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Citizen Science: Citizen Science at Arizona State University
ASU Library Founding Citizen Science Team
- Sydni Abrahamsen
- Jenny Mueller Alexander
- Anali Perry
- Dan Stanton
René Tanner
ASU Library Founding Team Research Picks
- Anali's Pick: History Unfolded We had a research sprint at ASU on April 21 for this project, which helps the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum uncover what ordinary people around the country could have known about the Holocaust from reading their local newspapers in the years 1933–1945. We focused on African American Newspapers. The students and volunteers at ASU surpassed their goal of 90 articles added, contributing nearly 150 articles during the sprint!
- Anali's Pick: Old Weather I love the idea of using our unique, human ability to decipher handwriting to gain new knowledge from historical documents. This project helps scientists and historians by by transcribing ships' logs of Arctic and worldwide weather observations made by U.S. ships since the mid-19th century. These contribute to climate model projections and improve our knowledge of past environmental conditions. We can also learn about the stories of the people on board.
- Ashley's Pick: Kinsey Report The Kinsey Reporter is an app developed by the Kinsey Institute that anyone around the globe can download on their smartphone in order to share, explore, and visualize anonymous data about sex and sexuality.
- Dan's Pick: EyeWire - A Game to Map Your Brain Very cool 3D puzzle game that helps scientists map the human brain. By joining Eyewire, you can help map the connectome, starting with connections between retinal neurons. Eyewire gameplay advances neuroscience by helping researchers discover how neurons connect and network to process information. You also help develop advanced artificial intelligence and computational technologies for mapping the connectome.
- Dan's Pick: SETI@Home SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology. SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. ET - Phone ME!
- Rene's Pick: Nature Notebook The project engages citizens to collect information about plants and animals to connect people with nature to understand our changing planet.
- Rene's Pick: Stardust@Home Stardust was a NASA Discovery Mission launched in 1999. Its main objective was to visit a comet and collect and return dust from it for study on Earth. In 2006, the Stardust spacecraft returned dust grains to Earth. So far the best way to find these particles is by searching using the human eye. Citizen participation is critical to the success of this project.
- Syndi Pick: Roadkill Survey Cyclists and runners use their smart phones to take photos and add GPS coordinates to roadkill they come across. This helps scientists at UC-Davis to research and reduce animal-vehicle collisions.
- Syndi Pick: Smorball Smorball is a game where players must correctly type in words to win. The words are pulled from scanned documents from cultural heritage libraries. Players are digitizing important documents while they play!
- Jenny's Pick: Shark Saver Shark Count If you scuba dive, you can get the form to report on the sharks you see while diving. We need sharks in the oceans just as much as we need wolves on land - the top predator keeps other populations in check.
- Jenny's Pick: The REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project Snorkelers and scuba divers can participate in this simple fish survey. Without healthy reefs, we would have more problems on land and in the sea.
ASU Library Resources
- Bento-Box Resultsa customized federated search tool designed to connect users to a variety of library resources and services. (Must press enter in search box to see results from link)
Academic Crowdsourcing in the Humanities by
Academic Crowdsourcing in the Humanities lays the foundations for a theoretical framework to understand the value of crowdsourcing, an avenue that is increasingly becoming important to academia as the web transforms collaboration and communication and blurs institutional and professional boundaries. Crowdsourcing projects in the humanities have, for the most part, focused on the generation or enhancement of content in a variety of ways, leveraging the rich resources of knowledge, creativity, effort and interest among the public to contribute to academic discourse. This book explores methodologies, tactics and the "citizen science" involved.
ISBN: 9780081009413Publication date: 2017-11-10- Analyzing the Role of Citizen Science in Modern Research by As the need for sustainable development practices around the world continues to grow, it has become imperative for citizens to become actively engaged in the global transition. By evaluating data collected from various global programs, researchers are able to identify strategies and challenges in implementing civic engagement initiatives. Analyzing the Role of Citizen Science in Modern Research focuses on analyzing data on current initiatives and best practices in citizen engagement and education programs across various disciplines. Highlighting emergent research and application techniques within citizen science initiatives, this publication appeals to academicians, researchers, policy makers, government officials, technology developers, advanced-level students and program developers interested in launching or improving citizen science programs across the globe.Call number: Q175.5 .C44 2017ISBN: 9781522509622Publication date: 2016-10-25
Citizen Scientists: be a part of scientific discovery from your own backyard by
Anyone can get involved in gathering data for ongoing, actual scientific studies such as the Audubon Bird Count and FrogWatch USA. Just get out into a field, urban park, or your own backyard. You can put your nose to a monarch pupa or listen for raucous frog calls. You can tally woodpeckers or sweep the grass for ladybugs. This book, full of engaging photos and useful tips, will show you how.
Call number: 590.72 B9374ci 2012ISBN: 9780805090628Publication date: 2012-02-14- The Field Guide to Citizen Science by Learn how monitoring the night sky, mapping trees, photographing dragonflies, and identifying mushrooms can help save the world! Citizen science is the public involvement in the discovery of new scientific knowledge. A citizen science project can involve one person or millions of people collaborating towards a common goal. It is an excellent option for anyone looking for ways to get involved and make a difference. The Field Guide to Citizen Science, from the expert team at SciStarter, provides everything you need to get started. You'll learn what citizen science is, how to succeed and stay motivated when you're participating in a project, and how the data is used. The fifty included projects, ranging from climate change to Alzheimer's disease, endangered species to space exploration, mean sure-fire matches for your interests and time. Join the citizen science brigade now, and start making a real difference! ISBN: 1604699809Publication date: 2020-02-04
- The Rightful Place of Science: Citizen Science by This volume in The Rightful Place of Science series explores citizen science, the movement to reshape the relationship between science and the public. By not only participating in scientific projects but actively helping to decide what research questions are asked and how that research is conducted, ordinary citizens are transforming how science benefits society. Through vivid chapters that describe the history and theory of citizen science, detailed examples of brilliant citizen science projects, and a look at the movement's future, The Rightful Place of Science: Citizen Science is the ideal guide for anyone interested in one of the most important trends in scientific practice.Call number: Q175.5 .R54 2016ISBN: 9780692694831Publication date: 2016-05-29
Toxic Exposures by
The increase in environmentally induced diseases and the loosening of regulation and safety measures have inspired a massive challenge to established ways of looking at health and the environment. Communities with disease clusters, women facing a growing breast cancer incidence rate, and people of color concerned about the asthma epidemic have become critical of biomedical models that emphasize the role of genetic makeup and individual lifestyle practices. Likewise, scientists have lost patience with their colleagues' and government's failure to adequately address environmental health issues and to safeguard research from corporate manipulation. Focusing specifically on breast cancer, asthma, and Gulf War-related health conditions-"contested illnesses" that have generated intense debate in the medical and political communities-Phil Brown shows how these concerns have launched an environmental health movement that has revolutionized scientific thinking and policy. Before the last three decades of widespread activism regarding toxic exposures, people had little opportunity to get information. Few sympathetic professionals were available, the scientific knowledge base was weak, government agencies were largely unprepared, laypeople were not considered bearers of useful knowledge, and ordinary people lacked their own resources for discovery and action. Brown argues that organized social movements are crucial in recognizing and acting to combat environmental diseases. His book draws on environmental and medical sociology, environmental justice, environmental health science, and social movement studies to show how citizen-science alliances have fought to overturn dominant epidemiological paradigms. His probing look at the ways scientific findings are made available to the public and the changing nature of policy offers a new perspective on health and the environment and the relationship among people, knowledge, power, and authority.
Call number: RB152.5 .B76 2007ISBN: 9780231129480Publication date: 2007-06-29
Worldchanging : a user's guide for the 21st century by
This team of top-notch writers, brought together by founder Alex Steffen, includes Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, GeekCore founder Ethan Zuckerman and sustainable food expert Anna Lappe, among many others. Each chapter will offer practical answers to important questions, such as: Why does buying locally produced food make sense? What steps can we take to influence our workplace toward sustainability? How do we volunteer and advocate more effectively? How can we travel, live, work and learn in world changing ways? How, in short, can every human being help build a better future locally and globally? Illustrated with photographs and designed by Stefan Sagmeister, one of the most influential graphic designers working today, Worldchanging will prove that a life that is sustainably prosperous, just and democratic, dynamic and peaceful, is not just possible, it's here.
Call number: HC79.E5 W676 2006ISBN: 0810930951Publication date: 2006-11-01
ASU CitSci Research Network
The Crowd to the Cloud Series Available @ ASU
- The Crowd to the Cloud (ASURITE Required) Smartphones, computers and mobile technology are allowing people to become part of a revolutionary, 21st century way of doing science. By observing their environment, monitoring neighborhoods, and collecting information about the world around them, citizens are helping professional scientists advance knowledge while speeding up new discoveries and innovations. The results are improving health and welfare, fighting air and water pollution, and giving communities the power to help themselves. THE CROWD & THE CLOUD, a four-part series hosted by former NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati, takes viewers on a global tour of the projects and people on the front lines of this disruptive transformation in how science is done, and shows how anyone, anywhere can participate. Produced by Passport to Knowledge and made possible by The National Science Foundation.
Online ASU Library Materials
- Citizen Science by The editors of this book have a straightforward goal: to inspire you to engage your students through public collaboration in scientific research--also known as citizen science. The book is specifically designed to get you comfortable using citizen science to support independent inquiry through which your students can learn both content and process skills. Citizen Science offers you: Real-life case studies of classes that engaged in citizen science and learned authentic scientific processes and the habits of mind associated with scientific reasoning. Fifteen stimulating lessons you can use to build data collection and analysis into your teaching. Plenty of flexibility. You can use the lessons with or without access to field or lab facilities; whether or not your students can collect and submit data of their own; and inside your classroom or outside through fieldwork in schoolyards, parks, or other natural areas in urban or rural settings. You don't need an advanced degree in science to guide your students in productive participation in one of a growing variety of citizen science projects.As the editors note, Such involvement can scaffold teachers' entry into facilitating student investigation while connecting students with relevant, meaningful, and real experiences with science.Call number: Online accessISBN: 1936959089Publication date: 2013-09-15
- Citizen Science: public participation in environmental research by Citizen science enlists members of the public to make and record useful observations, such as counting birds in their backyards, watching for the first budding leaf in spring, or measuring local snowfall. The large numbers of volunteers who participate in projects such as Project FeederWatch or Project BudBurst collect valuable research data, which, when pooled together, create an enormous body of scientific data on a vast geographic scale. In return, such projects aim to increase participants' connections to science, place, and nature, while supporting science literacy and environmental stewardship. In Citizen Science, experts from a variety of disciplines--including scientists and education specialists working at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where many large citizen science programs use birds as proxies for biodiversity--share their experiences of creating and implementing successful citizen science projects, primarily those that use massive data sets gathered by citizen scientists to better understand the impact of environmental change. This first and foundational book for this developing field of inquiry addresses basic aspects of how to conduct citizen science projects, including goal-setting, program design, and evaluation, as well as the nuances of creating a robust digital infrastructure and recruiting a large participant base through communications and marketing. An overview of the types of research approaches and techniques demonstrates how to make use of large data sets arising from citizen science projects. A final section focuses on citizen science's impacts and its broad connections to understanding the human dimensions and educational aspects of participation. Citizen Science teaches teams of program developers and researchers how to cross the bridge from success at public engagement to using citizen science data to understand patterns and trends or to test hypotheses about how ecological processes respond to change at large geographic scales. Intended as a resource for a broad audience of experts and practitioners in natural sciences, information science, and social sciences, this book can be used to better understand how to improve existing programs, develop new ones, and make better use of the data resources that have accumulated from citizen science efforts. Its focus on harnessing the impact of "crowdsourcing" for scientific and educational endeavors is applicable to a wide range of fields, especially those that touch on the importance of massive collaboration aimed at understanding and conserving what we can of the natural world.Call number: GE70 .C543 2012eb OnlineISBN: 0801449111Publication date: 2012-04-24
Monarchs in a Changing World by
Monarch butterflies are among the most popular insect species in the world and are an icon for conservation groups and environmental education programs. Monarch caterpillars and adults are easily recognizable as welcome visitors to gardens in North America and beyond, and their spectacular migration in eastern North America (from breeding locations in Canada and the United States to overwintering sites in Mexico) has captured the imagination of the public. Monarch migration, behavior, and chemical ecology have been studied for decades. Yet many aspects of monarch biology have come to light in only the past few years. These aspects include questions regarding large-scale trends in monarch population sizes, monarch interactions with pathogens and insect predators, and monarch molecular genetics and large-scale evolution. A growing number of current research findings build on the observations of citizen scientists, who monitor monarch migration, reproduction, survival, and disease. Monarchs face new threats from humans as they navigate a changing landscape marked by deforestation, pesticides, genetically modified crops, and a changing climate, all of which place the future of monarchs and their amazing migration in peril. To meet the demand for a timely synthesis of monarch biology, conservation and outreach, Monarchs in a Changing World summarizes recent developments in scientific research, highlights challenges and responses to threats to monarch conservation, and showcases the many ways that monarchs are used in citizen science programs, outreach, and education. It examines issues pertaining to the eastern and western North American migratory populations, as well as to monarchs in South America, the Pacific and Caribbean Islands, and Europe. The target audience includes entomologists, population biologists, conservation policymakers, and K-12 teachers. Contributors: Anurag A. Agrawal, Cornell University; Jared G. Ali, Michigan State University; Sonia Altizer, University of Georgia; Michael C. Anderson, Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Sophia M. Anderson, Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Kim Bailey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources; Rebecca Batalden, University of Minnesota; Kristen A. Baum, Oklahoma State University; Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; Brianna Borders, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; Lincoln P. Brower, Sweet Briar College; Wendy Caldwell, University of Minnesota; Mariana Cantu-Fernandez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; Nicola Chamberlain, Harvard University; Sonya Charest, Montreal Insectarium; Andrew K. Davis, University of Georgia; Alma De Anda, Covina, California; Guadalupe del Rio Pesado, Alternare, A.C., Mexico; Janet Kudell-Ekstrum, USDA Forest Service; Linda S. Fink, Sweet Briar College; Mark Fishbein, Oklahoma State University; Juan Fernandez-Haeger, University of Cordoba, Spain; Eligio Garcia Serrano, Fondo Monarca, Mexico; Mark Garland, Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project; Brian Hayes, Monarch Teacher Network; Elizabeth Howard, Journey North; Mark D. Hunter, University of Michigan; Sarina Jepsen, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; Diego Jordano, University of Cordoba, Spain; Matthew C. Kaiser, University of Minnesota; Ridlon J. Kiphart, Texas Master Naturalists; Marcus R. Kronforst, University of Chicago; Jim Lovett, University of Kansas; Eric Lee-Mader, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; Stephen B. Malcolm, Western Michigan University; Hector Martinez-Torres, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; Susan Meyers, Stone Mountain Memorial Association; Erik A. Mollenhauer, Monarch Teacher Network; Mia Monroe, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; Eneida B. Montesinos-Patino, Monarch Butterfly Fund; Gail M. Morris, Southwest Monarch Study; Elisha K. Mueller, Oklahoma State University; Kelly R. Nail, University of Minnesota; Karen S. Oberhauser, University of Minnesota; Diego R. Per
Call number: Online accessISBN: 0801453151Publication date: 2015-05-26
The Incidental Steward by
A search for a radio-tagged Indiana bat roosting in the woods behind her house in New York's Hudson Valley led Akiko Busch to assorted other encounters with the natural world--local ecological monitoring projects, community-organized cleanup efforts, and data-driven citizen science research. Whether it is pulling up water chestnuts in the Hudson River, measuring beds of submerged aquatic vegetation, or searching out vernal pools, all are efforts that illuminate the role of ordinary citizens as stewards of place. In this elegantly written book, Busch highlights factors that distinguish twenty-first-century citizen scientists from traditional amateur naturalists: a greater sense of urgency, helpful new technologies, and the expanded possibilities of crowdsourcing. The observations here look both to precisely recorded data sheets and to the impressionistic marginalia, scribbled asides, and side roads that often attend such unpredictable outings. While not a primer on the prescribed protocols of citizen science, the book combines vivid natural history, a deep sense of place, and reflection about our changing world. Musing on the expanding potential of citizen science, the author celebrates today's renewed volunteerism and the opportunities it offers for regaining a deep sense of connection to place.
Call number: Online AccessISBN: 9780300195088Publication date: 2013-01-01- Citizen Science by "Citizen science, the active participation of the public in scientific research projects, is a rapidly expanding field in open science and open innovation. It provides an integrated model of public knowledge production and engagement with science. As a growing worldwide phenomenon, it is invigorated by evolving new technologies that connect people easily and effectively with the scientific community. Catalysed by citizens’ wishes to be actively involved in scientific processes, as a result of recent societal trends, it also offers contributions to the rise in tertiary education. In addition, citizen science provides a valuable tool for citizens to play a more active role in sustainable development. This book identifies and explains the role of citizen science within innovation in science and society, and as a vibrant and productive science-policy interface. The scope of this volume is global, geared towards identifying solutions and lessons to be applied across science, practice and policy...." -From CatalogCall number: OnlineISBN: 9781787352339Publication date: 2018
- Pathways of knowing [electronic resource] : integrating citizen science and critical thinking in the adult ELL classroom by Thesis (Ed. D.)--Arizona State University, 2012. Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-149). Summary This action research study examines what common perceptions and constructs currently exist in educating adult immigrants in Arizona and considers how might the integration of citizen science with the current English curriculum promote higher order thinking and educational equity in this population. A citizen science project called the Mastodon Matrix Project was introduced to a Level 2 ELAA (English Language Acquisition for Adults) classroom and aligned with the Arizona Adult Standards for ELAA education. Pre and post attitudinal surveys, level tests, and personal meaning maps were implemented to assess student attitudes towards science, views on technology, English skills, and knowledge gained as a result of doing citizen science over a period of 8 weeks.Call number: LD179.15 2012d .B383 OnlinePublication date: 2012
ASU Citizen Science Maker Summit 2016
- Maker Summit 2016The ASU Citizen Science Maker Summit 2016 was a two-day event, hosted by Arizona State University in partnership with SciStarter, designed to explore the crossroads of citizen science and the maker movement.
Citizen Science Research at ASU
- Biomimicry Center @ ASU The primary mission of the Biomimicry Center is to enhance the ability to address a variety of sustainability challenges using methodologies inspired by natural systems.
- Ask A Biologist Ask A Biologist began in 1997 in the School of Life Sciences as a biology learning resource tool for students, teachers, parents, and life-long learners. The site continues to be developed, and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers. Ask A Biologist is visited over 30,000 times each day and has answered more than 40,000 biology questions. This is a SafeSurf site
- ASU partners with public libraries to advance citizen science Arizona State University aims to position public libraries as key facilitators of citizen science, a collaborative process between scientists and the general public to spur the collection of data.
- Bringing Citizen Science to Life A part of a growing sector of researchers merging creative pursuits, technology and science, Assistant Professor Stacey Kuznetsov is also among the “first wave” of scholars engaging in the emerging academic field of Do-It-Yourself Biology (DIYbio), or “amateur science practice.” Kuznetsov and her team of student researchers in the Herberger Institute examine ways to create low-cost tools for “citizen science.”
- The Science of Water Art The Science of Water Art project is a collaborative research project involving professionals, community members, college students and children, examining the role that water plays in each of our lives. Specifically, the project provides insights into how Arizona youth view the vital resource of water as they share perceptions of climate change and water insecurity through art.
Interviews with ASU Citizen Science Stars
Interview with Dr. Phil Christensen
Dan Stanton interviews Dr. Phil Christensen about his love for science and Citizen Science projects like Rock Around the World.
Interview with Darlene Cavalier Founder of SciStarter
René Tanner interviews Darlene Cavalier about the importance of Citizen Science. Ms.Cavalier is the founder of SciStarter, an enterprise that makes connections between scientists and the public.
Music: www.purple-planet.com
Related ASU Library Resources
- Arizona Field GuidesResources owned by ASU Library
- Arizona Natural History ResourcesResources on Arizona Natural History owned by ASU Library.
The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.
