Blog: Citizen Science Projects, People, and Perspectives
By Eric Betz, Dec 23, 2020
Every year around Christmas time, tens of thousands of volunteer birdwatchers gather in familiar locations across the Western Hemisphere for a tradition that dates back more than a century. On select days between December 14 and January 5, volunteers with the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count take a census of every bird they see … Read more “How a Christmas Tradition has Helped Track Billions of Vanishing Birds”
Categories: Animals, Other
By Caroline Nickerson, Dec 15, 2020
Hot off the (virtual) press…the Library & Community Guide to Citizen Science! Libraries are quickly becoming hubs for citizen science. Your library may already be involved in citizen science programming. If so, bravo! For countless others, citizen science is still a bit of a mystery. We created this guide to help you navigate the rapidly … Read more “The Library & Community Guide to Citizen Science”
Categories: Citizen Science Month, Library
By Bob Hirshon, Dec 12, 2020
This post was originally published as a SciStarter newsletter. Sign up to receive bi-weekly citizen science in your inbox! ‘Tis the season for citizen science! Like a warm cup of cocoa, these family favorite films evoke the spirit of giving, especially when paired with citizen science activities. Whether you’re outside dashing through the snow or at … Read more “SciStarter’s Holiday Film Guide”
Categories: Newsletter
By Shruthi Manjunath, Dec 08, 2020
In today’s world, computers both big and small produce vast volumes of data in record time — millions of trillions of bytes worth. It’s so much information that researchers can’t properly analyze all the data produced, and the overload can also lead computers to make mistakes. That’s why researchers are increasingly turning to citizen scientists … Read more “How Playing Science Games is Advancing Genetic Research”
Categories: Gaming, Other
By Molly Schools, Dec 04, 2020
Air quality impacts our health, our quality of life and even the length of our lives. Most people don’t think about what’s in the air they breathe — but perhaps they should. That’s the driving force behind the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative. The citizen science project wants to let people know what’s in their air. … Read more “How One Person in Pakistan Made a Difference for Air Quality”
Categories: Ecology & Environment, Other
By Bob Hirshon, Nov 28, 2020
Treat yourself (or someone else you love) to these awesome citizen science instruments. Do you, your friends or family members engage in gardening, birdwatching, stargazing or other science hobbies? If so, then our annual SciStarter Gift Guide is just what you need to find the ideal gift to take things to the next level of discovery! … Read more
Categories: Newsletter
By SciStarter Team, Nov 16, 2020
Guest Post by Sarah Jones Learn more about Budburst on SciStarter. Link to https://scistarter.org/budburst Join Communities Across the World in Observing Plant Life Cycles – Any Plant, Any Place, Any Time! I haven’t always loved plants. I loved the animals that took shelter in branches, eating leaves and fruits. I loved the lake surrounded by trees … Read more “Watching plants with Project Budburst”
Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors
By Nina Friedman,
In 2018, the Committee on Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning gathered at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine to draft the 184-page report, Learning Through Citizen Science: Enhancing Opportunities by Design. (Darlene Cavalier, founder of SciStarter.org, was part of that committee.) The goal of the report “[was] to say something new … Read more “National Academy of Sciences Report is a Guide to Making Citizen Science Work For Everyone”
Categories: Citizen Science
By Bob Hirshon, Nov 14, 2020
This post was originally published as a SciStarter newsletter. Sign up to receive bi-weekly citizen science in your inbox! Thank you for turning your curiosity into impact with citizen science. All of us at SciStarter are thankful for our nearly 100,000 registered members and the more than three million data contributions you’ve made to SciStarter affiliate projects so far this year. Happy Thanksgiving! … Read more “Gobble up these six awesome projects to help science…from home!”
Categories: Newsletter
By SciStarter Team, Nov 11, 2020
Guest Post by Lynn Chesnut (@ramblynn1) Citizen science projects address a wide variety of research needs from bee conservation to light pollution. This type of citizen science typically involves volunteers collecting data for projects created by “expert” scientists, and volunteer involvement often ends there. But there’s another citizen science. A citizen science that involves volunteers … Read more “Environmental Justice and Community-driven Research: Twitter Chat on November 13”
Categories: Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Science Policy, Science Practices, Tools
