Design principles for engaging and retaining virtual citizen scientists

Abstract

Citizen science initiatives encourage volunteer participants to collect and interpret data and contribute to formal scientific projects. The growth of virtual citizen science (VCS), facilitated through websites and mobile applications since the mid-2000s, has been driven by a combination of software innovations and mobile technologies, growing scientific data flows without commensurate increases in resources to handle them, and the desire of internet-connected participants to contribute to collective outputs. However, the increasing availability of internet-based activities requires individual VCS projects to compete for the attention of volunteers and promote their long-term retention. We examined program and platform design principles that might allow VCS initiatives to compete more effectively for volunteers, increase productivity of project participants, and retain contributors over time. We surveyed key personnel engaged in managing a sample of VCS projects to identify the principles and practices they pursued for these purposes and led a team in a heuristic evaluation of volunteer engagement, website or application usability, and participant retention. We received 40 completed survey responses (33% response rate) and completed a heuristic evaluation of 20 VCS program sites. The majority of the VCS programs focused on scientific outcomes, whereas the educational and social benefits of program participation, variables that are consistently ranked as important for volunteer engagement and retention, were incidental. Evaluators indicated usability, across most of the VCS program sites, was higher and less variable than the ratings for participant engagement and retention. In the context of growing competition for the attention of internet volunteers, increased attention to the motivations of virtual citizen scientists may help VCS programs sustain the necessary engagement and retention of their volunteers.

The evolution of citizen and stakeholder engagement in Canada, from Spicer to #Hashtags

“…While the promotion of Twitter did offer some possibilities of user interaction, the DC150 engagement exercise was the only digital‐era case to directly facilitate opportunities for participant‐to‐participant feedback and recognition of contributors. In the absence of real or virtual rewards or recognition, online efforts to engage participants will likely falter (Wald, Longo, and Dobell ). Does this mean that we should pay people to be involved in citizen engagement (Panagopoulos )?…”

“…Yet governments still look to public and stakeholder engagement using prior models of intensive involvement, albeit using new electronic mechanisms, which nonetheless do not respond to shifting citizen expectations. The citizen science movement provides an interesting model in this respect, where participants are able to contribute as much or as little as they want, get intrinsic value from doing so regardless of their level of contribution, and are recognized for their contributions (Wald, Longo, and Dobell ). Simple interfaces for user contributions, providing opportunities for one‐button or automated citizen input, represent an emerging form of citizen engagement (Longo ).…”

Implementing and evaluating a citizen‐science program to support wildlife management: MI‐MAST

“…The design phase of citizen‐science programs is arguably the key variable to successful implementation and participation (Hall et al , Wald et al ). In designing MI‐MAST we were primarily guided by recommendations from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and were able to achieve multiple elements that characterize successful programs such as 1) multiple coordinating institutions, 2) diverse partnerships in program management, and 3) monitoring a phenomenon that is easily accessible by the public and has ecological or social importance (Bonney et al , Chase and Levine ).…”

“…Citizen science is becoming increasingly popular and can serve as a mechanism for converging science and society (Bonney et al , Aceves‐Bueno et al , Dillon et al , Kobori et al ). Existing citizen‐science programs are founded on a wide variety of needs, with science‐driven approaches typically used for natural resource management (Dillon et al , Lukyanenko et al , Wald et al ). In science‐driven approaches, professional organizations or resource management agencies identify science needs and enlist and train citizens to collect data in support of that need (Wald et al ).…”

“…Existing citizen‐science programs are founded on a wide variety of needs, with science‐driven approaches typically used for natural resource management (Dillon et al , Lukyanenko et al , Wald et al ). In science‐driven approaches, professional organizations or resource management agencies identify science needs and enlist and train citizens to collect data in support of that need (Wald et al ). Numerous citizen‐science programs exist in support of wildlife conservation.…”