User experience of digital technologies in citizen science

Abstract

The growing interest in citizen science has resulted in a new range of digital tools that facilitate the interaction and communications between citizens and scientists. Considering the ever increasing number of applications that currently exist, it is surprising how little we know about how volunteers interact with these technologies, what they expect from them, and why these technologies succeed or fail. Aiming to address this gap, JCOM organized this special issue on the role of User Experience (UX) of digital technologies in citizen science which is the first to focus on the qualities and impacts of interface and user design within citizen science. Seven papers are included that highlight three key aspects of user-focused research and methodological approaches. In the first category, "design standards", the authors explore the applicability of existing standards, build and evaluate a set of guidelines to improve interactions with citizen science applications. In the second, "design methods", methodological approaches for getting user feedback, analysing user behaviour and exploring different interface designs modes are explored. Finally, "user experience in the physical and digital world" explores crossovers with other fields to improve our understanding of user experiences and demonstrate how design choices not only influence digital interactions but also shape interactions with the wider world.

Inclusiveness and Diversity in Citizen Science

“…In recent years, hundreds of projects have been initiated, encouraging people from different backgrounds to participate in the collection, labelling, categorisation, and counting of different types of data. Digital platforms and tools have been developed to organise these different processes of participation (Skarlatidou et al 2019) in innovative forms. Digital infrastructures can present both obstacles and opportunities for more diverse ways of undertaking citizen science through multiple ways of participation.…”

A pathway for citizen science data to inform policy: A case study using eBird data for defining low‐risk collision areas for wind energy development

“…This surge in CS projects can be partially attributed to recent advances in technology, such as mobile phones and tablets, which have increased the accessibility of CS programs to the broader public (Skarlatidou et al, 2019) and improved the quantity and quality of collected information (Kelling et al, 2019). However, the surge can also be partially attributed to the perceived benefits of increasing the spatial and temporal coverage of biological information through data collected by volunteers as indicated by the investments in CS projects made by funders and the scientific community.…”

Citizen Science Platforms

“…The main challenge for citizen science platforms lies in their usability and design (Giuliana 2017;Leeuwis et al 2018;Skarlatidou et al 2019;Pejovic and Skarlatidou 2020). They need to work smoothly and look modern.…”