Challenges in VGI for scientific projects

Abstract

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) is a recent trend that has been successfully used in order to collect and share geographic information. This method is of interest for scientists who are in need of data and who want to get people involved in their cause. In this paper we discuss the challenges and opportunities that scientists may face when using the concept. An initial challenge is to find users who are willing to contribute. Second, scientist must get these users to interact with the application and with each other. The final goal is to end up with high quality data that can be used for scientific research.

Using Citizen Science to Complement IoT Data Collection: A Survey of Motivational and Engagement Factors in Technology-Centric Citizen Science Projects

“…These findings are consistent with other studies as well which identity 'helping the environment' theme as the strongest motivator [44], which was also noted as the highest-scoring motivators for environmental volunteers [45]. As such, prior interest on specific thematic areas can influence how to engage citizens in a CS projects [34][35][36][37][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. In other words, the theme of the application is important for the citizen to get engaged.…”

“…One of the key motivating factors identified in the literature is the 'theme' of such projects where certain themes do attract higher engagement and participation than the others [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. Research shows that citizens have a high interest in nature-related CS projects than in social or career-related projects [41].…”