Were you ever stuck at home because of lousy weather or an illness or injury grounded you and left you feeling utterly bored and useless? You didn’t want to watch yet another movie or play another video game; you had no desire to read another book, even one by your favorite author. You wanted to feel capable, not entertained.
Fortunately help is now available for those of all ages who almost certainly will encounter this dilemma as least once in their lifetimes. Moreover it comes from a most usual source, i.e. the reduction in government funding for research on a wide range of topics of benefit to the planet and humankind, but of little interest to commercial funders because it offers no immediate profit-generating potential. Lacking such financial support, researchers increasingly are turning to an unusual source for help: the general public.
In the past year, citizen scientists made some sufficiently noteworthy discoveries that the increased use of this volunteer workforce ranked as one of the top science new stories of 2012. Furthermore some of those amateurs’ findings rank them as far more than amateurs. For example one study published in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, revealed that some species citizen scientists recommended for addition to the endangered species list were at higher risk than those selected by experts at the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Why amateurs like you and me might discover new gene variants, asteroids, or contribute solutions to highly complex problems brings to mind an old saying about quality observation: “A good observer is someone who sees something that shouldn’t be there when it is, and doesn’t see something that should be there where it isn’t.” When we work within a certain field long enough, it’s easy to become restricted in our views. Think of it as an intellectual version of olfactory fatigue. Just as we become immune to a certain odor once we’ve been exposed to it for a while, we may become immune to small but significant changes in those areas of interest to which we devote most of our attention. As a result someone from outside may notice things we miss.
In the past when there was more funding to go around, researchers often considered outsiders who attempted to point things out as pests at best and pains in the behind at worst. But as technology increasingly makes it both possible and cost-effective to collect large amounts of data more quickly, researchers need more help to go through that data in a timely manner. Meanwhile other scientists need more help collecting that data in the first place. Enter the citizen scientist.
Already potential citizen scientists may choose from an amazing array of problems to help researchers solve. Want to help look for evidence of life-forms living in outer space attempting to contact us? Check out the SETI Citizen Scientist program. Want to help scientists analyze the millions of photos triggered by wildlife in the Serengeti National Park to determine what species live there, their habits, and how they interact with each other? Visit Snapshot Serengeti and join the team.
Want to help but you’re not sure how? Or are you a researcher who could use the help of some citizen scientists yourself? SciStarter.com serves as an on-line clearing house to connect scientists in need of help of all kinds with members of the public willing to help.
First the site will ask you what kind of activity interests you. While it’s possible to do your bit to help science exclusively online, opportunities to become more physically engaged also abound. For example, you can help researchers at the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab learn more about the human-canine bond and specifically how people play with their dogs. This particular project points out another great attribute of citizen science programs: some of them are opened to kids.
But while videoing human-canine play interactions for research purposes requires the skill of one in secondary school or older, in other projects like uBiome even younger kids can helps scientists collect data on the bacteria that live on or in us. This makes these fun and educational projects for the whole family. Or what about helping scientists learn more about the unidentified wildlife, a.k.a bacteria in and around your home? Kids and adults can help do that by signing up for the Wildlife of Our Homes program. For teachers interested in integrating citizen science into their classrooms, ZooTeach serves as a place where teachers can share lesson plans and resources that complement the Zooniverse citizen science programs for those of all ages.
We also can help scientists in one way or another in an extensive range of environments. In addition to research that involves moving no further than our computers, homes or yards, other programs involve data collection on the beach, in the car, on hikes, in oceans, lakes or streams, on a walk or run. Some projects occur in conjunction with public institutions like zoos, museums, and science centers and involve a wide range of data collection. What kind? Data associated with topics as diverse as animals, archeology, and astronomy to computer technology, health and medicine, to sound and transportation.
Naturally programs like classifying the animals living on the Serengeti, decoding whale or bat calls recorded by other citizen scientists, or helping the researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution identify all the different life-forms on the ocean floor appeal to me. But I admit that a lot of other opportunities available really appeal to me too.
What I particularly like about the Citizen Scientist Program is that many of the projects involve a worldwide effort to gain information about what’s normal in the world around us right now. In spite of the fact that it seems dreadfully backwards to identify problems let alone formulate treatments for them when we don’t know what role those elements identified as problematic normally play in the micro- and macro-ecosystems in which they normally dwell, we do this all the time. And sometimes with grave consequences to individuals, populations, species, and the planet. To me it’s basic common sense to understand what constitutes normal before we label something abnormal and develop treatments to eliminate it.
The citizen science movement also appeals to me because it provides an alternative to that feeling of uneasiness that arises when I read the results of scientific studies funded by commercial concerns that increasingly populate professional journals these days. My Pollyanna nature wants to believe that sufficient samples from a sufficient population were collected, and that findings that contradict the goals of the funders also make it into print. But my more realistic side knows that this is not always the case. When people worldwide motivated by nothing more than a desire to pitch in to help researchers to expand our knowledge of the world we live in, we can avoid that pitfall.
Lastly the Citizen Scientist Program appeals to my awareness that the most meaningful changes occur from the bottom up.
While only a handful of us may ever receive a Nobel Prize for our contributions to science, thanks to such programs each one of us now has the potential to contribute to that person’s greatness as well as to the greater good.
If you have any comments regarding subject matter, favorite links, or anything you’d like to see discussed on or added to this site, please let me know at mm@mmilani.com.
