constructing an open citizen science tool to collect ...€¦ · why should anyone use the app? -...

© Luonnonvarakeskus © Luonnonvarakeskus

Constructing an

open citizen science tool

to collect information

on the Baltic Sea and recreation.

Proof of concept and future possibilities

Janne Artell

3rd BONUS symposium

Gdansk, 14-16.3.2018

© Luonnonvarakeskus

Acknowledgements

The work presented is part of the BONUS BALTICAPP project:

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/balticapp/

The BONUS BALTICAPP project is supported by BONUS (Art 185),

funded jointly by the EU, Academy of Finland, Innovation Fund

Denmark, Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany,

Swedish Research Council for Environment, and National Centre for

Research and Development in Poland

© Luonnonvarakeskus

I. A few words on citizen science

II. Why citizen science for the Baltic Sea?

III. From citizen science to a communication platform

IV. Introducing the

V. Lessons learned and the future?

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Newton

Darwin

DIY science… … to helping out science

@home

& outdoors

© Luonnonvarakeskus

Fig 2. Growth of CS publications compared to WoS total.

Kullenberg C, Kasperowski D (2016) What Is Citizen Science? – A Scientometric Meta-Analysis.

PLoS ONE 11(1): e0147152. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147152

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0147152

Janne Artell

© Luonnonvarakeskus

Improving spatial & temporal

resolution of measurements

Do we monitor things

important to citizens?

Raising awareness

Public participation

We (economists) want to monitor

citizen behavior as well

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@home

Citizen science application design questions

Core questions:

What do we want? Is it already out there?

What can we get?

What do people want?

What can we give?

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@home

Application design questions

Technical questions:

How should the app work?

What data does the app utilize?

What platforms should we use?

How to ensure the survival of the app?

How do we manage users and data?

© Luonnonvarakeskus

From citizen science to a communication platform

9 21.3.2018

Citizens

Research Management

Janne Artell

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Photo: Marc Müller

@home

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@home

Can we get data from outside?

Requirements:

FREE

EASY (# sources, API’s)

COVERS THE BALTIC SEA AREA

Focus on user shared data

Build an interface for official data sharing

(Bathing Water Directive)

© Luonnonvarakeskus Janne Artell

© Luonnonvarakeskus Janne Artell

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@home

Platform options

http://www.businessinsider.com/idc

-smartphone-os-market-share-

2015-12?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

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@home

Survival after project?

© Luonnonvarakeskus 17 21.3.2018 Janne Artell

@home

What do we want vs. what can we get?

A surprisingly difficult pair of questions

- Recreation patterns

- real-time monitoring vs. privacy user reporting

- General users, not only special interest groups

- specific research questions vs. generality free categorization

- simple and interesting to use

- We need a readily available panel of citizens for surveys

- users represent their own population

- survey pop-ups

© Luonnonvarakeskus 18 21.3.2018 Janne Artell

@home

What can we give?

Is there a need, should we create one? Why should anyone use the app?

- Services

- Official information about the Baltic Sea

- Social media functions

- Informal information through communicating with other users

- User protection!

- Partaking in something important

- Assignment marketing through a credible institution

- Gamification?

© Luonnonvarakeskus

Building a tender

• 10 pages describing the project and responsibilities

– Front-end / Back-end coding

– Visual design

– Servers

– 3rd party services

• commercial vs. non-profit

• e.g. login and cloud services

– Bug fixing, accessibility after coding

• Guesstimates on budget (ask around!)

– Give options

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© Luonnonvarakeskus

Timeline

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2015

• Helsinki City coder-meet

• Data and competition screening / Tender

2016

• Open discussions with Metropolia

• Two groups code the app – one chosen for testing

2017

• Testing

• Polishing the app both inside and outside

Janne Artell

© Luonnonvarakeskus 21

Android phone?

1. Goto

https://github.com/

harmittaa/LukeApp/

releases

2. Install the app

3. Create a user name

4. Start testing

Janne Artell

© Luonnonvarakeskus

Tools: Adminpanel

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© Luonnonvarakeskus

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3… Testing

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Android versions on use

http://blog.davidecoppola.com/2016/12/android-version-distribution-history-visualization-2012-2016/

Version compatibility

By MesserWoland based on the graphics by FoeNyx [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-

sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Janne Artell

© Luonnonvarakeskus

Lessons

– Many things to consider when you decide to build an app

• Partners beforehand purpose – marketing – upkeep

• Technical and legal expertise

Keep things A.S(imple).A.P. all the time

• Look for ready-made apps – open source is already here

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© Luonnonvarakeskus

Future?

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Thank you!

Janne Artell

janne.artell@luke.fi

+358 - 29 53 26 063

https://github.com/harmittaa/LukeApp/releases