Serious games and citizen science; from parallel pathways to greater synergies

Speelman, Erika N; Escano, Elena; Marcos, Diego; Becu, Nicolas

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101320

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 59 publications

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“…This will help in finding and integrating sufficient knowledge, insights on attitudes, and perceptions from various sources to co-create solutions (Norris et al, 2016;Pohl et al, 2017;Worosz, 2022). Serious gaming is an alternative participatory approach and is regarded as a strong transdisciplinary method (Speelman, E. N. et al, 2021;Hobbs et al, 2015;Cavada and Rogers, 2020;Arnab and Clarke, 2017;Janssen et al, 2023;Speelman et al, 2023). Serious gaming may include amongst others board 85 games, card games, computer games, role-playing games, or a combination of any of these forms (Speelman et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guiding community discussions on human-water-related challenges by serious gaming in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro river basin, Kenya

Wamucii,

van Oel,

Teuling

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Water-related conflicts in river catchments occur due to both internal and external pressures that affect catchment water availability. Lack of shared understanding by catchment stakeholders increase the complexity of human-water issues at the river catchment scale. Among a range of participatory approaches, the development and use of serious games gained prominence as a tool to stimulate discussion and reflection among stakeholders about sustainable resource use and collective action. This study designed and implemented the ENGAGE game (Exploring New Gaming Approach to Guide and Enlighten), that mimics the dynamics observed during the dry season in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro catchment, North West of Mount Kenya. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential role of serious gaming in subsequent steps of strengthening stakeholder engagement (agenda setting, shared understanding, commitment to collective action, and means of implementation) toward addressing complex human-water-related challenges at the catchment scale. We assessed the type of decisions made during gameplay, the communication dynamics, active participation, and the implication of decisions made on water availability. The results of three game sessions show that the ENGAGE game raised awareness and provided a recognizable hydro-logic background to conflicts while guiding community discussions toward implementable decisions. The results revealed increasing active participation, knowledge gain, and use of plural pronouns, and decreasing individual interests and conflicts among game participants. This study presents important implications for creating a collective basis for water management and can inform human-water policies and modification of the process behind water allocation rules in a river catchment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guiding community discussions on human-water-related challenges by serious gaming in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro river basin, Kenya

Wamucii,

van Oel,

Teuling

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The impact of citizen science on environmental attitudes, environmental knowledge, environmental awareness to pro–environmental citizenship behaviour

Srisathan,

Malai,

Narathawaranan

et al. 2024

International Journal of Sustainable Engineering

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Improving Online Citizen Science Platforms for Biodiversity Monitoring

Della Rocca,

Musiani,

Galaverni

et al. 2024

Journal of Biogeography

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BackgroundMonitoring biodiversity is crucial in biogeography. Citizen science and biodiversity platforms have revolutionized data access across taxa, but they struggle to provide robust raw data essential for conservation decisions.AimsThis study addresses data gaps for under‐represented species and locations, observer expertise variability, and the lack of absence data and sampling effort information to improve data representation and suitability for statistical analyses.Materials & MethodsWe collected, compared to IUCN‐recognized taxonomic groups, all worldwide living being (animal, plant and fungi) observations held by four major biodiversity platforms: eBird, GBIF, iNaturalist, and Observation.org. We also organized such observations by country of origin and based on their Human Development Index (HDI).ResultsWe found that, while GBIF, iNaturalist, and Observation.org cover all life forms, birds are the most observed (eBird is a bird‐specific platform), whereas fish, other marine organisms, arthropods, and invertebrates are dramatically underrepresented. Moreover, none of the above‐mentioned biodiversity platforms considered or directly analysed expertise variability among observers and, apart from eBird, the other three biodiversity platforms do not accommodate data on species absence and sampling effort.Discussion and ConclusionFinally, we found that species observations on biodiversity platforms considered in this study are skewed towards high HDI countries, primarily North America and Europe. By enhancing the effectiveness of biodiversity platforms, this study has the potential to significantly advance the field of biogeography, paving the way for more informed and effective conservation strategies. Overall, our findings underscore the untapped potential of these platforms in contributing to our understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity.

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Serious games and citizen science; from parallel pathways to greater synergies

Cited by 5 publications

References 59 publications

Guiding community discussions on human-water-related challenges by serious gaming in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro river basin, Kenya

Guiding community discussions on human-water-related challenges by serious gaming in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro river basin, Kenya

The impact of citizen science on environmental attitudes, environmental knowledge, environmental awareness to pro–environmental citizenship behaviour

Improving Online Citizen Science Platforms for Biodiversity Monitoring

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