Citizen Scientists: Design and Practice

Taking into account volunteers’ needs

Alice Sheppard: UCL ExCiteS, Galaxy Zoo, Society for Popular AstronomyCitizen Science Community Manager

2007: www.galaxyzoo.orgMembers of the public invited to classify 900,000 galaxies from a robotic telescope

Sloan Digital Sky SurveyPhoto: Patrick Galume

The discussion forum became a friendly, helpful community …..

Every newcomer greeted:“Welcome to the zoo”

Everyone had a different expertise so taught others:• practical astronomy• astrophysics – how to read papers, spectra• technical support – how to use the forum• programming – how to search the database

Some projects were started by astronomers

And others by volunteers

A new way of looking at science“But what is the ANSWER?”

There is no answer in the back of a textbook. We write the textbook – and it’s a living textbook that we change all the time!

What does the citizen scientist gain from the project?

Two main possibilities:1. A problem they want to solve (e.g. environmental

threat)2. Pure interest Contribute to

science

Fun

Game/competition

Fame/name on paper

Problem solving

Teaching

Practical education

Community

KnowledgeSkills

Knowledge

Curiosity and beauty

Improve the

world

Which means …

Our survey has to either:

• Be relevant to them

OR

• Be interesting

People will look at dust grains, galaxies and penguins – so don’t worry too much about relevance.

But – what do we want to know? Does that interest them?

1:A task to

do

Citizen scientists

need:

2:Data to use – and mine

3:A place to

talk

1: A task to do

For bottom-up citizen science: they may know already.

For top-down: must be clear. Worth beta-testing questions.

2: DataThis may be:• To analyse• Results of own

investigations• Available not as part of the

project, but scope for bottom-up work

3: A place to talk

Face to face: coffee breaksOnline: a discussion forum• Feedback• News; updates• Q&A and education• Community building• Troubleshooting / technical

support• Further investigations• Retention: what someone

comes for may not be what they stay for

Alice’s Tips

• Praise publicly• Volunteers help each other• Test your interface on:• Slow internet devices; different browsers

• Test your questions on:• Different demographics, ages, languages

• Avoid small / fiddly buttons• Crowdsource useful resources• Blog• Invite volunteers to blog!

Alice’s Tips: Volunteers’ vulnerabilities

A citizen science is alone in a way professional researchers are not.

May lack: • Money• Equipment• Time• Language skills• Education• Health• Social connections

• A well-run community will support each other

• Liveblog conferences, or hold virtual ones!

• Match languages• Invite suggestions for

inclusion• All participation is

useful. Absence is OK.

Case StudiesAs we design our questionnaire, please choose at least one of these individuals and state how you would help them.

If you want to know more about community building or interface design please e-mail Alice at a.sheppard@ucl.ac.uk