Our Voice NOLA: Leveraging a Community Engaged Citizen Science Method to Contextualize the New Orleans Food Environment

Abstract

Objective: We employed the Our Voice citizen scientist method using a mobile application (app) to identify and contextualize neighborhood-level features influencing food access and wellbeing in New Orleans, Louisiana. Design: A three-phase, multi-method study comprised of: (1) a researcher-assisted tag-a-long neighborhood walk (referred to as a ‘journey’) with the Discovery Tool (DT) app to document neighborhood-level features via geo-coded photos and audio-recorded narratives; (2) a post-journey interview to enable citizen scientists to share their lived experiences; and (3) a community meeting with citizen scientists and local stakeholders. Setting: Various neighborhoods in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Participants: Citizen Scientists (i.e., residents) aged 18 years and older. Main Outcome Measure(s): Features that influence food access and health behaviors. Analysis: Descriptive statistics and a thematic content analysis were conducted to assess survey and app data. Results: Citizen scientists (N = 14) captured 178 photos and 184 audio narratives. Eight major themes were identified: safety; walkability; aesthetics; amenities; food; health services; neighborhood changes; and infrastructure/city planning. The post-journey interview provided insights around the abovementioned themes. The community meeting demonstrated the willingness of citizen scientists and stakeholders to convene and discuss issues and relevant solutions. Conclusions and Implications: Findings demonstrate the ability of technology and citizen science to help better understand the complexities of New Orleans’ past, present and distinct culture—and implications for food access and wellbeing in the context of trauma in an urban ecosystem.

The role of citizen science mobile apps in facilitating a contemporary digital agora

“…Mobile apps are used as work tools for collecting spatial and temporal data and achieving information from citizens. We take for example Our Voice app, used to document the citizen scientists' experiences regarding the lifestyle of the respective community, a materialization of the contributory approach (Afaneh et al 2022). Furthermore, this tool found also in other studies (González et al 2022;Odunitan-Wayas et al 2020;Tuckett et al 2018) combines the contributory approach with the mobile technology and collection methods of the data provided by citizens (audio recordings, images).…”

“…Such an effort results in multidisciplinary outputs. The input provided by researchers resulted in determining the factors and experiences of the communities affected by hurricane Katrina, while the interview participants have offered information on the effects of Katrina felt by people, from material losses to the trauma they have been through (Afaneh et al 2022). Another advantage of using this app comes from community-based empowerment.…”

“…Another challenge of CS comes from engaging the participants and maintaining citizen empowerment. In the case of some apps monitoring environmental aspects, the volunteers have already proven an increasing a priori interest for environmental issues (Afaneh et al 2022). Among the advantages of using citizen science, we mention community-based monitoring, where citizens may take the role of scientists (David Izquierdo-Gómez 2022;Fraisl et al 2022).…”