Project Activity System for Citizen Science Apps
In many Citizen Science projects, there are geographical location-related events or activities to interact with as a participant. Such activities can, for example, be simply a workshop taking place or something more permanent like an exhibition, a na...
SPOTTERON FOUR PREVIEW - A new generation of Citizen Science Apps is on the horizon
The SPOTTERON platform is always extending and together with projects across Europe, Australia, America, and Africa, new features and functionalities are constantly developed. With a new set of major core extensions and the overhaul of important syst...
This was the ECSA Citizen Science Conference 2022 in Berlin
From the 5th to the 8th of October, the ECSA Citizen Science Conference 2022 took place in Berlin under the motto "Citizen Science for Planetary Health."We have been attending this fantastic bi-annual event (for sure) and spent four days in Germany's...
Does Data Validation improve with the community's help in Citizen Science Apps?
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 u...
Spatial Data Recording for Citizen Science Apps
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 D...
User Mentions and Push Notifications - Enabling immediate direct communication for all Citizen Science Apps
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 f...
A Milestone for Citizen Science: SPOTTERON 3.0 is here!
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 i...
"The Science of Citizen Science" Book has been published!
Starting the new year with some good news: The new open-action book, "The Science of Citizen science "has been finally published by Springer and is now availableas a free book (Open Access) for download.
With over a hundred contributing authors from 24 countries, including us, the book is a culmination of the work of the COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology in Europe) Action, "Citizen Science to promote creativity, scientific literacy, and innovation throughout Europe ", COST Action CA15212.
General Assembly 2025 of the Horizon 2020 MINAGRIS Project in Vienna
From October 1st to October 3rd, the MINAGRIS General Assembly was held at the Head Office of AGES in Vienna, Austria, bringing together researchers, partners, and people who worked together on the project from all over Europe. Over the course of three days, participants exchanged project updates, talked about major discoveries, and collaborat...
The 2026/2027 Horizon Europe Work Programmes - Draft Versions Publicly Available and Includes Public Engagement & Citizen Science
When one project calendar year is turning to the end soon, another is on the horizon! The Horizon Europe Work Programmes for 2026-2027 are in the making and for the first time the draft versions are publicly available. We took a look at the recent draft documents which are available under the European Commission's Comitology Register. In this short...
ArtSpots App: A Long-Running Community App on Public Art and Citizen Science
Recently SPOTTERON took part in contributing to a book chapter entitled: "Connecting People and the Ocean Through Street Art and Citizen Science". The chapter was published in a book "Blue Kinships: An Exploration of Society & the Ocean" edited by Chiara Certoma. In this blog, we will introduce the journey of the book chapter as well as spotlig...
Multiple Images Feature in a Citizen Science App: Bringing More Details of each Observation
Since the release of the SPOTTERON Platform Version 4.0, citizen science & public engagement projects running on the Platform support multiple image upload per data submission. In practice, multiple image upload features are applied by projects for multiple reasons, for example, bringing more attention to the detail (e.g. for particul...
communiMap: Citizen Science Communities Observe their Neighbourhoods in Glasgow
Imagine that all the little things you observe on a daily basis - your daily commute to work, the trees in your street, or the way rain collects on the road - could contribute to bettering your neighbourhood. That's exactly what communiMap - a new Citizen Science project running on the SPOTTERON Plaform aims to do. Led by the University of Glasgow'...
Multi-Language Capabilities Across Citizen Science Projects
Multi-language capabilities have been extended on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform. From multiple translations of Project Apps, the platform also supports direct multi-language communication by sending direct messages to all participating citizens. Extended language capabilities have also been integrated in the platform's toolkit for inte...
New Project Design for the Horizon Europe TRANSEATION Project, Marine Science
A few months ago, we at SPOTTERON created beside the COSEA Citizen Science App a new Project Design for TRANSEATION, a marine science project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme. The main goal of the TRANSEATION project is to show how man-made structures can effectively protect the health of marine ecosystems. These...
New European Bauhaus Call & Community Engagement
At SPOTTERON we strongly believe that Citizen Science Apps can serve as a space for interactive collaboration in reaching positive change. Multi-level engagement, participatory processes and transdisciplinary approach are also principles shared by the New European Bauhaus which aims to reimagine sustainable living in Europe by bringing various acto...
