Here’s your chance to be part of science history! In the video below, Andy Farke and Matt Wedel introduce the Open Dinosaur Project, a collaborative research effort to develop a database of dinosaur bone measurements.

The best part? You don’t need formal scientific training, a background in research, or even to have seen the Jurassic Park movies. You just need an interest in paleontology and access to skeletal information, publications, or fossils. Anyone who contributes data — whether high school students, teachers, or grandparents — is eligible to be a junior author on the resulting scientific publication.

Could you be the next Indiana “Bones”? (<– terrible) The only way to find out is to visit the Open Dinosaur Project page and get started! You should also check out their fantastic blog!

This morning, a friend sent me a link to an article from Kid Gardening.org, a site that “helps young minds grow”.  The article, Engaging Students through Citizen Science , highlights the benefits–to educators AND students–of participating in citizen science projects:

[Students] think and act like scientists as they make careful observations, ask their own questions, look for patterns, try to make sense of data, and link their local observations to larger global issues. Some participants learn geography and mapping skills as they track migrations or other events on real-time maps. Besides honing their science and technology skills, students are motivated to read, count, calculate, and communicate. They also learn about being collaborators; environmental stewards; and engaged local, national, and global citizens. Oh, and they have fun, to boot! “The children get so involved that teaching is easy,” says one teacher. “It’s the most motivating type of project you can do.”

The article includes links to getting started guides and the author’s favorite citizen science sites, including ScienceForCitizens.net which she describes as “a brand new Web site that aims to be a one-stop shop for those wanting to advertise citizen science projects and those seeking to participate. The site’s Project Finder enables you to search for projects by topic, location, time commitment, difficulty, suitability for students, and more”.

So, teachers, let us help you find a citizen science activity just perfect for your class. Check out our growing list of projects (and check back frequently as new projects are added every week!).

Yesterday, New Scientist magazine announced the latest project in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence: SETI Quest:

SETIQuest is the product of astronomer Jill Tarter’s TED Prize wish. After being awarded the TED Prize last year, Tarter was given the opportunity to make a single wish before an auditorium full of the top names in technology and design. Tarter wished that they would “empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company”.

SETIQuest will need your help soon. They’re in the process of writing code and building other functions, so we don’t have SETIQuest in our Project Finder yet, but we will, as soon as they are ready! In the interim, the site describes ways you will (soon) be able to get involved; or, if you’d like to dive in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence sooner, consider Seti@home.

The current searches for radio signals from distant technological civilizations can benefit from your creative talents. If you are good at writing efficient code and like to participate in open source projects – we need you. If you are knowledgeable about digital signal processing and pulling signals out of noise – we need you. If you are eager to use your eyes, ears, and mind to help us find anomalies in the data streaming from the Allen Telescope Array – we need you. We need your help to manipulate and explore the real-time data from the telescope, and to create the environments that will allow global participation by Earthlings of all ages.

National Lab Day is the brain child of Jack Hidary who wants to improve science, technology, engineering, and math education in the U.S.A. Through National Lab Day, scientists are matched with teachers in need of their intellectual capital. Much like you–citizen scientists–are lending your brains to science, scientists participating in National Lab Day are lending their brains to K-12 grade education. And there are opportunities for you to help teachers, too. Check out National Lab Day for more information. Here’s a terrific video summarizing this effort, just released at the infamous TED conference today. It reminds me of this magical remix of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

New to bird watching? Professor Stuart Pimm talks us through the basics in this video. Many bird watchers share their observations with researchers in an effort to learn about and protect these  little critters that are so important to our ecology.  If you’re interested in getting involved in bird watching to help science, you’ll find plenty of citizen science ornithology opportunities using our Project Finder tool.

Just back from a visit to Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Lab. Fascinating developments taking place there, not the least of which includes a number of citizen science initiatives! First up: ChargeCar!

This project, part of a series of community-based applied research activities coming out of CMU’s CommunityRobotics.org,  is asking you to share your daily commute data. Why? “If we can accumulate a large database of real commutes,” the CMU site reports,  “Electric Vehicle researchers will be better able to tailor solutions to individual trips, and the understanding of the typical commute will improve.”

In addition to contributing to science, you’ll be able to calculate the cost of commuting with an electric car using your actual commute data, compare the efficiency of gasoline and electric cars for your trips, and browse commutes across the country.

Give it a whirl! If you decide to participate, consider sharing your experience with others by creating a member blog right here on Sci4Cits!
This video explains more about ChargeCar:

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.