Europe is home of major world class research infrastructures which are crucial enablers of research and technological innovation and drivers of multidisciplinary and data-intensive science. Such research infrastructures can also play a key role in eliminating anti-intellectual beliefs in society and providing citizens with the intellectual ammunition needed to become critical consumers of scientific knowledge. This can be done by creating a well-functioning ecosystem that allows new forms of co-creation between professional researchers and citizen scientists by empowering the latter not only with access to research outputs but also to take part in the process of scientific discovery producing high-quality data and adding to the scientific knowledge. In that regard, it is of utmost important to rethink policies to make research infrastructures a key player in citizen science through a consistent involvement of citizens making a genuine and valued contribution to managing the data avalanche.
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.
Online Course on Management of Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas
If you are a post graduate student, young scientist, member of a MAB Youth Group, educator or manager working on Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas, then, this online course is for you! The course is the virtual part of the 2021 Asterousia Hybrid University on Management of Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas, and will run from 10 January to 6 February 2022. The course in a nutshell : DURATION: Four weeks, starting from 10 January to 6 February 2022. FORMAT: It combines asynchronous (self-paced) and synchronous sessions (weekly live meetings). COMMITTMENT: The total training time for learners is approx. 20 hours (~5 hours/week). PARTICIPANTS: MAB Youth Group members, Post-Graduate Students, Young Scientists, Educators and Managers of Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas, with a priority to be given to applicants from European and Mediterranean countries. LANGUAGE: English. CERTIFICATION: Learners who succesfully complete 80% of the course assignments will get the course's certificate co-signed by the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe and the UNESCO Chair & Network on Sustainable Development Management and Education in the Mediterranean. COST: Thanks to the kind contribution of the organizers this course will be free of charge for all participants! ORGANISERS: MIO-ECSDE and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (Venice Office) REGISTRATIONS: https://www.eventora.com/en/Events/2021_Asterousia_hybrid_university MORE INFORMATION: https://medies.net/2021-asterousia-hybrid-university-phase-b-online-course
NASA GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge
The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program invites citizen scientists from around the world to participate in the Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge. This challenge combines Mosquito Habitat Mapper and Land Cover (two GLOBE Observer app tools) to document mosquito breeding habitats with photos. GLOBE would like you to take photos of mosquito habitats, in either natural or artificial containers. If mosquito larvae are present, you are encouraged to photograph them with a magnifier (optional). Then, we’d like you to take photos of the land around the habitat location using the Land Cover tool. Photos submitted during this challenge will be used to create automated classification programs that can identify mosquito larvae and the environments they prefer. Such computer programs can help prevent outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease
Learn About Project Noah's Online Community & Moths of the World Mission
Join Michael Sarill of Project Noah for a virtual program about the popular online global community of nature enthusiasts and its collaboration with National Moth Week. Michael will lead aspiring citizen scientists through Project Noah’s Moths of the World mission, which provides a platform for uploading and publishing photos, creating a personal nature journal and learning about the natural world on projectnoah.org and its social media platforms. This virtual event is free and open to the public. It will be presented via Zoom.
Learning Data Naturally SLA (Special Libraries Association) 2021
Public participation in scientific research through citizen science is gaining popularity across the world. Through data collection, citizen scientists contribute to the creation of open and research-grade data and build data literacy skills. Academic librarians are often uniquely positioned to promote citizen science projects both in the classroom and among community advocates, connecting researchers with life-long learners for the benefit of open science. During the on-demand session and throughout the conference, participants and attendees will ‘naturally’ engage with the process of science and learn data literacy skills such as data collection and sharing, by contributing to this dataset. Participants in the session will also be encouraged to pose questions, analyze data, draw conclusions, and communicate findings by exploring the data collected by conference attendees from around the world. Sign up/log into iNaturalist and join the project.
Online + Sala BBK …
BBK Open Science Fest 2021 is an open and participatory science festival that offers all citizens the opportunity to enjoy, socialize and learn about science, technology and innovation. This festival presents a wide and varied program of participatory performances and experiences. In addition and for the first time, Bilbao will hold an international meeting of open and community science, in which we will connect with scientists from different parts of the world, such as New York, Mexico and Switzerland. They will show us their citizen science, community biology and social innovation projects. Attendees will be able to learn and do science with them in a fun and entertaining way (you can even sign up for a Mindfulness session!). The festival is open and free, we will be streaming the activities carried out at the festival so everyone can follow them online (get your tickets at bbkopenscience.com). Come join us at #bbkopenscience!
