Some of you expressed interest in viewing the slides I shared during a talk at the Microbe.net workshop at UC Davis.

The talk was designed to give an overview of citizen science projects and a peek at the opportunities and challenges ahead for people involved in the production of such projects. It also pointed towards the next, organic phase of citizen science in which participants actively shape policies.

Related:
Harnessing the power of citizen scientists (Darlene Cavalier. Science Progress. July 2008.)
Reinventing Technology Assessment in the 21st Century (Richard Sclove. Science and Technology Innovation Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. April 2010.)

Meet the Science Cheerleaders. This team of more than 100 NFL and NBA cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers is ready to cheer for citizen science. ScienceCheerleader.com, our sister-site, aims to inspire the 3 million little cheerleaders in the U.S. to consider careers in science and engineering, while playfully challenge stereotypes and encouraging participation in any of the more than 400 citizen science projects featured on ScienceForCitizens.net .

The Science Cheerleaders have been featured on CNN, NPR, ESPN, The Scientist, Nature, Science, Discover and more. They are supported by the National Science Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and others eager to draw more women and minorities to the field of science. They travel the country spreading the gospel of science and citizen science!

Next stop: Vegas. On Saturday, September 10th, 1pm, in Las Vegas, NV, right at the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign! That’s right, VEGAS! Home of our favorite Vegas science super stars, Penn & Teller. Below, you can a cheeky video the Science Cheerleader did with Penn & Teller.

Read the rest of this entry »

Science For Citizens is teaming up with Discover Magazine to help inspire more people to get involved in citizen science activities!
Come get your hands dirty with science at the World Maker Faire in NYC, September 17-18 at the NY Hall of Science.

Organized by the staff of MAKE magazine, makezine.com and craftzine.com, Maker Faire is a newfangled fair that brings together science, art, craft and engineering plus music in a fun, energized, and exciting public forum. The aim is to inspire people of all ages to roll up their sleeves and become makers. This family-friendly event showcases the amazing work of all kinds of makers – anyone who is embracing the DIY spirit and wants to share their accomplishments with an appreciative audience.

Stop by the Discover Magazine/ScienceForCitizens.net booth to:

• Analyze fossil matrix from a real mastodon fossil excavated in New York.
• Help researchers measure albedo — how much of the sun’s energy is reflected back from the Earth.
• And, meet the Science Cheerleaders, NBA and NFL cheerleaders-turned-scientists who will be at the Faire to help encourage people to get involved in citizen science activities and even teach folks how to extract strawberry DNA, over at the BioBus!

Are you a seasoned citizen scientist, looking for a more daring experience? Our friends from Genspace will be teaching PCR and DNA barcoding; Synthetic biology and BioBricks – building new and useful organisms; and Gel Electrophoresis…all of which you’re invited to do. Experience why Discover is featuring Genspace in its September issue.

If you’d like to attend the NYC Maker Faire, here’s information on how to purchase tickets.

We hope to see you at the Maker Faire!

Sign up for the Science for Citizens newsletter!

Click for all the details

On Tuesday, July 26 at 9pm ET, The Weather Channel will air the “Changing Planet” Town Hall focused on clean energy and green jobs. Science for Citizens is a partner in this three-part series.

Here’s more information from NBC News:

This town hall broadcast is the second in a 3-part series that brings together scientists, thought leaders and students for a discussion on the issues of climate science.

The Weather Channel announced that it will air a “Changing Planet: Clean Energy, Green Jobs, and Global Competition” on Tuesday, July 26th at 9 PM/ET. NBC News Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent Anne Thompson moderated the event, which was hosted by George Washington University. The town hall meeting is the second in a three-part series produced under a partnership between NBC Learn (the educational arm of NBC News), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Discover magazine.

The “Changing Planet” town hall series is intended to encourage student learning and to open a dialogue about climate change by gathering scientists, thought leaders, business people, and university students to discuss the facts of climate science, understand their implications, brainstorm solutions and even get involved in real research through citizen science projects on ScienceForCitizens.net.

“Today’s technology allows us to think about new energy options that impact the planet less and help the economy more,” said Thompson. “It is critical that we have these important discussions about how clean energy and the economy can go hand in hand, in order to bring the best solutions to the spotlight.”

This edition of “Changing Planet” brings together over 100 students and features four leading experts from the science and business communities: Chris Busch, Director of Policy and Program at Apollo Alliance; Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Chief Executive Officer of Green For All; Timothy Juliani, Director of Corporate Engagement at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change; and Ken Zweibel, Director at the GW Solar Institute.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday, October 14, ScienceForCitizens.net will host a panel discussion in partnership with George Mason University, Discover Magazine, and the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

The discussion, which is a preamble to the USA Science and Engineering Festival, will focus on the potential and the perils of turning everyone into an expert. The timing is perfect: These days, it seems as if researchers are drawing on the collective insights of ordinary citizens like never before for issues ranging from advancing science to improving public policy. Called crowd-sourcing, it’s a technique that finds the best solution by asking many minds and hands to work on the same problem at the same time.

Sci4Cits has several terrific examples of crowd-sourcing initiatives in our project finder now, including: Galaxy Zoo, Citizen Sky, Open Dinosaur Project, Foldit, and, most recently, Innocentive’s Challenge, a partnership with Boston’s Museum of Science in which citizens are called upon to submit creative concepts for the next great large-scale science or technology museum exhibit. The winner takes home $8,000!

