has been published by the scientists behind CrowdWater. Find it in the papers section!

    in Shortnews
  • A new paper from the Horizon 2020 project IPM titled "Genetic variability of Metarhizium isolates from the Ticino Valley Natural Park (Northern Italy) as a possible microbiological resource for the management of Popillia japonica" has been added to our page. Find this and other Citizen Science related publications on the SPOTTERON Papers & Publications section.

    in Shortnews