CITIZEN SCIENCE IN A NUTSHELL

BY ANA CAROLINE COLOMBO AND REBECCA ELLERINGTON

Citizen science, also known as crowd science, is an area that has been gaining more visibility and practitioners over the last three decades. It refers to the active involvement of the wider public in scientific research projects or tasks, usually related to collecting or exploring huge datasets. Together with technological advances, its definition, application and impact have been evolving and growing.1

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udubon’s Christmas Bird Count is considered the first and oldest citizen science project, having started 122 years ago. In 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman proposed a holiday tradition where people would gather to count birds instead of hunting them. Since then, this project has contributed immensely to the science of bird conservation and has engaged members of the public in their thousands. As a result, reports and scientific papers have been written on how climate change has affected bird populations in the regions where the project has taken place. Every year, from 14 December to 5 January, citizens from America can register their interest to count birds in specific areas or routes.2

From wildlife surveys and digitising herbarium and fungarium collections3 to decoding genes4 and cell identification and counting5, citizen science encompasses a broad range of topics within biology. Interestingly, citizen science isn’t exclusively related to biological science but permeates all research fields.

One of the most popular citizen science projects, called SETI@home, was a crowd astronomy computing project that used internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).6 Considering the limited technology and restricted availability of supercomputers at that time of release in 1999, this project solved a massive data-processing issue by inviting the wider public to engage with it. Throughout more than two decades of existence, it has engaged over 5 million participants worldwide and surpassed by 50 times or more the operation of the most powerful contemporary supercomputer.7

SETI@home inspired many projects, including some related to protein dynamics. Protein structure isn’t random but entirely related to its function. Although the sequencing of millions of proteins has been possible, predicting the 3D arrangement of a protein – how it will fold – hasn’t been reliable. This is known as the protein folding problem. This problem arises because there are many variables to consider, including the difficulty of measuring protein structure through experimentation and the physical complexity involved. One way of solving the problem is using computer simulation, which requires computational power and time.7,8

That is where Folding@home came in, using the same concept of citizen science as SETI@home.9 It was initially released in 2000 and had a peak of interest and volunteers during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. More than 200 scientific papers were published based on their simulations.9 Similar projects in protein folding are also ongoing, such as the Rosetta@ home project, launched in 2005,10 and Foldit in 2008.11 Foldit came with a different approach of inviting participants to play a protein folding game with puzzles related to the most recent issues in the field.

These are all examples of how citizen science contributes to a challenge called the ‘big data’ problem, which means that sometimes the issue isn’t in generating the data but in how they are processed and interpreted to lead to significant results.

Similarly, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey have been using satellite technology to study remote wildlife populations, such as whales, penguins, albatross, seals and walrus. Through a vast number of satellite images, they can identify, count and monitor these species for conservation efforts. While they have been developing automated technologies to process those images, they still rely on citizen science.12 Walrus from Space project, for example, has invited the community to help. So far, they have engaged with more than 11,000 citizens who analysed more than half a million images. From July 2022, this project has stepped into a new stage with scientists going to the field in Svalbard to validate the image counts of the walrus. Collecting data in this way not only makes science more accessible and diverse but can also lead to breakthroughs in developing new technologies for this kind of scientific research.13

These projects benefit the scientists, who receive contributions that would take too long or too much money to obtain in other ways, while participants feel fulfilled by contributing to a meaningful cause and gaining new skills. However, the dynamics and structure necessary for a positive outcome rely on training. This means both participants and facilitators need to understand the specifics of the project, the basics of how and what scientists and participants learn, and the barriers they face.1 For example, a lack of clear information, support and feedback from the scientists can lead to a lack of engagement and retention of the participants. However, problems with participant engagement could also be attributed to a lack of time and self-confidence. As such, the same problem would need two completely different approaches to find a solution. Good training and well-designed citizen science projects can be complex but lead to a unique opportunity for scientific inclusion and knowledge sharing.

While the citizen science field expands, many topics have been brought to the table for discussion. A book published last year entitled ‘The Science of Citizen Science’ highlights the complexity of this field and discusses how citizen science can contribute to society and science while making us aware of the quality of contribution, authorship discussions, the importance of scientific engagement and the impact on policy changes.1

For those curious to see examples of citizen science projects, either to inspire their research or to find a project to get involved with, there are different online platforms, such as Zooniverse,14 Scistarter15 and Eu-citizen.science,16 that specialise in organising citizen science projects. Another great source of information and project listing can be found on some organisations’ websites, such as WWF,17 The Wildlife Trusts18 and Kew Gardens,3 just to name a few. So, maybe an organisation you already support has citizen science projects you can help promote or engage with. Citizen science can help us to contribute to scientific advances while inspiring and connecting with the community. During the SEB Christmas Lectures 2022 in the week commencing the 12th of December, we have some speakers lined up, including Geoffrey S. LeBaron and Hannah Cubaynes, to talk about the impact of climate change on birds and walrus populations, respectively. Both data and research come from the citizen science projects Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count and Walrus from Space featured in this article.

For more information about this year’s Christmas lectures, visit www.sebiology.org/events/christmaslectures-2022

References:

1. Vohland K, Land-Zandstra A, Ceccaroni L, et al. (eds). The

Science of Citizen Science. Berlin, Springer Nature, 2021. 2. Audubon. Christmas Bird Count. 2022. www.audubon.org/ conservation/science/christmas-bird-count Accessed 20

September 2022. 3. Kew.org. Citizen Science. 2022. www.kew.org/science/engage/ get-involved/citizen-science Accessed 20 September 2022. 4. Zooniverse.org. Genome Detectives. 2022. www.zooniverse. org/projects/charrod/genome-detectives/about/research

Accessed 20 September 2022. 5. Zooniverse.org. Fossil Atmospheres. 2022. www.zooniverse. org/projects/laurasoul/fossil-atmospheres Accessed 20

September 2022. 6. Setiathome.berkeley.edu. SETI@home. 2022. https:// setiathome.berkeley.edu/ Accessed 20 September 2022. 7. Wright C. Let’s Know Things. Protein Folding Problem.

Episode 238. 2020. https://letsknowthings.com/episode238/

Accessed 20 September 2022. 8. Dill KA, Ozkan SB, Shell MS, et al. The protein folding problem. Annu Rev Biophys 2008; 37: 289–316. 9. Foldingathome.org. Folding@home. 2022. https:// foldingathome.org/?lng=en Accessed 20 September 2022. 10. Baker Lab. Rosetta@home. 2022. https://boinc.bakerlab.org/

Accessed 20 September 2022. 11. Foldit. 2022. https://fold.it/ Accessed 20 September 2022. 12. British Antarctic Survey. Wildlife from Space - British

Antarctic Survey. 2022. www.bas.ac.uk/project/wildlifefrom-space/ Accessed 21 September 2022. 13. British Antarctic Survey. Scientists Begin Work Counting

Arctic Walrus. 2022. www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/scientistsbegin-fieldwork-to-count-walrus-in-the-arctic/ Accessed 21 September 2022. 14. Zooniverse. Zooniverse. 2022. www.zooniverse.org Accessed 20 September 2022. 15. Scistarter. Scistarter. 2022. https://scistarter.org/ Accessed 21 September 2022. 16. Eu-citizen.science. Eu-citizen.science. 2022. https://eucitizen.science/ Accessed 21 September 2022. 17. WWF. Conservation Technology. 2022. www.wwf.org.uk/ project/conservationtechnology Accessed 21 September 2022. 18. The Wildlife Trusts. Citizen Science Projects. 2022. www. wildlifetrusts.org/citizen-science Accessed 21 September 2022.