Citizen Science, Air Quality, and the Internet of Things

Abstract

This chapter discusses the emergence of the Internet of Things, using a case study of a citizen science initiative, focusing in particular on issues involved in measuring air quality. The core of the citizen science initiative was formed by a world-wide network of early adaptors of the Internet of Things who, motivated by public health issues, set out to create widely available tools for air quality measuring. With these tools, they established a global, citizen-led, air quality measurement network. Besides highlighting a number of social and technological issues which are involve any such enterprise, this chapter engages with the discourse surrounding the use of IoT in collective sensing projects. Two questions are salient here. Firstly, can IoT technology be used in a citizen science context to monitor air quality? And secondly, does the construction of these devices lead to a successful mobilisation around issues of air quality?

Ethical Issues with Using Internet of Things Devices in Citizen Science Research: A Scoping Review.

“…This third hypothesis is supported by the fact that the majority of the studies (n=27) included in our sample used either apps relying on smartphone sensors or commercially available devices. By contrast, only a minority of studies used custom designed devices, or devices built using microcontrollers such as Raspberry Pi or Arduino circuit boards (Barzyk et al, 2018;Black & White, 2016;Dema et al, 2019;Denefleh et al, 2019;Tironi & Valderrama, 2018;Verma et al, 2016;Wylie et al, 2014).…”

“…For example, Black and White, as part of an interview study with individuals who contribute air quality readings, note that researchers should consider the implications of "data empowered global citizens". Black and White then report on how interviewees pondered whether they would decide to move from a particularly polluted area if they suffer from respiratory diseases (Black & White, 2016). Another example is the question of how government policy and government-citizen relations may be influenced by citizen science studies.…”

“…In particular, Komninos reports that ensuring data was made openly available was an incentive for citizen scientists to participate in the project (Komninos, 2019). Further, a number of the studies included in our sample described the benefits of using low cost open access technologies for ubiquitous research (Black and White, 2016;Carton & Ache, 2017). Guaranteeing privacy for participants and ensuring data quality, partic- technology (Wylie et al, 2014).…”

An IOT architecture for facilitating integration of geoinformation

“…IoT is a newly emerging model of communication which focuses on facilitation of information exchange between all different types of Things. The Internet of Things envisions a connected world of billions of smart things, devices, smartphones, smart cars, smart homes, and smart cities (Black and White, 2017). In an IoT environment Things may be real or virtual, moving or steady but things are active participants in the whole system.…”

Knowledge discovery for enabling smart Internet of Things: A survey

“…The industrial IoT domain constitutes works related to industrial monitoring (Shinde & Bhagat, ), safety (Kanzaki, Schubert, & Bambos, ), supply chain management (Majeed & Rupasinghe, ), and other industrial applications (Kiran, Subrahmanyam, & Rajalakshmi, ) making use of IoT‐based solutions for their operation and management. Finally, the environmental IoT domain addresses challenges pertaining to monitoring of air quality (Black & White, ), water quality (Encinas, Ruiz, Cortez, & Espinoza, ), wildlife (Elias, Golubovic, Krintz, & Wolski, ), and other such applications.…”