Citizen Science

NASA offers an entire universe of citizen science projects, and at CitSciCon – the first-of-its-kind online event series that was hosted by the Citizen Science Association and SciStarter in May of 2021 – project leaders and volunteers from dozens of those projects shared their stories. Check out this podcast to hear some of those stories, and if you'd like to learn more and participate in the featured projects, visit SciStarter's NASA CitSciCon webpage (https://SciStarter.org/NASA). You'll find links to the original livestreamed events, and project pages for all of these exciting citizen science volunteer opportunities!

 

Projects mentioned in this podcast include:

 

Backyard Worlds: Planet 9

Disk Detective

GLOBE Observer: Trees

Fjord Phyto

iNaturalist

NASA NeMO-Net Coral Classification

GLOBE Observer: Landcover

Snapshot Wisconsin

 

Access a transcript of the episode.

Citizen Science Month is an opportunity to showcase the entire panoply of citizen science projects all over the world, and we try to capture it all in this roundup episode. Which isn't possible. But we do hope this show gives you a taste of what the month had to offer. If you want to go deeper, you can learn more at CitizenScienceMonth.org. Video of some of the webinars described in this podcast can be found at SciStarter.org/Citizen-Science-Videos

 

Projects mentioned in this podcast include:

 

SciQuest

Caterpillars Count

Public Editor

Demo Watch

Fjord Phyto

GLOBE Observer: Clouds

Happywhale

OpenStreetMap

Globe at Night

Stall Catchers

GLOBE Observer: Mosquito Habitat Mapper

Safecast

iNaturalist

Marine Debris Tracker 

All of Us

 

Access a transcript.

Public libraries are playing an increasingly important role in citizen science, running educational programs – both in-person and online – and loaning out kits with citizen science instruments, material and other resources. And they are very involved with Citizen Science Month. In this podcast episode, Caroline and Bob speak with library-based partners implementing ambitious plans for Citizen Science Month and beyond. Guests include Robin Salthouse, formerly of the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert, Arizona and now an advisor to the SciStarter team; Alynda Smithey a Children’s/Youth Services Librarian from the Riverside Regional Library in Missouri; Don Ficken, President of International Dark Sky Association - Missouri Chapter; and Vivienne Byrd, Librarian III - Lead on STEM/STEAM & Citizen Science Initiatives at the Los Angeles Public Library. All of them have planned events for you to discover throughout April on CitizenScienceMonth.org! 

 

Projects mentioned in this podcast include:

 

Globe at Night

Stall Catchers

GLOBE Observer: Mosquito Habitat Mapper

GLOBE Observer: Clouds

ISeeChange

iNaturalist

Marine Debris Tracker

 

Access a transcript of this episode as a PDF.

To kick off Season 2 of the Citizen Science podcast, new host Bob Hirshon and citizen science enthusiast Caroline Nickerson take a virtual trip around the world – and even into intergalactic space – to learn about some exciting new citizen science projects, including CrowdWater, Spiral Graph and Land Loss Lookout. In addition, they preview upcoming Citizen Science Month events coming this April. 

 

Projects mentioned in this episode:

 

CrowdWater

 

Spiral Graph

 

Land Loss Lookout

 

Theme music is Podcast Theme by Keith Hartnell used under Creative Commons license.

 

A complete transcript of this episode can be found as a PDF.

This episode, our second that looks at community and citizen science in cultural heritage institutions, explores how natural history museums use crowdsourcing to unlock the potential of biodiversity collections for research and education. Justin Schell talks to researchers and volunteers involved in the Notes From Nature project, which is one of the largest crowdsourcing projects focused on natural history information. 

Projects mentioned in this episode:

Notes From Nature

WeDigBio (October 15-18, 2020)

Zooniverse

 

Other transcription platforms to visit:

Smithsonian Digital Volunteers Transcription Center

Library of Congress - By the People

DigiVol (Australia)

Les herbanoutes (Paris Herbarium)

 

A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

North Carolina State University -- typically referred to as NCSU, NC State, or just State -- is a public research university in Raleigh, North Carolina and a leader in public engagement in science. In this episode, Caren Cooper, professor at NCSU, and student citizen science leader, Brianna Johns, discuss all the different components of a citizen science campus: the Citizen Science Club, the SciStarter Educational Portal, themed citizen science programs, researchers with important projects that need citizen scientists’ help, and more. 

