Encyclopedia of LifeMotivating Public Enthusiasts and Expert Scientists to Document the
World’s Species
Cynthia Parr, Dana Rotman, Jenny Preece, Derek Hansen, Kezee Procita, Jen Hammock
Imagine an electronic page for eachspecies of organism on Earth.
Encyclopedia of Lifehttp://www.eol.org
Version 2Coming in Fall 2011!
Photo: Cornell Univ.
Photo: Mary Keim
NA Butterfly AssociationFourth of July Count
Audubon Christmas Bird Count
We need citizen science
Scientific DatabasesScientific Journals Curating
CommentingTagging eol.org
EOL is a content curation community
Aggregate
Content curation communities face challenges
Information integration
Social integration
photo by SimonWhitaker
Rotman, Procita, Hansen, Parr, Preece, forthcoming
"Scientists often have an aversion to what nonscientists say about science” (Salk, 1986)
Collaboration is based on:• Shared vocabulary, practices, and meanings
• Mutual recognition of knowledge, competency, and prestige
• Motivation to collaborate
Scientists (n=280) and volunteers (n=12) told us
http://xkcd.com/386/
Institutional obligations
Citable online work
Accurate info on internet
Advertise my expertise
Highlight my research
Meet needs of my project
Supervising someone else
n=161 Most importantLeast important
Why scientists want to curate EOL
Biotracker: research questions
What are the most effective strategies for motivating enthusiasts and experts to voluntarilycontribute and collaborate?
How can a socially intelligent system be used todirect human effort and expertise to the most valuable collection and classification tasks?
Participation in social activities stems from personal and collective reasons
Egoism
Collectivism
Altruism
Principalism
Batson, Ahmad, Tsang, 2002
What motivates scientists and volunteers?
Altruism Collectivism Principalism Egoism0
1
2
3
4
5
ScientistsVolunteers
Moti
vatio
n le
vel (
Like
rt s
cale
)
N = 74
Motivational model for volunteer involvement
• Content curation communities are an emerging phenomenon
With both information and social integration challenges
• A more sophisticated model of volunteerism highlights key places and ways to KEEP volunteers coming back
• Future research will involve interventions and games to test possible solutions (see www.biotrackers.net)
• Become part of the EOL community at eol.org!
Take home messages
Biotracker and EOL funding from: National Science Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation