Global Ocean Science Education Workshop UNESCO Headquarters Paris

Global Ocean Science Education Workshop UNESCO Headquarters, Paris 13 th – 15 th June 2016 Effective Practices in Ocean Citizen Science Bob Chen (University of Massachusetts-Boston) Fiona Crouch (Marine Biological Association) Judy Lemus (The Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology)

Citizen Science Scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions. * . . acknowledgement that citizens must also benefit *Oxford English Dictionary, 2014

Citizen Scientists throughout history • 1442 - Shinto priests in Japan began keeping records of the annual freeze dates of a nearby lake. • 1693 - Local merchants in Finland recorded the date the ice broke up each spring.

Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count • Began 1900 • 2429 Counts in 2015 • 58, 531, 974 Birds Counted • International Alliance Program • Latin American and Caribbean RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch • Began in 1979 • 519, 000 people took part in 2016 • Over 8 million bird counts

Why the rise of CS now? Production of large data sets The rise of the Internet revolution Budget cuts The need to solve big problems

Benefits? Large labor pool that's nearly free Diverse input into a problem Scale of reach that is otherwise not possible Involvement in new types of projects/questions Promotes science (and science policy? ) Enhances public understanding of science

Barriers and Challenges Data quality and biases Peer review/mistrust – More CS project than publications Requirement of specialist knowledge/equipment Time consuming and resource issues Politics Uncomfortable and unprepared to work with public Geoghegan, H. , Dyke, A. , Pateman, R. , West, S. & Everett, G. (2016) Understanding motivations for citizen science. Final report on behalf of UKEOF, University of Reading, Stockholm Environment Institute (University of York) and University of the West of England.

Challenges for Marine CS Much of what we want to observe is underwater Lack of knowledge of the marine environment Health and safety issues Environmental conditions – tides Cost

Types of science projects suited for CS Data collection is labor intensive/in the field Quantitative measurements/observations are needed Protocols are well designed and easy to learn and execute Spatial and/or temporal extents are broad Internet-accessible data submission and results acquisition are possible Guide materials and/or professional assistance are available Large data sets are needed Gommerman and Monroe, 2015

Motivation for Citizen Science Geoghegan, H. , Dyke, A. , Pateman, R. , West, S. & Everett, G. (2016) Understanding motivations for citizen science. Final report on behalf of UKEOF, University of Reading, Stockholm Environment Institute (University of York) and University of the West of England.

Results Technology has changed data collection and analysis Results should be available to all

Resources Workshop Hand out CS peer reviewed papers Websites Toolkits Guides Applications Recording schemes Online identification verification But the majority relate to terrestrial citizen science not marine.

http: //www. ukeof. org. uk/resources/citizen-science-resources/guide-to-citizenscience-form

HANDOUT

Thank you for listening Any Questions?