Galaxy Zoo: Motivations of Citizen Scientists

Raddick, M. Jordan; Bracey, Georgia; Lintott, Chris; Cardamone, C. N.; Murray, Phil; Schawinski, Kevin; Szalay, Alexander S.; Vandenberg, Jan

doi:10.3847/aer2011021

Cited by 89 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In the EyeWire platform, Tinati et al [2016] surveyed participant motivations in the citizen science game Eyewire, finding that the most significant factor influencing player participation was the desire to contribute to scientific research. This is similar to other VCS research that has shown that a desire to contribute to scientific research is a strong motivation for participation [Raddick et al 2013]. Jennett et al [2016] note that the factors governing initial attraction to citizen science almost exclusively pertain to scientific research -interests in science, curiosity about research and a desire to contribute to research.…”

Section: Participant Motivationmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…It is unclear from the literature to what extent this phenomenon is unique to gamified and game-based projects. While on the one hand, building relationships with fellow players and scientists and collaborating with the community towards common goals have been identified by players as key factors motivating their participation in citizen science [Nov et al 2011;Rotman et al 2014], participants in Galaxy Zoo and other Zooniverse projects did not describe social interaction as a strong source of motivation Raddick et al 2013]. This is perhaps surprising, given that sociality was more common during our project survey among those projects which did not describe themselves as games than those which did.…”

Section: Gamification Engagement and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is Virtual Citizen Science A Game?

Simperl

Reeves

Phethean

et al. 2018

Trans. Soc. Comput.

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The use of game elements within virtual citizen science is increasingly common, promising to bring increased user activity, motivation and engagement to large-scale scientific projects. However there is an ongoing debate about whether or not gamifying systems such as these is actually an effective means by which to increase motivation and engagement in the long term. While gamification itself is receiving a large amount of attention, there has been little beyond individual studies to assess its suitability or success for citizen science; similarly, while frameworks exist for assessing citizen science performance, they tend to lack any appreciation of the effects that game elements might have had. We therefore review the literature to determine what the trends are regarding the performance of particular game elements or characteristics in citizen science, and survey existing projects to assess how popular different game features are. Investigating this phenomenon further, we then present the results of a series of interviews carried out with the EyeWire citizen science project team to understand more about how gamification elements are introduced, monitored and assessed in a live project. Our findings suggest that projects use a range of game elements with points and leaderboards the most popular, particularly in projects that describe themselves as 'games'. Currently, gamification appears to be effective in citizen science for maintaining engagement with existing communities, but shows limited impact for attracting new players.

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Section: Participant Motivationmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Gamification Engagement and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Virtual Citizen Science A Game?

Simperl

Reeves

Phethean

et al. 2018

Trans. Soc. Comput.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although further study is needed to fully understand the role of motivation in engagement, data from these interviews suggest that motivation is a key facet of engagement, and likely influential to all the other dimensions; hence its central location in Figure 5. The centrality of motivation in engagement also has been described by Raddick et al (2013), who suggest that deeper involvement may be driven by different motivations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 76%

Engagement in science through citizen science: Moving beyond data collection

et al. 2019

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To date, most studies of citizen science engagement focus on quantifiable measures related to the contribution of data or other output measures. Few studies have attempted to qualitatively characterize citizen science engagement across multiple projects and from the perspective of the participants. Building on pertinent literature and sociocultural learning theories, this study operationalizes engagement in citizen science through an analysis of interviews of 72 participants from six different environmentally based projects. We document engagement in citizen science through an examination of cognitive, affective, social, behavioral, and motivational dimensions. We assert that engagement in citizen science is enhanced by acknowledging these multiple dimensions and creating opportunities for volunteers to find personal relevance in their work with scientists. A Dimensions of Engagement framework is presented that can facilitate the innovation of new questions and methodologies for studying engagement in citizen science and other forms of informal science education.

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“…Research indicates that volunteers' primary motivation is "to contribute to original scientific research" (Raddick et al 2013), with the opportunity to engage in teamwork as an additional important component (Nov et al 2010). For archaeologists, a shift to a collaborative interface between professionals and interested non-professionals also addresses the vast and expanding market for information about the human past, as evidenced in the popularity of television shows, magazines, web sites, and university courses devoted to the subject.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the United States, the historic site of Montpelier in Virginia provides an example of volunteer fieldwork encompassed within a broader research initiative on the economics of early Euro-American life (Reeves 2010;Reeves and Clark 2013). In 2013, metal-detector enthusiasts were invited to map and verify the locations of historic metal artifacts indicative of structures within the site's 2,700 acre (1,100 hectare) core area.…”

Section: Archaeological Citizen Science Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen Science in Archaeology

Smith¹

2014

Am. antiq.

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Citizen science, as a process of volunteer participation through crowdsourcing, facilitates the creation of mass data sets needed to address subtle and large-scale patterns in complex phenomena. Citizen science efforts in other field disciplines such as biology, geography, and astronomy indicate how new web-based interfaces can enhance and expand upon archaeologists’ existing platforms of volunteer engagement such as field schools, community archaeology, site stewardship, and professional–avocational partnerships. Archaeological research can benefit from the citizen science paradigm in four ways: fieldwork that makes use of widely available technologies such as mobile applications for photography and data upload; searches of large satellite image collections for site identification and monitoring; crowdfunding; and crowdsourced computer entry of heritage data.

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Galaxy Zoo: Motivations of Citizen Scientists

Cited by 89 publications

References 19 publications

Is Virtual Citizen Science A Game?

Is Virtual Citizen Science A Game?

Engagement in science through citizen science: Moving beyond data collection

Citizen Science in Archaeology

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