COBWEB Project Status

Dyfi Biosphere Reserve Annual Meeting,15th May, 2013

Chris HigginsProject Coordinator

chris.higgins@ed.ac.uk

http://cobwebproject.eu/

Citizen Observatory Web

• 4 year research project

• Crowdsourced environmental data to aid decision making

• Introduce quality measures and reduce uncertainty

• Combine crowdsourced data with existing sources of data

Crowdsourcing & citizen science

• Data collection conducted by amateurs• The involvement of volunteers in science

http://www.ceh.ac.uk/products/publications/documents/CitizenScienceReview.pdf

Project Partners

What are we going to build?

• A number of demonstrator mobile phone applications

– Exactly what, deliberately left open and subject to discussion with stakeholders

• 3 subject areas:1. Earth observation

2. Biological monitoring

3. Flooding

Design approach

• Top down– Work underway from the technical team

• Bottom up– Collecting user requirements

• How citizen science can benefit the area• What citizen science can deliver

– Local engagement by;

Benefits of COBWEB to the Dyfi Biosphere Reserve

• Brings resources into the area• Raises the profile of the Dyfi area• COBWEB - establish area as a

centre of expertise in:– Crowdsourcing and

Citizen science– Use of such data for

better environmental

governance

What would we like from you?

• Help us understand volunteer motivations

• Talk to us, help us get a measure of the level of awareness of the possibilities, the kinds of projects we might enable, etc.

http://cobwebproject.eu/ info@cobwebproject.eu