Cit izen Scient ists A Synergist ic Relat ionship for Museums and the Community

Ally Coconis, Amanda McGarry, Lexi Kaili

What is cit izen science? And how is it beneficial?What?

● Involvement of the public in scient ific research

How does it help?

● Create useful data for researchers or data managers.● Crowdsourcing data collect ion, transcript ion, and/or management● Authentic learning experiences with read world phenomena● Open scient ific pract ices to the community● Sense of place and ownership of ideas

Mutually beneficial work!!!

History of Cit izen Science

The concept has been around for a long t ime…

● Audubon Christmas Bird Count - since 1900

● Cooperat ive Observer Program/National Weather Service - since 1891

● Water Quality monitoring - past 50 years

https:/ /vimeo.com/71432056

● In the 90’s there was a handful of projects, now there are countless...

Cit izen Science Today

Many topics:

● Data Collect ion - based:○ Nature/biology, climate, archeological, etc.

● Data Transcription - based:○ Nature, climate, genome, history, art,

literature, medicine, space, census, etc.

B ased all over the world! Projects for everyone!

M any Platforms to participate:

● Zooniverse● SciStarter● DigiV ol● Notes from Nature● iNaturalist● eM ammal, eB ird● And M ANY more!

M any channels to start a project:

● Contribute to a project that already exists

● Use a model and platform that is already built

● Set up an entirely new project

A variety of projects...Space archeology (GlobalXplorer):

https:/ /www.npr.org/sect ions/thetwo-way/2017/01/31/512661370/space-archaeologist-wants-cit izen-scient ists-to-ident ify-archaeological-loot ing

Cyclone history (Cyclone Center):

https:/ /www.cyclonecenter.org/#/about

Danish National Archives - history projects:

https:/ /cs.sa.dk/

Zooniverse - art projects:

https:/ /www.zooniverse.org/projects?discipline=arts&page=1&status=live

NHMU Cit izen Science Projects

● Vertebrate Zoology Transcript ion Project - Amanda○ Transcript ion-based - transcript ion of field notebooks from past ~100 years.○ Addresses collect ion-based need for crowd-sourcing.

● Salt Lake City Neighborhood Naturalist Project - Lexi○ Data collect ion and education-based - collect biodiversity data from parks around SLC in partnership with

SLC Parks and Public Lands. Learn about the life in the parks in your neighborhoods.○ Addresses the need for increased data, data management, and for reaching out to underserved audiences.

Vertebrate Zoology Field Note Digit izat ion and Transcript ion ProjectBackground - Why Digit ize?

How to start -- Challenges and Successes

Transcript ion

Why Digit ize?In 2016, 83,536 vertebrate zoology specimen records were migrated into Arctos database

Collaborat ive Collect ion Management Solut ion

Why Digit ize?

• Emergency plan: save the field notebooks!

• Critical contextual information for

specimens in the V Z collections

• Some of these notebooks are over 80 years

old (earliest is dated 1931)

• None have ever been copied or scanned &

are deteriorating with age, so digitizing and

preserving is critical

• After scanning, original materials archived

with R egistrar’s office

How We Started● Volunteers in the museum helped from

day one.

● Our materials vary in scope, size, and

number of pages

● ~ 175 notebooks from historic collectors

and ~ 125 notebooks from modern

collectors

● ~14-20 months to complete scanning

● Funded by a grant, purchased camera

equipment, photo software and computer

for our imaging

● Similar imaging projects could be done in

the same manner with less equipment

Process ● Image one page at a t ime, using

a 35mm digital camera

● Save images as TIFF files,

associate metadata for

searching in databases

● Streamlining and uniforming

the file saving process

● Logging of progress

● Workflow with images and

step by step instruct ions

Chal lenges

● Technology

● Trouble shoot ing

● Bott lenecks

○ IT

○ Space/Storage

● Volunteer Recruitment

Volunteers

Volunteers are a crucial part of this project

Pros: Fast Imaging, more eyes for problems, insight

Cons: File organizing, slower issue resolut ion

7 Imaging Volunteers● 474 hours of work● Over 11,000 images

Transcript ion & Cit izen ScienceNot only will this project produce digital copies of our collect ion notebooks, t ranscript ion will allow for…

● Linking the notes to specimen record

● Fill in missing at tribute data in database record

● Search by keywords and catalog numbers

The scale of t ranscript ion (10-20k pages) could only be done with cit izen science!

Transcript ion & Cit izen ScienceDigiVol - crowdsourcing plat form designed by Australian Museum in collaborat ion with the At las of Living Australia

Used by many inst itut ions around the world as a way of combining the efforts of many volunteers to digit ize data.

Smaller organizat ion - series of emails with one coordinator there

Very helpful with sett ing up our expedit ions and helping create custom templates

Museum object labels, field notebooks and diaries, recording

sheets, registers or photographs.

Transcript ion and validat ion

Users follow tutorials to get started on an expedit ion

Transcript ion & Cit izen ScienceOur Stats:

● 11 completed expedit ions, 1 current ly underway. Two new expedit ions loaded every week

● 27 volunteers from around the world have already transcribed over 500 pages since end of May

DIGIVOL has over 3000 users, over 1600 expedit ions

One of many plat forms for cit izen science!

