This project will make use of a novel system that will serve to accelerate the documentation of millions of currently unknown species. It will involve the use of mobile phones and the internet, which together make it feasible for thousands (if not millions) of people to collaborate on large-scale projects of tremendous social importance. In this project, data on biodiversity will be collected by citizen-scientists using mobile phones. There are approximately two million known species of organisms in the world and potentially millions more are still undocumented. Without help, professional biologists will be unable to faithfully record many of these species before they disappear from the planet.
Intellectual Merit The research goal of this project is to develop and test evolving theories for designing socially intelligent systems in which enthusiasts (usually referred to as "citizen-scientists") and scientist?s partner with technology to collect and process the data needed for large scale observation-driven science. This study will extend existing work by examining motivations of expert scientists and novice enthusiasts partnered with computing technologies in a scientific domain; developing and testing novel theory-inspired strategies for motivating participants; and beginning to develop a meta-theory that characterizes the interplay between potentially competing motivational strategies or "design levers" in the same socially intelligent system.
Potential Broader Impacts Inventorying and compiling basic descriptions of a fraction of the world's species is a huge task that cannot be accomplished by trained scientists alone. This project will help enlist the public to accomplish this task. The Encyclopedia of Life project will employ the techniques that are developed in this project for use by other volunteers to obtain additional information about species around the globe.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Citizens contribute to projects associated with many branches of science, from astronomy, to biochemistry, hydrology, biodiversity, and more. The projects range from those that can be done at home or in the backyard, such as sorting photographs of animals in order to document migration habits or counting the number and species of birds feeding from a birdfeeder, to remote and more complex fieldwork, including field observations, specimen collection, and long-term monitoring. Projects can be place-based, virtual, or blended and may involve data analysis and interpretation as well as collection. One key issue associated with citizen science is how to motivate volunteers to contribute initially and over the long term. A second issue is how to use technology effectively to support public participation because digital devices such as cell phones, sensors, and cameras, as well as data bases and many types of social media, are increasingly being incorporated into citizen science. Biotracker focused on two research questions: 1) How can a socially intelligent system be used to direct human effort and expertise to the most valuable collection and classification tasks? and 2) What are the most effective strategies for motivating enthusiasts and experts to voluntarily contribute and collaborate? The project featured an interdisciplinary collaboration of expertise in computer vision, human computer interaction, biology, and motivational theory and resulted in greater understanding of individuals’ motivations for starting and continuing to participate in citizen science projects, the role of feedback in increasing their contributions, and on how technologies--including computer vision, mobile phones, and the Internet--can support them in gathering biological data to help identify and document species. Our research encompassed several studies and supported the development or refinement of several electronic tools as well. One study used surveys and interviews to investigate citizen scientists’ motivations for initial and continued participation in three countries: USA, India, and Costa Rica. Results suggest that initial motivation tends to be egocentric; people contribute because they are interested in a topic, enjoy learning, or receive professional benefits. Volunteers continue participation for more complex reasons, including appreciation, recognition, and interaction with scientists. Two strong demotivators are technology that doesn't work well and excessive time expectations of volunteers. Our second study, a mixed-methods assessment of gamifying a mobile application related to plant monitoring, showed that certain types of participants are motivated to compete in order to improve their score, or to gain badges that signify the value of their contribution. Additionally, participants who are not intrinsically interested in nature may be engaged through gamification. However, gamification must be carefully designed to appeal to all potential users. The third study, a field experiment, explored how feedback from scientists impacts citizen scientists’ desire to continue participating in projects, and their aspiration to provide more and higher quality data. Positive corrective feedback is more effective than simple acknowledgement and appreciation for increasing situational motivation and contribution quantity and quality. During this research we also learned that contribution level is influenced by task difficulty and the condition of working alone or collaborating with a peer. The team designed a "serious game" called "Odd Leaf Out," where players were tasked with choosing a single leaf (from a set of six) that was different from the other five to win points. We showed that data collected from players could efficiently identify labeling errors in the dataset. Computer algorithms that assess the similarity of images were used to modify the difficulty level of the game, as well as assure that the data collected would be useful. Biotracker work also included visualization of online social collaborations and study of content partners contributing to the biodiversity website, Encyclopedia of Life (see eol.org), refinement of visual recognition software for an electronic field guide promoting leaf identification (see leafsnap.com), and gamification of a citizen science mobile app developed by the project team with Project BudBurst (see floracaching.byu.edu/). Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE The public is invited to view presentation slides, posters, and other materials describing the research project and findings at biotracker.umd.edu/ Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
