“Public is dumb.” Scientists are skeptical.

QuickTime™ and aYUV420 codec decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

YouTube video: http://tinyurl.com/n3dxso5

International comparison:

American adults rank 2nd

in civic science literacy.

Professor Jon Miller (U of MI).

CIVIC SCIENTIFIC LITERACY IN THE US, 1988 – 2005 [MILLER, J.D., 2007]

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Year

Percent CSL

In 2005 U.S. Ranked Second only to Sweden in Civic Scientific Literacy

Civic Scientific Literacy in the U.S. , while still low, has tripled between 1988 and 2005.

More can be done.

COMMUNICATION +ENGAGEMENT

Little evidence exposure to information per se leads to either deeper understanding or an ability to incorporate scientific knowledge into better decision making.

Important to think about communication as a process of mutual interaction and a seeking of understanding, rather than simply as a means to transmit knowledge accurately to the public.

When science is not emotionally satisfying, it will fail to address deeper questions of identity and personal experience and will be rejected in favor of less reliable sources of information and advice.

-- Judith Ramaley, Science Literacy for the 21st Century

More can be done.

To find projects, citizen scientists have to search and search

About 137,000 results

Darlene Cavalierwww.scistarter.com

We are a website that connects regular people

toreal science they can do.

Millions of people enjoy

science & nature.

Thousands of scientists need

volunteers.

But they can’t find each other.

Weconnect

them

Scientist image and cit scientist images tk to illustrate “we connect them”

Weconnect

them

Someone you know is a

CITIZEN SCIENTIST

eBird 1.5 million

reports

Water testing1.5 millionmonitors

SETI@ home5 million

volunteers

Accelerating analysis of tumor samples in huge datasets.

Forecasting solar activity that poses radiation risks to humans and hardware in space. (NASA

crowdsourcing)

Analyzing wild algae species for their potential to produce biofuels.

Citizen Science IS Serious Science.

Citizen Microbiology Projects

http://www.microbe.net/citizen-science-projects/

Searchable database of projects.

To make it easier for people to learn about and get involved in projects.To make it easier for people to learn about and get involved in projects.

We help project

organizers reach people.

Partner up!

Crowdsource the

crowdsourcing.

University of Waterloo’s Snow Tweets

goal Help researchers calibrate accuracy of snow measurement toolstask Measure snow where you are, tweet or upload your geotagged data

Tripled three-year participation rate in one season.

What motivatesmotivates participants to act?

To advance fields of research.

To connect/protect nature.To connect/protect nature.

Personal enrichment, satisfy curiosity.Personal enrichment, satisfy curiosity.

To shape emerging fields.To shape emerging fields.

Money.Money.

Community/civic concerns.Community/civic concerns.

Community/civic concerns.Community/civic concerns.

“Each image you will see is a tiny tumour sample from a huge dataset. Help our scientists to accelerate the analysis of this data by identifying the coloured sections of the image using our prompts, and bring forward the cures for cancers.”

Help cure cancer.Help cure cancer.

Help cure cancer.Help cure cancer.

Set a Guinness World Record! .

Big Cheer for Science!Monitor earthquakes for

United States Geological Survey

QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

YouTube link: http://tinyurl.com/mgqxogo

Boys, too!

National Partnership with Pop Warner Little Scholars

Mentorships (in person and via Skype)

Science Festival appearances

Citizen Science introductions

Science of Cheerleading app

PI s new citizen science research projects

We are 250 members strong….and growing

The Science Cheerleaders reach NEW audiences.

www.SpaceMicrobes.org

Common sectors

Research question, community concern

Participation/ engagement

Incentives , motivations

Appropriate technology

Certifications/ qualifications

Quality of data

Privacy/ownership of data

Policy implications

Resources:

Human cognition/analysis platforms: PyBossa/Crowdcraft, CosmoQuest, Zooniverse

Sample collection: SciStarter, others working with the people or surfaces/bodies you want to reach (consider partnering up with other citsci project organizers).

Sampling protocols, consent forms, etc: MicroBEnet, Your Wild Life

Crowdfunding: uBiome

References, links to other practitioners, more tools:http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/resources

“Citizen science has helped democratize science and helped people to understand they can have an influence on science by being a part of it.”

Rick Bonney, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

From citizen science to citizen policy.

Hey! Hey! What do you say?

Let’s bring back the OTA!*

(With citizen input!)

*The now defunct Congressional Office of Technology Assessment

From citizen science to citizen policy.Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology.

https://ecastnetwork.wordpress.com/

ECAST: Distributed network to create/evaluate mechanism to inform public and solicit input in matters of sci/tech policy.

Founding Partners: Arizona State University

Boston Museum of Science

Loka Institute

Science Cheerleader/ SciStarter

UMass Amherst

Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars.

From citizen science to citizen policy.Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology.http://ecastnetwork.wordpress.com

Pilot project in four locations.

Dissemination of white paper to Congress; public release of outcomes at Wilson Center event.

Active workshops and meetings to align process with GAO and other Congressional support agencies.

Designed to complement expert analysis.

Report about participatory technology assessment (pTA) prepared by ECAST members. Primary motivation is to articulate the role that a network like ECAST might play in conducting and institutionalizing pTA in the U.S.

Mobilize an informed populace to tell us what science cannot.

By helping people rediscover, do, and shape STEM, we can mobilize one of the our greatest resources.

It’s never too late.