By taking part in citizen science projects, you can participate in research of all kinds. From classifying galaxies, to counting penguins there are a bunch of different ways you can get involved. Here are some of my favorites.
What Is Citizen Science?
Citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries! There are many citizen science projects to choose from. Each will involve something a little bit different. Some will involve giving your time online, signing up for a practical project with a nature charity close to home, or involve volunteering while out traveling.
Why Take Part?
Citizen science bridges gaps by harnessing the power of people who are motivated by curiosity or have a desire to advance research, then connecting them to projects that benefit from their energy and dedication. Taking part as a volunteer means that you simultaneously learn about a topic, and contribute to its research. You're taking a stake in the world around you, and by doing so playing a valuable role in potential future decisions about science policy. By getting involved, and getting others involved you can empower your community to make a difference in the world. Lastly, the projects can be very fun and varied; I've categorized dolphin vocalizations, identified Hawaii's "Deep 7" fish, and measured snail embryos!
A Quick Note About The Projects I've Listed Below
In each of the projects I've mentioned, there is no minimum time requirement needed. You can do as much or as little as you'd like. To get started click some of the links below or check out the sites tagged at the bottom of the page.
Scientists have placed time-lapse cameras around penguin colonies across Antarctica.
These cameras take many images each day. From the comfort of your living room, you can count penguins in remote regions, and help scientists understand their lives and environment. This project aims to:
Determine chick survival and breeding success, and how this varies across species ranges and between years
Identify the causes of chick mortality (e.g. predation in the colony versus parents abandoning chicks)
Record changes in the timing of breeding (e.g. arrival date, fledging date) and how this is affected by environmental conditions
In taking part, you may also be contributing to future policy decisions around the Antarctic Peninsula, and Marine Protected Areas. Penguin Watch will be using this data to determine important regions for penguins and highlight specific colonies of concern. Go take part in Penguin Watch now!
2) Beluga Bits
In this project you examine underwater photos of wild beluga whales to help identify the age, sex, and group size. By identifying recognizable marks on certain beluga, scientists will also be able to determine if individuals return to this location year after year. Right now I've volunteered to count and identify the number of jellyfish in each photograph. This will help researchers determine the health of the ecosystem. Learn more by clicking here. It's fun, I promise!
This project focuses on counting how many Weddell seals there are in the Ross Sea area of Antarctica (home to more than half the total population of Pacific Weddell Seals). Researchers are interested in learning if these creatures are being adversely affected by human fishing for toothfish, or by the ice melting away beneath them due to climate change. Weddell seals live in very remote locations where weather conditions are extreme. This combined with the fact that they spend so much time in the water, means that they're difficult to count. As a participant, you will be classifying the seals on the ice and putting a color coded label on them. This will help scientists understand more about the numbers out on the ice, and make a reasonable estimate of the population size.
4) Aurora Zoo
The aurora borealis, or northern lights, is a natural light show that forms in a ring around the Earth's north pole. The University of Southampton operates a camera system called the ASK (Auroral Structure and Kinetics) in Svalbard (high arctic) that automatically takes data whenever it is dark. We now have thousands of hours of video of the aurora, most of which has never been looked at. There are two main science aims of Aurora Zoo:
Understand how different small-scale shapes and movements in the aurora are formed.
Learn what conditions are needed for those different shapes and movements to happen.
By taking part, citizen scientists will find exciting and unusual events to study in more detail – things nobody has ever seen before. Studying aurora helps us to understand the different ways space weather can affect life here on Earth. You'll watch short video clips recorded by the ASK instrument, and identify what shape the aurora has, what movement there is, and how fuzzy (or diffuse) the aurora is.
5) Happy Whale
By tracking individual whales throughout the world’s oceans, this study is expanding our scientific knowledge of the whales’ behavior and distribution. If you have an awesome shot of a humpback whale that meets the Happy Whale ID requirements, you can submit it. If the program finds a match for an individual whale, it will tell you what they know about it. It will also celebrate if you've found a whale that hasn't been recorded before. As each of your whales are spotted around the world you'll be notified! How fun is that?
What're you waiting for? go take part!
This is a great way to get involved in scientific research. If you participate in one of the projects I've listed above, let me know. I'd love to hear how you liked it. If you want more inspiration, check out some more resources I've listed down below.
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