INOS Project Event – Integrating Citizen Science at Universities: From ‘What’ to ‘How
Should science focus on issues of public importance/respond to public concerns? What are the benefits of citizen involvement in scientific research? What are the pitfalls? These and many more questions are frequently raised by those engaging or wishing to engage in Citizen Science (CS). This two-day workshop is designed to provide input into what CS is and how CS projects can be implemented in universities and research libraries. The workshop will focus on: • The basics of CS and its benefits; • Requirements to take into consideration when involving citizen scientists in research projects; • Examples and benefits of integrating CS into educational programmes; • Practical guidance on how to develop and implement CS projects; • Examples of CS research projects. The workshop will be of a highly participatory nature, with participants required to work in small groups during their own time. The first session will take place at 10.00 CEST on the 2nd of June, followed by a session at 14:00 CEST on the 4th of June.
Unleashing the potential of Citizen Science Data for monitoring the SDGs
Crowd4SDG Panel Discussion and Call for NSO challenges. As a Crowd4SDG project partner, UNITAR is hosting this online panel for National Statistical Offices and Systems to discuss how to leverage citizen science data using both “active” and “passive” approaches, and what quality assurance criteria to consider. The panel will present the results of the Crowd4SDG report developed with the guidance of the Advisory Group. Several National Statistical Offices and other organizations will share their experiences and work on the use of citizen science data. Following the presentation of the Crowd4SDG tools developed for citizen scientists,the event will also feature "Propose your Crowd4SDG challenge" segment in connection with a public competition to be launched later this year to develop citizen science projects that tackle climate change and gender inequality. Register in advance to receive materials! For more information, please contact: a2030@unitar.org
Monitoring groundwater in Limpopo Province through citizen science
On 2 March 2021 (11:00-12:00 CET), Jaqui Goldin, from the Centre for UNESCO Groundwater, will present the latest findings from a groundwater-monitoring citizen science project based in the Hout Catchment, Limpopo Province – one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. In this project, citizen scientists capture data on groundwater levels and rainfall, putting it onto a smartphone from where it is uploaded to the web. The data is then available to the Department of Water and Sanitation, and others, who are otherwise unable to access groundwater information in remote wells. After the presentation, Jaqui will answer questions about the project. Attendance is free, and the event will be held in English.
Discovering the unexplored deep marine environment
Deep underwater neutrino telescopes as KM3NeT measure neutrino and environmental events that constitute “noise” for the neutrino searches. These environmental events range from biological bioluminescence to acoustic signals from sea mammals. Citizens can support KM3NeTs scientists to increase the efficiency in the neutrino detection algorithms, providing input that will be crucial for two scientific tasks: the classification of noise types, and the identification of the frequency range and typical length of noise signals. The output of the citizen science activity will serve as a basis for training machine learning algorithms, which will automatically identify and classify the noise sources, thus monitoring the noise with an unprecedented detail. At the same time, citizens will have the opportunity to gain a greater insight of the unexplored deep marine environment. In the framework of REINFORCE, time sequences of the optical counting rates on the KM3NeT “eyes” will be made available to the general public in order to monitor ambient bioluminescence, and citizens will be invited to classify in a systematic way the various types of waveforms observed. Furthermore, in order to involve in this activity also visually-impaired citizen scientists, the “ears” of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope will also be exploited by utilising the time sequences of the acoustical signals detected. Both sound and visual data for the bioluminescence and the acoustic signals will be produced. The webinar aims to give an overview of the Deep Sea Hunters Large Scale Citizen Science demonstrator and how it will be implemented in order to engage citizens in the scientific research, showcasing the tasks that citizens will be asked to perform and how their input will be fundamental to explore the environment of the deep sea below 1000m depth in which humanity has little experience so far. Who should attend? Potential citizen scientists Neutrino researchers and academics Members of the physics and marine community You will learn: How citizens can play an active role in the advance of ground-breaking research How a deep underwater neutrino telescope works How REINFORCE demonstrator about Deep Sea Hunters will be developed How the project will work to include diverse and underrepresented groups in science Agenda 15:00 - 15:10: Welcome and introduction - Paschal Coyle, CPPM, Marseille 15:10 - 15:20: Neutrinos and KM3NeT - Gwenhael de Wasseige, APC, Paris 15:20 - 15:30: Deep Sea Hunters on Zooniverse - Remy Le Breton, APC, Paris 15:30 - 15:40: Bioluminescence - Severine Martini, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Marseille 15:40 - 15:50: Submarine Intelligent Listening into KM3EnT & Abyss - Herve Glotin, Computer Science & Systems Lab., CNRS, Toulon 15:50 - 16:00: Q&A and wrap-up
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