As a citizen scientist, you can help researchers explore the causes, effects and potential responses to global climate change and other environmental issues. And you can do it from home or out in the field! In this episode of Citizen Science: Stories of Science We Can Do Together, we explore six projects coming at the issue from six very different angles.  Discover these and many other climate change-focused and environment-related citizen science volunteer opportunities through the SciStarter Project Finder! Projects featured in this podcast episode include: Caroline Nickerson’s Miss Louisiana Earth featured projects Climate Change in Scripted Media OSDG Community Platform Climate History Australia Urban Buzz Ghosts of the Coast Ripple Effects via the Citizen Science, Civics and Resilient Communities program supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Find other NOAA-supported citizen science pages hosted by science centers and museums on SciStarter. The article by Max Cawley (of the Museum of Life + Science in Durham, North Carolina) that Caroline mentions in the episode intro is on the SciStarter Blog. Transcript for this episode coming soon on the SciStarter Podcast page.

Citizen Science

Climate Change and the Environment

We found the song of the summer! The "Citizen Scientist Song" was written and recorded by Monty Harper for SciStarter.org. You can find Monty on Twitter @montyharper and his website is www.montyharper.com.  Enjoy!  

The Citizen Scientist Song by Monty Harper

NASA offers an entire universe of citizen science projects, and at CitSciCon – the first-of-its-kind online event series that was hosted by the Citizen Science Association and SciStarter in May of 2021 – project leaders and volunteers from dozens of those projects shared their stories. Check out this podcast to hear some of those stories, and if you'd like to learn more and participate in the featured projects, visit SciStarter's NASA CitSciCon webpage (https://SciStarter.org/NASA). You'll find links to the original livestreamed events, and project pages for all of these exciting citizen science volunteer opportunities!   Projects mentioned in this podcast include:   Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Disk Detective GLOBE Observer: Trees Fjord Phyto iNaturalist NASA NeMO-Net Coral Classification GLOBE Observer: Landcover Snapshot Wisconsin   Access a transcript of the episode.   

CitSciCon with NASA Projects

Citizen Science Month is an opportunity to showcase the entire panoply of citizen science projects all over the world, and we try to capture it all in this roundup episode. Which isn't possible. But we do hope this show gives you a taste of what the month had to offer. If you want to go deeper, you can learn more at CitizenScienceMonth.org. Video of some of the webinars described in this podcast can be found at SciStarter.org/Citizen-Science-Videos   Projects mentioned in this podcast include:   SciQuest Caterpillars Count Public Editor Demo Watch Fjord Phyto GLOBE Observer: Clouds Happywhale OpenStreetMap Globe at Night Stall Catchers GLOBE Observer: Mosquito Habitat Mapper Safecast iNaturalist Marine Debris Tracker  All of Us   Access a transcript.

Citizen Science Month (April 2021) Roundup

Public libraries are playing an increasingly important role in citizen science, running educational programs – both in-person and online – and loaning out kits with citizen science instruments, material and other resources. And they are very involved with Citizen Science Month. In this podcast episode, Caroline and Bob speak with library-based partners implementing ambitious plans for Citizen Science Month and beyond. Guests include Robin Salthouse, formerly of the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert, Arizona and now an advisor to the SciStarter team; Alynda Smithey a Children’s/Youth Services Librarian from the Riverside Regional Library in Missouri; Don Ficken, President of International Dark Sky Association - Missouri Chapter; and Vivienne Byrd, Librarian III - Lead on STEM/STEAM & Citizen Science Initiatives at the Los Angeles Public Library. All of them have planned events for you to discover throughout April on CitizenScienceMonth.org!    Projects mentioned in this podcast include:   Globe at Night Stall Catchers GLOBE Observer: Mosquito Habitat Mapper GLOBE Observer: Clouds ISeeChange iNaturalist Marine Debris Tracker   Access a transcript of this episode as a PDF.

Libraries and Citizen Science Month 2021

To kick off Season 2 of the Citizen Science podcast, new host Bob Hirshon and citizen science enthusiast Caroline Nickerson take a virtual trip around the world – and even into intergalactic space – to learn about some exciting new citizen science projects, including CrowdWater, Spiral Graph and Land Loss Lookout. In addition, they preview upcoming Citizen Science Month events coming this April.    Projects mentioned in this episode:   CrowdWater   Spiral Graph   Land Loss Lookout   Theme music is Podcast Theme by Keith Hartnell used under Creative Commons license.   A complete transcript of this episode can be found as a PDF.