Art & Citizen Science
As Citizen Scientists, we explore a wide range of species and observe all kinds of perceivable phenomena. These explorations lead to meaningful experiences—experiences that can inspire and shape artistic expression: Art & (Citizen) Science? The connection between experience and art is at the heart of a theory proposed by philosop...
Sending Messages to All Participants, Enabling Pop-Ups: How the Extended "Project Messages" Feature Supports Participation, Communication, and Dissemination in Citizen Science Apps
On the SPOTTERON Platform, project teams and researchers can reach out to all participants via an integrated communication tool, called "Project Messages". The tool enables projects to disseminate news and updates, inform all participants, send links to everyone to new blog posts or pages, and tell stories. Communication is an important part of eve...
The Horizon Europe Cluster HORIZON-CL6-2025-01 has opened! First calls for proposals & forming of consortiums has started...
Horizon Europe is the scientific successor to the Horizon 2020 research framework programme of the European Union, under the leadership of the European Commission. Enhancing research in the fields of climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN, and EU competitiveness are the main goals of Horizon Europe. Furthermore, Horizon ...
Final Release of the BOB Citizen Science App (Behavioural Observations in Beetles)
Citizen Science projects often encompass a wide range of participation opportunities. From documenting observations and investigating specific research objects (like in Beweisstück Unterhose), to creating ponds in home gardens to support and study green toads (AmphiApp) — Citizen Science projects on the SPOTTERON platform often go beyond reporting ...
Featured
Project Activity System for Citizen Science Apps
In many Citizen Science projects, there are geographical location-related events or activities to interact with as a participant. Such activities can, for example, be simply a workshop taking place or something more permanent like an exhibition, a nature trail, or a project-related area that needs highlighting. With the integrated system called "Pr...
From Participation to Community: citizen-to-citizen and scientist-to-citizen interactions in Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON platform
One of the most important aspects of Citizen Science is recognizing that participants voluntarily invest their time and effort into contributing to scientific projects—without compensation. While their passion for nature and curiosity about the environment drive participation, another crucial motivator is often overlooked: the desire to engage and ...
EFFECTIVE Meeting in Cyprus, January 2025
On January 15th and 16th, 2025, leading scientists, researchers, and stakeholders gathered in Larnaca, Cyprus, for the latest meeting of the EFFECTIVE Consortium. This international collaboration is dedicated to advancing environmental data management, coastal sustainability, and innovative technological solutions to address ecological challenges i...
Hey, we made it full circle! Have some wonderful winter holidays and see you in 2025!
The year 2024 is coming to a close, and soon we are off for the winter holidays! It was an exciting year, new technologies have been developed and integrated, new Horizon Europe projects rolling on, new team members joining SPOTTERON and so many new Citizen Science Apps and projects starting on the platform. As it is tradition, we design ...
NatureSpots Citizen Science App Spotlighted in Podcast Episode “Citizen Science and Biodiversity” (Amsterdamse Bos, Athena Institute)
How do science, citizen science, and nature reinforce each other to address social issues? This key topic was the focus of a podcast recorded last summer by Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest) and the Athena Institute, a research institute of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Last week, the podcast was published, and given the interesting insig...
Live Route Recording in Citizen Science Apps
Every so often, the journey is the reward. When it comes to Citizen Science projects that include data about paths and routes traveled by citizens in the research, recording such geospatial data live is a crucial feature. Projects from areas like environmental health, urban transportation, or social science studies can benefit from being able to en...
Biodiversity in Urban Space - Ars Electronica Festival 2024
Is it strange to live still optimistically and in hope in times of the polycrisis? This question was posed at this year's Ars Electronica Festival in Linz with the theme HOPE. We attended the festival in early September, and in this blog, we'll briefly discuss the workshop "Plant Life on the POSTCITY Roof" led by botanist Friedrich Schwarz. Togethe...
Understanding Climate Crisis Through Citizen Science: The P51 Project in Costa Rica
The climate crisis is undeniably reshaping our world, with its impacts becoming increasingly evident across various aspects of life. From record-breaking temperatures and shifting habitats to declining biodiversity and changes in infrastructure and politics, the effects of climate change are both vast and complex. Many of us can easily perceive war...
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