Were you ever stuck at home because of lousy weather or an illness or injury grounded you and left you feeling utterly bored and useless? You didn’t want to watch yet another movie or play another video game; you had no desire to read another book, even one by your favorite author. You wanted to feel capable, not entertained.
Fortunately help is now available for those of all ages who almost certainly will encounter this dilemma as least once in their lifetimes. Moreover it comes from a most usual source, i.e. the reduction in government funding for research on a wide range of topics of benefit to the planet and humankind, but of little interest to commercial funders because it offers no immediate profit-generating potential. Lacking such financial support, researchers increasingly are turning to an unusual source for help: the general public.
In the past year, citizen scientists made some sufficiently noteworthy discoveries that the increased use of this volunteer workforce ranked as one of the top science new stories of 2012. Furthermore some of those amateurs’ findings rank them as far more than amateurs. For example one study published in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, revealed that some species citizen scientists recommended for addition to the endangered species list were at higher risk than those selected by experts at the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Why amateurs like you and me might discover new gene variants, asteroids, or contribute solutions to highly complex problems brings to mind an old saying about quality observation: “A good observer is someone who sees something that shouldn’t be there when it is, and doesn’t see something that should be there where it isn’t.” When we work within a certain field long enough, it’s easy to become restricted in our views. Think of it as an intellectual version of olfactory fatigue. Just as we become immune to a certain odor once we’ve been exposed to it for a while, we may become immune to small but significant changes in those areas of interest to which we devote most of our attention. As a result someone from outside may notice things we miss.
In the past when there was more funding to go around, researchers often considered outsiders who attempted to point things out as pests at best and pains in the behind at worst. But as technology increasingly makes it both possible and cost-effective to collect large amounts of data more quickly, researchers need more help to go through that data in a timely manner. Meanwhile other scientists need more help collecting that data in the first place. Enter the citizen scientist.
Already potential citizen scientists may choose from an amazing array of problems to help researchers solve. Want to help look for evidence of life-forms living in outer space attempting to contact us? Check out the SETI Citizen Scientist program. Want to help scientists analyze the millions of photos triggered by wildlife in the Serengeti National Park to determine what species live there, their habits, and how they interact with each other? Visit Snapshot Serengeti and join the team.
Want to help but you’re not sure how? Or are you a researcher who could use the help of some citizen scientists yourself? SciStarter.com serves as an on-line clearing house to connect scientists in need of help of all kinds with members of the public willing to help.
First the site will ask you what kind of activity interests you. While it’s possible to do your bit to help science exclusively online, opportunities to become more physically engaged also abound. For example, you can help researchers at the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab learn more about the human-canine bond and specifically how people play with their dogs. This particular project points out another great attribute of citizen science programs: some of them are opened to kids.
But while videoing human-canine play interactions for research purposes requires the skill of one in secondary school or older, in other projects like uBiome even younger kids can helps scientists collect data on the bacteria that live on or in us. This makes these fun and educational projects for the whole family. Or what about helping scientists learn more about the unidentified wildlife, a.k.a bacteria in and around your home? Kids and adults can help do that by signing up for the Wildlife of Our Homes program. For teachers interested in integrating citizen science into their classrooms, ZooTeach serves as a place where teachers can share lesson plans and resources that complement the Zooniverse citizen science programs for those of all ages.
We also can help scientists in one way or another in an extensive range of environments. In addition to research that involves moving no further than our computers, homes or yards, other programs involve data collection on the beach, in the car, on hikes, in oceans, lakes or streams, on a walk or run. Some projects occur in conjunction with public institutions like zoos, museums, and science centers and involve a wide range of data collection. What kind? Data associated with topics as diverse as animals, archeology, and astronomy to computer technology, health and medicine, to sound and transportation.
Naturally programs like classifying the animals living on the Serengeti, decoding whale or bat calls recorded by other citizen scientists, or helping the researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution identify all the different life-forms on the ocean floor appeal to me. But I admit that a lot of other opportunities available really appeal to me too.
What I particularly like about the Citizen Scientist Program is that many of the projects involve a worldwide effort to gain information about what’s normal in the world around us right now. In spite of the fact that it seems dreadfully backwards to identify problems let alone formulate treatments for them when we don’t know what role those elements identified as problematic normally play in the micro- and macro-ecosystems in which they normally dwell, we do this all the time. And sometimes with grave consequences to individuals, populations, species, and the planet. To me it’s basic common sense to understand what constitutes normal before we label something abnormal and develop treatments to eliminate it.
The citizen science movement also appeals to me because it provides an alternative to that feeling of uneasiness that arises when I read the results of scientific studies funded by commercial concerns that increasingly populate professional journals these days. My Pollyanna nature wants to believe that sufficient samples from a sufficient population were collected, and that findings that contradict the goals of the funders also make it into print. But my more realistic side knows that this is not always the case. When people worldwide motivated by nothing more than a desire to pitch in to help researchers to expand our knowledge of the world we live in, we can avoid that pitfall.
Lastly the Citizen Scientist Program appeals to my awareness that the most meaningful changes occur from the bottom up.
While only a handful of us may ever receive a Nobel Prize for our contributions to science, thanks to such programs each one of us now has the potential to contribute to that person’s greatness as well as to the greater good.
If you have any comments regarding subject matter, favorite links, or anything you’d like to see discussed on or added to this site, please let me know at mm@mmilani.com.