some thoughts on Cititzen Science: it needs a system

Thursday, 29 October 2015 18:42

Currently in Barcelona, Spain, the yearly European Citizen Science Association summit is taking place. As not only an interested person in science and ecology but also as founder of SPOTTERON, events like this always result in following the various posts, tweets and streams online the whole days. At #ecsabcn In her keynote, Libby Hepborn from the Australian Citizen Science Association mentioned a something, which immediatly grabbed my attention.

@CSAustria also tweeted that statement:
"Libby Hepburn @CitSciOZ would like a "tripadvisor" for #citizenscience tools."

Libby Hepburn @CitSciOZ would like a "tripadvisor" for #citizenscience tools. #ECSAbcn
— citizen-science.at (@CSAustria) October 28, 2015

Well, thats exactly what we are trying to do. SPOTTERON is by concept and should be in reality an easy to use, always maintained plattform for citizen science applications on computers and smartphones. Its not an easy thing to develop nor is it easy to get projects and initiatives on board, but we still believe that the approach of building an ever-maintained system is the right path to go.

We keep trying to get the word out. If you are a scientist or project lead, who is planning to release a project in the fields of citizen science, please get in contact. The more projects we can do, the better we can constantly improve the system called SPOTTERON. We all benefit from this concurrent development.

The current version 0.1.8 of the SPOTTERON smartphone apps like "Project Roadkill" @ www.roadkill.at or "NaturVerrückt" @ www.naturverrueckt.at is already in daily use by many users. Spots get sent in every day and our partners, like the Team from www.roadkill.at at the BOKU Wien, the university for life science here in Vienna, are glad they use SPOTTERON and its ongoing improvement. I hope i dont lean to much out of a window if i just write: ask them. They know those benefits from first hand.

And also, if we together get SPOTTERON to the place it should be as a widly used system for well done citizen science apps, your users benefit too by a common usability and by the new features, we introduce to them on a regular basis. It will be indeed is like trip advisor for citizen science. Lets do it, get on board.

Philipp, www.spotteron.com

Projects & Apps open for Co-Use on SPOTTERON

Social initiative Data Collection App

SPOTTERON

ArtSpots is a community-built art atlas. Through the App, people interested in various art forms like street art, historical or contemporary art, photography, architecture, and more can put their art observations on the map and discover art spots in their city or while travelling. The art community in the App allows exchanging with other like-minded people and contributing to a worldwide art collection.

Learn more about
ArtSpots

Horizon Europe Citizen Science App

With the COSEA App, Citizen Scientists can observe marine environments, document coastal habitats or species, and report on pollution, infrastructure and the blue economy. Their contributions on the map and activity in the app will help scientists better understand the impacts and drivers of marine factors to protect and foster a healthy relationship between humans and seas.

Learn more about
COSEA | Collaboration for Effective Sea Action

Environmental Citizen Science, Data Collection App

SPOTTERON

NatureSpots is a non-commercial and free project to discover nature together. In the app, nature photos and sightings of animals, plants or mushrooms can be shared with the community on the map. The app is a new initiative for observing nature and taking part is very simple and straightforward. The app is free of advertising, does not track users and takes digital privacy seriously.

Learn more about
NatureSpots

Social initiative Community Engagement App

SPOTTERON

The new citizen participation uses "Citizen Science" in their hometown and nationwide to get User's feedback on places. As a result, citizens are empowered to become active in a city worth living in to collect and share data themselves and to interact with scientists. This enables them to recognize the consequences of sealing, heat, water shortages, and a lack of biodiversity, and generally, how places in their own environment affect us all.

Learn more about
CIVO Citizen Voice

Horizon 2020 Invasive Species Monitoring App

The IPM-Popillia Horizon 2020 project aims to address the challenge of a new risk to plant health in Europe's agriculture and food safety: the invasion of the Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica. This invasive species was introduced accidentally to mainland Europe in 2014 and can quickly spread by transportation and trade. As a species with a wide range of feeding plants, P. japonica threatens the entire agricultural sector, urban landscapes, and biodiversity in invaded areas.

Learn more about
IPM Popillia | Integrated Pest Management of the Japanese Beetle

Environmental Community Engagement App

Fridays for Future see itself as a horizontal, grassroots grassroots movement that acts apolitically and refers to science for the facts. To engage the global population more, this app was developed using SPOTTERON. The aim is to find out how the population perceives the climate crisis and which positive and negative emotions are associated with specific topics related to biodiversity and climate crisis.

Learn more about
FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE - Climate App