We are organising an hybrid scientific session at the Ocean Science Meeting, 27 Feb - 4 March 2022 on ‘The uptake of data by citizen scientists, aggregators and end-users: successes, challenges and gaps in the dataflow’ and are inviting you to submit an abstract by 29 September 2021. Please find more details of the session below. OD11 The uptake of data by citizen scientists, aggregators and end-users: successes, challenges and gaps in the dataflow Keywords: Citizen science, marine data, dataflow, interoperability, acceptance, engagement, policy, data management, validation, end user needs, sustainability, impact Organizers: Patrick Gorringe, patrick.gorringe@smhi.se, James Sprinks, jsprinks@earthwatch.org.uk, Peter Thijsse, peter@maris.nl, Emilie Breviere, emilie.breviere@smhi.se Citizen science is a particularly impactful channel to collect data and its utility has been proven on small scales, yet the groundbreaking, and absolutely necessary, potential of citizen science has yet to be realized. Over the last decade, marine citizen science projects have provided a cost-effective means to collect extensive data sets covering vast spatio-temporal scales where conventional data collection is limited in operation, such as coastal seas. However many initiatives fail to be sustainable, and fail to reach acceptance of their data by scientists and by policy makers. To be efficient and successful a project should provide data with sufficient quality, structure and availability to be used by professionals and ensure that citizen scientists realize and appreciate the impact of their contribution towards the understanding of the scientific big picture. When studying the flow of citizen science data, it follows a series of steps from the providers to the users, via data aggregators. The essential steps of this process are the acquisition, management, flow in key infrastructure, evaluation and impact analyses, use in ocean models, research and forecasting, and public visualization. The objective of the co-organizers is to provide a session during which participants will share experiences on successes and failures, needs and limitations in the data flow chain. The session wishes to be a unique niche for the numerous actors of the data flow in marine citizen science initiatives to meet and exchange. It will explore current and future collaborations, hear from invited experts about wider citizen science initiatives and discuss how marine data aggregators in its next phase can more systematically link with citizen science to not only expand the data provision from citizen science, but also find ways to encourage citizen science to work closer with data aggregators across the full value chain.
Engaging the society beyond data collection
The challenges of ocean monitoring require data from everywhere at all times, we need to involve society in all steps of the process to achieve the information necessary to implement evidence-based policies in coastal and ocean management. This workshop is a Satellite Activity of the Event “A Predicted Ocean”, an Ocean Decade Laboratory organized in the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean for Sustainable Development. The workshop will analyse different challenges in volunteer participation in ocean monitoring projects: from potential barriers for volunteer participation up to how to improve the management of the cost and oceans developing evidence-based policies using in some cases the information generated in these participative processes. REGISTER HERE: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-workshop-engaging-the-society-beyond-data-collection-in-citizen-science-168961358973 The workshop “Engaging the society beyond data collection” will be divided into two parts: - First part: an overview of lessons learned in previous and ongoing projects. - Second part: moderated discussion (both in English and Spanish) with all the involved actors, including academia, industry, policymakers and civil society WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? This workshop is aimed at all the communities interested in participatory coastal monitoring: Academia, Industry (particularly SMEs), Policy Makers, and Civil Society (NGOs, local groups, environmental associations, Schools, …). PRELIMINARY AGENDA: 1- Welcome and introduction: Jaume Piera (ICM-CSIC) 2- An overview of previous and ongoing experiences: -Ocean Cities. Josep Lluís Pelegrí (ICM-CSIC) -Australian Coasts. Libby Hepburn (CSA) -Wadden Sea. Soledad Luna (W-S World Heritage) -Our Coast. Luigi Ceccaroni (EarthWatch-UK) -Reef Monitoring. Phanor Montoya (Corales de Paz) -Urban Beaches. Andrea Comaposada (Anel·lides) 3- Interactive session: going beyond data collection: -Breakout Room 1. English session -Breakout Room 2. Spanish session
From the 1st of June until the 30th of September, the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, and Tarragona will participate in a Bioblitz called "BioMARató". The region that gets the most underwater observations, detects more invasive and rare species or gets the most participants will win. This event is part of the City Nature Challenge (CNC), an international friendly competition of naturalistic observations where cities worldwide will compete with each other. Participate on your own or sign up for one of the free activities on the Catalan coast (beaches in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Costa Daurada, and Costa Brava)