 

Resources:

Citizen Science Campus Website

Webinar about SciStarter Education

How to Start a Citizen Science Club (Blog by Brianna Johns)

Citizen Science Research at NCSU 

Professor Caren Cooper's Website

 

Projects mentioned in the episode:

Crowd the Tap

Never Home Alone

 

Music for this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions, used under a Creative Commons license. A transcript is available here.

This is the first of two episodes that will focus on how citizen science can be done by and within cultural heritage institutions, including libraries, archives, and museums. In this episode, we’ll focus on how natural history museums and public libraries have involved members of their communities in projects that can contribute to local, national, and global understandings of scientific questions. 

 

We speak with Richard Smart, one of the managers of the Community Science program at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; Sara Medina, a volunteer community scientists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles; Dan Stanton, a librarian at Arizona State University who supports the School for the Future of Innovation in Society; and Robin Salthouse,  the Adult Services Supervisor Librarian at the Southeast Regional library in Gilbert, Arizona.

Listen to learn how the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County studies urban biodiversity with the help of community scientists, how Arizona State University and local public libraries collaborate to create citizen science kits for library patrons to check out and more! 

Music for this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions, used under a Creative Commons license. A transcript is available here.

Resources for Natural History Museums

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County - Community Science https://nhm.org/community-science-nhm

NHM Community Science Projects

SuperProject

SLIME

RASCals

BioSCAN

Resources for Libraries

SciStarter IMLS Grant: Libraries as Community Hubs for Citizen Science

Librarian's Guide to Citizen Science

Maricopa County Library System

Maricopa County Citizen Science Webinar

Arizona State University Library Guide on Citizen Science

NASA's GLOBE project

GLOBE - SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive)

Measuring Light in the Night Kit

Globe at Night

Exploring Biodversity Library Kit

Zombee Hunting Library Kit

iNaturalist allows anyone, anywhere to contribute to a global record of biodiversity by uploading pictures of plants and animals with their smartphone or computer. In this episode, co-host Justin Schell talks with Dr. Carrie Seltzer, the Stakeholder Engagement Strategist for iNaturalist, about how the platform works, the iNaturalist community, and how iNaturalist advances scientific research. Featured in this episode is the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), the oldest outdoor group in the United States. The AMC runs multiple citizen science projects, and in this episode, Georgia Murray, a staff scientist at AMC; Annie Evankow, a Research Assistant with AMC; and Alina Michelewicz, a volunteer with a number of AMC projects speak about their citizen science work with iNaturalist — how they have been able to supplement the core data fields on iNaturalist with some specific to their project, as well as how they have approached citizen science and research with the Northeast Alpine Flower Watch project.  Music for this episode is from MWD, used under a Creative Commons license from the Free Music Archive. Special thanks to Jill Nugent for conducting the interview with the AMC team. A transcript is available here. 

For those of you who have accounts on SciStarter, add your iNaturalist username to your SciStarter dashboard, and you’ll get credit for your contributions.

 

Links:

iNaturalist

Appalachian Mountain Club

Seek 

Global Biodiversity Information Facility

National Phenology Network

Toilet weasel publication 

Justin's (Mistaken) Coyote Identification

With thousands of projects listed on SciStarter, a main challenge can be finding the right project, one that really suits your needs and your interests. After meeting at workshop on the Open Science of Learning hosting by the Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity, Kobi Gal, a leading expert in human-centered artificial intelligence, and Darlene Cavalier, the founder of SciStarter, collaborated, with support from NESTA, a UK-based innovation foundation, to create a smart recommendation system to help SciStarter users find the right project. Kobi and Na'ama Dayan, another team member working on this project, sit down with Caroline Nickerson from the SciStarter team to talk about the new system and how YOU can help us test it. A transcript is available here. Music in this episode is by Discount Fireworks, used under a Creative Commons license via the Free Music Archive.

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (or COASST, for short) project is a network of citizen scientists that monitor marine resources and ecosystem health at over 400 beaches across northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. COASST works to translate long-term monitoring into effective marine conservation solutions. Co-host Caroline Nickerson chats with Dee Richie, a citizen scientist who volunteers with COASST, and Hillary Burgess, the science coordinator for COASST, about how to get involved with COASST and citizen science focused on marine ecosystem health. A transcript can be accessed here. 

Music in this episode: “Smile for Me, Sun” from Adam & Alma, used under a Creative Commons license via the Free Music Archive.  

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

BeachCOMBERS

Beach Watch

NOAA Marine Debris Program

Mussel Watch

Marine Mammal Stranding Network

SEANET

Great Lakes Monitoring Program