Participatory sensing has become an important element in citizen science projects. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as web platforms and mobile phones can generate high-resolution data for science and progress assessment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., SDGs 11, 13, and 15). This paper gives an overview of web technologies in citizen science and illustrates how these technologies were applied in the citizen science project BAYSICS (Bavarian Citizen Science Information Platform for Climate Research and Science Communication) in Bavaria, in the south-eastern part of Germany. For the project, three digital platforms were developed: a website, web portal, and mobile application, each of which fulfills different tasks based on the project’s needs. The website informs visitors about the project structure, makes the project known to the community, and advertises the latest activities. The web portal is the main interface for citizens who want to join and actively participate in the project. The mobile application of the web portal was realized in the form of a progressive web application, which allows installation on a mobile phone and is connected with offline access to the content. The provision of an IT service for participatory sensing-based research which covers a development package, including a database, website/web application, and smartphone application, is further discussed.
In citizen science, citizens are encouraged to participate in research, with web technologies promoting location-independent participation and broad knowledge sharing. In this study, web technologies were extracted from 112 citizen science projects listed on the “Bürger schaffen Wissen”. Four indicators on web technologies—Online platforms, Educational tools, Social media, and Data sharing between projects—were chosen to quantify the extent to which web technologies are used within citizen science projects. The results show that the use of web technologies is already very well established in both the natural and social science projects and only the possibilities for data sharing between projects are limited.
Due to the far-reaching consequences of climate change, extensive adaptation and climate protection measures are becoming necessary not only on a global, but in particular on more regional scales. Such measures need to embrace citizens for their success, on an educational as well as a participatory level. For Bavaria, Germany, the BAYSICS project (Bavarian Citizen Science Portal for Climate Research and Science Communication) aims to achieve (1) innovative digital forms of citizens' participation in climate change research, (2) transfer of knowledge on the complexity of climate change and its local consequences, and (3) joint scientific and environmental education goals. Within the project we develop two main tools for citizens, an interactive web portal and smartphone app. As the project processes data collected by citizens, careful considerations are necessary, especially on legal issues (e.g. copyright), the privacy of citizens, and the credibility of data. Data collected by the citizens are visualized on the interactive web portal. Additionally, the data will be available for download through the web portal. Thus, clear metadata (e.g. on relevant attributes and data usage license) needs to be included. To increase the credibility of data, data collection guideline for citizens and the application of trust metrics to data are considered.
<p>Citizen science can be used to collect vast and timely data, while promoting active learning on selected topics.&#160;The&#160;Bavarian Citizen Science Portal for Climate Research and Science Communication&#160;(BAYSICS) is a scientific project&#160;which&#160;started in 2018 with 10 partner institutions&#160;in&#160;Bavaria. It aims to achieve (1) citizens&#8217; participation in climate change research through innovative digital forms, (2) transfer of knowledge on the complexity of climate change and its local consequences, and (3) joint scientific and environmental education goals.&#160;</p><p>Within the BAYSICS project, a web portal has been developed&#160;that&#160;builds the interface between researchers and citizens.&#160;In the&#160;initial&#160;phase, the interests&#160;from&#160;the different&#160;research&#160;disciplines&#160;participating in&#160;the project&#160;were identified.&#160;Currently,&#160;the IT structure&#160;for the web portal&#160;is&#160;developed&#160;based on&#160;the needs of the project.&#160;Free tools such as PostgreSQL, Django, Gunicorn and Nginx are used. The researchers involved have the&#160;opportunity&#160;to integrate&#160;research topic specific questions and data&#160;collection guidelines for citizens.&#160;</p><p>On the web portal, users&#160;are&#160;able to choose a topic from&#160;four&#160;different&#160;areas (phenology, pollen, tree, and animals) and submit their observations in multiple data types (pictures, geolocations, and texts). The observation data is visualized on&#160;a&#160;map&#160;of&#160;the web portal. The data collected within the project is freely available for download on the web portal, while protecting user&#8217;s privacy. Application Programming Interface (API)&#160;is&#160;developed to enable interaction with other software products and services.</p><p>A&#160;first test phase within the project&#160;members start&#160;at the beginning of 2020. Afterwards,&#160;a second&#160;test phase is planned involving potential users&#160;(e.g. school students and teachers). The outcomes from the test phases will be used for evaluation.</p>
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