On this plat form you can contribute to an exist ing project, model a new one, or create something totally new

Contact digivol@austmus.gov.au to start a project!

SLC Neighborhood Natural ists:An Int roduct ion to Cit izen Science using iNatural ist

● What is SLCNN?○ A program to engage the community through

bioblitz events

● What is a bioblitz?○ An event to record biodiversity in a specific

location

● Goals / What for ? ○ Learn through exploration○ Hands-on participation in data collection ○ Engaging in the scientific process

SLCNN History How?● Adapted pre-existing model from

iNaturalist● Developed with diversity and

inclusion in mind

Where?● Three recently restored locations:

○ Miller Park Bird Refuge, Jordan River Peace Labyrinth, Fife Wetland Preserve

Impact?● Visit each location 2x a year● Track changes in biodiversity over

time ● Third year

NHMU’s Commitment to Diversity

● Diversity & Inclusion Committee○ Citizen Science strategic plan for the next

five years

● Reach out to Spanish-speaking communities

● Develop partnerships in communities

● Create lasting relationships through shared resources ○ How do our goals align?

iNatural ist as a Tool● A free mobile app● Easy to use ● Share photos worldwide ● Helps you explore nature wherever you are!

● Create projects based on location or events● Search database with map feature

○ Park, neighborhood, city, region, state, country, species, taxa, etc.

● Lots of educator resources on website

www.inaturalist.orgApp works with IOS and Android

● Download app and create account● Take photos of wild plants and

animals ● Upload photo(s)

○ Location, time, date automatically recorded

● Identify observations

How to contribute to iNaturalist?

● Use new artificial intelligence feature

● Take clear photos● Computer vision can tell

you what species you observed○ 70% accuracy

Learn with photo recognition!

Why contribute to iNaturalist?

● Learn about living organisms● Contribute to scientific

databases ● Connect with scientists,

researchers, experts, and enthusiasts around the world

● All ages welcome; No experience necessary

● Target neighborhoods around event location

● Translate materials for Spanish-speaking individuals○ Naturalista

● Bring experts with us to engage the public

● Provide tools for participants ○ Bug nets, plastic vials, tablets

BIOBLITZ PROCESS

● Observations require IDENTIFICATION to become research-grade.

● iNaturalist community contributes expertise

● Share and discuss through social network

NHMU Digital Citizen Science volunteers

● Five dedicated individuals have invested in the program○ Each have brought and developed

expertise■ Birds, plants, insects...

After the event...

SLCNN Partnerships

● Citizen Science projects NEED an “end user”○ Who is going to use the data collected? ○ City uses data to guide management and

track biodiversity over time

Hartland Community 4 Youth & Families fosters “cultural and ethnic diversity in an inclusive, supportive, and

safe space”

“UNP brings together University and west side resources in reciprocal learning, action and benefit...”

Cit izen Science at NHMU going forward...3 projects so far…

● Vertebrate Zoology Transcript ion Project● SLCNN● Utah Firefly Project

Goals:

● Crowd-sourcing data collect ion and transcript ion● Reaching new communit ies● Forming new partnerships● Creating more accessible resources both internally and externally● Finding ways that CS can help us reach more internal goals for our inst itut ion

Crowd-sourcing data col lect ion and t ranscript ion● Crowd-sourcing helps with lack of money

available to hire more personnel to collect and manage data

● Although there can be concerns of the accuracy with which cit izen scient ists are collect ing or inputing data, these processes can be vetted by the platforms proposed and your individual protocols.

● Can be a t ime investment upfront but can save t ime and money into the future

Reaching new communit ies

Geographical

● Statewide reach

Audience

● Urban and rural● Physical and remote access● Working with people in which English is a second language● Working with people who have a disability

Partnership opportunit ies

● Partnering with organizat ions that need the data or that could use your data/ information.

● Partnering with organizat ions that have similar goals

● Partnering with organizat ions that could benefit from your resources

Creat ing more accessible resourcesExternally

● Online type projects● Teacher and community educator resources● Translated resources● Training the Trainers project● Sharing resources with other inst itut ions

Internally

● Creating a database that has metadata attached ● Utah Cit izen Science Pract it ioners - community of pract ice

○ Story map○ Shared natural resources database○ Tools for communication and collaborat ion○ Professional development opportunit ies○ Connecting CS to K-12 and college students/teachers

Consider...

What are your goals, and how may cit izen science help you reach them?

If you would like to part icipate in our annual pract it ioners meeting, we are proposing a date this year around the last week in November at NHMU. Please email me, acoconis@nhmu.utah.edu, to get more information!

And/or join our FB group: Utah Cit izen Science

QUESTIONS????

Resources:

● iNaturalist○ Educator resources

■ Seek○ iNat network

● DigiVol● Zooniverse● Scistarter● GlobalXplorer● Cit izen Science Associat ion -

http:/ /www.cit izenscience.org/

● Utah CS pract it ioners FB group: “Utah Cit izen Science”

● National Phenology Network ○ Cit izen Science tab