So, let’s do a little crowd-sourcing of our own right now. Tell me your thoughts about these two questions:

Can tapping the wisdom of crowds provide better solutions to today’s greatest questions and challenges?

What are the potentials and the perils of turning everyone into an expert?

I’ll be moderating Thursday’s discussion and I’d like to hear your responses to these questions soon. Post a comment or question below, and I’ll do my best to work it into the public discussion.

And if you live in the D.C. area, try to attend. If you do, come say “hi”  and I’ll introduce you to the panelists:

• Kirk Borne, Associate Professor, Astrophysics and Computational Science, George Mason University. Borne is the principal investigator of the Galaxy Zoo project.
• David Rejeski, Director, Science and Technology Innovation, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. Rejeski creates techniques to include citizens in public policy formation, from online video games to prediction markets.
• Dwayne Spradlin, President and CEO, Innocentive. Spradlin has helped ignite public-private partnerships enabling hundreds of thousands of “regular” people to participate in the development of solutions to challenges facing industry and nonprofits.
• Robynn Sturm, Advisor to Deputy Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Sturm has worked on opening government data to the public and currently guides federal agencies towards participatory and incentive-based approaches to solving grand challenges.

The panel discussion takes place from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at George Mason University, Research 1 Building, Room 163, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Virginia. Please RSVP to PSNELLIN@GMU.EDU

Can’t attend? Catch video highlights afterward via our YouTube Channel and our Video Gallery.

Science for Citizens is getting some attention over at Motherboard.TV, an online video network. Co-founder Michael Gold and I were interviewed by Jordan Keenan of Motherboard this past spring at Harvard during the Humanity Plus Summit where I spoke about citizen science. Here are the slides from that presentation. You’re welcome to them.

In the following interview, recently published on Motherboard, Michael and I banter about the demographics and motivations of our favorite peeps: citizen scientists. Hope you enjoy it!

Can I pick your brain for a minute?

Next week I’m going to be part of a panel discussion on the topic of citizen science. It’s part of a joint conference of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the Geological Society of America titled ”Earth and Space Science: Making Connections in Education and Public Outreach.” To fuel that discussion I’d like to get your opinion on what makes a citizen science project successful for you, the participant.

If you’ve taken part in a project—or even if you’re just considering it—please share your thoughts by adding a comment here at the bottom of this post. I plan to refer to selected comments during the panel discussion. As an added nudge, I’ll award a free t-shirt to the authors of the three comments I deem to be most helpful and illuminating.

Many of the folks attending this conference are the scientists who actually dream up and design citizen science projects—so here’s your chance to influence their thinking and help shape new activities that you can take part in.

Please let me know what factors determine whether a project was (or would be) an effective and successful experience for you. In addition to your general thoughts, I’d like to know in particular:

• How important is it that you increase your own scientific knowledge as part of the project?
• How important is it that you contribute to scientific knowledge?
• Is it important to you that you do more than collect data (for instance, help analyze the data, help design the project, help disseminate the findings)?

Looking forward to your feedback.

By the way, if you’re in Boulder next week (that’s where the conference is) and want to chat about citizen science, just let me know. It would be great to connect.

This coming Saturday, I’ll be speaking at the Humanity Plus Summit at Harvard. The so-called H+ Summit is a two day event that explores how humanity will be radically changed by technology in the near future.

The focus of the 2010 H+ Summit is apropos to Sci4Cits: The Rise of the Citizen Scientist! Visionary speakers include Ray Kurzweil, Brian Malow (aka, the Science Comedian; Time Magazine reporter)  and MANY others. Here’s a link to the description of my presentation. The event will be webcast as well.

It’s not too late to register for this weekend-long event! If you key in the code: FRIENDSOFDARLENE, upon registering online, you’ll receive a 20% discount.

I hope to see you there.

The science blogging community gathered (in person) at the increasingly popular Science Online 2010 conference in Durham, N.C. this past weekend where I was invited to chat about Adult Science Literacy, Science in the Media, and Citizen Science. I had the chance to unveil this beta version of  Sci4cits to an enthusiastic reception from the science bloggers. They smiled, they tweeted, they blogged, and they provided lots of helpful suggestions. (We’re still seeking comments on this beta version and we’d love to hear from you.)

Some highlights from the session:

Science journalist Carl Zimmer substantiated the merits of citizen science and illustrated an example taking place in North Carolina…with dogs!

PLoS (Public Library of Science) biology editor Jonathan Eisen, who plans to launch a microbiology citizen science project, asked about unifying online data collection modules to enable researchers (and volunteers) to share information culled by citizen scientists. If you have ideas, let us know.

My co-presenters Scott Baker and Ben MacNeill shared their own experiences with citizen science projects:

Scott runs a Twitter-based reporting method to track fish catches. Now, through the wonder of Twitter, fishers log their catches and send the data to regulators–in real-time–using their cellphones.

Ben developed  Trixie Tracker, a data tracking web and phone app that allows parents to tease out patterns in their children’s sleep activity. Someday in the not-so-distant future, this information may be used by doctors and other scientists studying corollary trends (it could even be mashed-up with data now available from data.gov).  Maybe we’ll see a correlation between sleep habits and fish catches.

Pictured here are some of the Science Online 2010 speakers: Darlene Cavalier, Dr. Kiki Sanford, Rebecca Skloot, and Joanne Manaster. More reactions to the event can be found here, here and here.