Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By Lisa Gardiner, Apr 17, 2012
Imagine someone who is exploring nature. Are they wearing a backpack and hiking boots? Are they roaming the great outdoors? Now imagine someone exploring science. Are they wearing a lab coat and glasses? Are they in a chemistry lab or a room full of computers? Have they been indoors so long that their eyes squint at the light of day? Scientists, naturalist, writers, and artists all look at nature in different ways. What's your lens on nature? … Read more
Categories: Animals, Birds, Citizen Science, Nature & Outdoors, Science Education Standards
By Darlene Cavalier, Apr 16, 2012
Registration is open for the Conference on Public Participation in Scientific Research (citizen science, volunteer monitoring, community-based research, crowd science). August 4th and 5th, 2012 in Portland, Oregon. $30 with registration for ESA meeting, $95 for this event only. Now accepting poster abstracts and scholarship applications until May 4, 2012. With the rapid growth and … Read more “Call for Abstracts & more – Public Participation in Scientific Research Conf, Portland, OR, Aug 4-5, 2012”
Categories: Citizen Science
By Kate Atkins, Apr 04, 2012
The first blog post in our new series titled “Citizen Science Test Drive,” (where we present first-person reviews of citizen science apps, tools and platforms) featured reviews of three nature apps by SciStarter contributor Lisa Gardner. Today, we bring you Kate Atkins, a regular SciStarter contributor and avid birder. Here, Kate shares her list of … Read more “Citizen Science Test Drive: Apps for birding.”
Categories: Apps, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Darlene Cavalier, Apr 03, 2012
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy recently announced the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative.” This may be of interest to researchers and practitioners of crowd sourcing and citizen science. For example, as part of this effort, the National Science Foundation will fund a $10 million Expeditions in Computing project based at … Read more “Big Data is a Big Deal”
Categories: Citizen Science
By Darlene Cavalier, Mar 31, 2012
How can social media be used to accomplish a seemingly impossible task? Today, a social experiment called the “Tag Challenge” sends 5 individuals to roam the streets of New York, DC, Bratislava, Stockholm, and London. The task is to locate them before the sun sets based only on their mugshots. You can contribute by taking … Read more “CrowdScanner: A social media experiment in crowdsourcing. (Join our team, today!)”
Categories: Other
By Lisa Gardiner, Mar 29, 2012
Today, we are launching a series of SciStarter blog posts titled, “Citizen Science Test Drive” where we will present first-person reviews of citizen science apps, tools and platforms. If you would like to contribute to this series and share your experiences with our community, email john@scistarter.com. Here’s my review of three mobile apps for exploring … Read more “Citizen Science Test Drive: Three Mobile Apps for Exploring Nature”
Categories: Apps, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment
By Darlene Cavalier, Mar 13, 2012
Sergei Winogradsky discovered nitrifying bacteria in 1890, recognizing that these microbes convert ammonia to nitrate (via nitrite). In aquatic environments, ammonia toxicity to fish is avoided almost exclusively due to the activity of these bacteria…or so it was thought. The ability to remove (or oxidize) ammonia was discovered recently in Archaea, which are an entirely … Read more “Aquarium microbial ecology: a living room approach to citizen science”
Categories: Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Guest Contributor
By Kate Atkins, Mar 08, 2012
Spring is in the air, and birds are finally on the move. A recent push of southerly winds through the middle of the United States have put early migrants – particularly geese and swans – on the fast track to their breeding grounds up north. This weather pattern is set to continue through this week, … Read more “Spring swan sightings”
Categories: Biology, Birds, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Darlene Cavalier, Mar 01, 2012
Amateur science enthusiasts can join forces with top researchers through Your Research Mission—a new partnership between DISCOVER Magazine and SciStarter.com. NEW YORK, NY. (March 1, 2012) – A “citizen science” movement is sweeping the country. Now, amateur enthusiasts who want to collaborate with leading scientists can visit DiscoverMagazine.com to join cutting-edge research projects. DISCOVER is … Read more “Discover Magazine and SciStarter announce new citizen science partnership”
Categories: Citizen Science
By Darlene Cavalier, Feb 24, 2012
For most people, a citizen science project provides a way to address a specific scientific challenge with the help of volunteers. For a group of researchers from MIT, UCSD, Masdar Institute, and University of Southampton, it is also an opportunity to study what motivates people to join the project. Would you rather receive a badge, … Read more “Incentives for citizen scientists: report, recruit, verify”
Categories: Citizen Science, Guest Contributor