Virtual Travel

This episode, our second that looks at community and citizen science in cultural heritage institutions, explores how natural history museums use crowdsourcing to unlock the potential of biodiversity collections for research and education. Justin Schell talks to researchers and volunteers involved in the Notes From Nature project, which is one of the largest crowdsourcing projects focused on natural history information.  Projects mentioned in this episode: Notes From Nature WeDigBio (October 15-18, 2020) Zooniverse   Other transcription platforms to visit: Smithsonian Digital Volunteers Transcription Center Library of Congress - By the People DigiVol (Australia) Les herbanoutes (Paris Herbarium)   A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

Cultural Heritage Institutions and Citizen Science - Part 2

North Carolina State University -- typically referred to as NCSU, NC State, or just State -- is a public research university in Raleigh, North Carolina and a leader in public engagement in science. In this episode, Caren Cooper, professor at NCSU, and student citizen science leader, Brianna Johns, discuss all the different components of a citizen science campus: the Citizen Science Club, the SciStarter Educational Portal, themed citizen science programs, researchers with important projects that need citizen scientists’ help, and more.    Resources: Citizen Science Campus Website Webinar about SciStarter Education How to Start a Citizen Science Club (Blog by Brianna Johns) Citizen Science Research at NCSU  Professor Caren Cooper's Website   Projects mentioned in the episode: Crowd the Tap Never Home Alone   Music for this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions, used under a Creative Commons license. A transcript is available here.

Citizen Science at North Carolina State University

This is the first of two episodes that will focus on how citizen science can be done by and within cultural heritage institutions, including libraries, archives, and museums. In this episode, we’ll focus on how natural history museums and public libraries have involved members of their communities in projects that can contribute to local, national, and global understandings of scientific questions.    We speak with Richard Smart, one of the managers of the Community Science program at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; Sara Medina, a volunteer community scientists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles; Dan Stanton, a librarian at Arizona State University who supports the School for the Future of Innovation in Society; and Robin Salthouse,  the Adult Services Supervisor Librarian at the Southeast Regional library in Gilbert, Arizona. Listen to learn how the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County studies urban biodiversity with the help of community scientists, how Arizona State University and local public libraries collaborate to create citizen science kits for library patrons to check out and more!  Music for this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions, used under a Creative Commons license. A transcript is available here. Resources for Natural History Museums Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County - Community Science https://nhm.org/community-science-nhm NHM Community Science Projects SuperProject SLIME RASCals BioSCAN Resources for Libraries SciStarter IMLS Grant: Libraries as Community Hubs for Citizen Science Librarian's Guide to Citizen Science Maricopa County Library System Maricopa County Citizen Science Webinar Arizona State University Library Guide on Citizen Science NASA's GLOBE project GLOBE - SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) Measuring Light in the Night Kit Globe at Night Exploring Biodversity Library Kit Zombee Hunting Library Kit

Cultural Heritage Institutions and Citizen Science - Part 1

iNaturalist allows anyone, anywhere to contribute to a global record of biodiversity by uploading pictures of plants and animals with their smartphone or computer. In this episode, co-host Justin Schell talks with Dr. Carrie Seltzer, the Stakeholder Engagement Strategist for iNaturalist, about how the platform works, the iNaturalist community, and how iNaturalist advances scientific research. Featured in this episode is the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), the oldest outdoor group in the United States. The AMC runs multiple citizen science projects, and in this episode, Georgia Murray, a staff scientist at AMC; Annie Evankow, a Research Assistant with AMC; and Alina Michelewicz, a volunteer with a number of AMC projects speak about their citizen science work with iNaturalist — how they have been able to supplement the core data fields on iNaturalist with some specific to their project, as well as how they have approached citizen science and research with the Northeast Alpine Flower Watch project.  Music for this episode is from MWD, used under a Creative Commons license from the Free Music Archive. Special thanks to Jill Nugent for conducting the interview with the AMC team. A transcript is available here.  For those of you who have accounts on SciStarter, add your iNaturalist username to your SciStarter dashboard, and you’ll get credit for your contributions.   Links: iNaturalist Appalachian Mountain Club Seek  Global Biodiversity Information Facility National Phenology Network Toilet weasel publication  Justin's (Mistaken) Coyote Identification

iNaturalist and Appalachian Mountain Club

With thousands of projects listed on SciStarter, a main challenge can be finding the right project, one that really suits your needs and your interests. After meeting at workshop on the Open Science of Learning hosting by the Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity, Kobi Gal, a leading expert in human-centered artificial intelligence, and Darlene Cavalier, the founder of SciStarter, collaborated, with support from NESTA, a UK-based innovation foundation, to create a smart recommendation system to help SciStarter users find the right project. Kobi and Na'ama Dayan, another team member working on this project, sit down with Caroline Nickerson from the SciStarter team to talk about the new system and how YOU can help us test it. A transcript is available here. Music in this episode is by Discount Fireworks, used under a Creative Commons license via the Free Music Archive. 

Minisode - Smart Recommendations in SciStarter

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (or COASST, for short) project is a network of citizen scientists that monitor marine resources and ecosystem health at over 400 beaches across northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. COASST works to translate long-term monitoring into effective marine conservation solutions. Co-host Caroline Nickerson chats with Dee Richie, a citizen scientist who volunteers with COASST, and Hillary Burgess, the science coordinator for COASST, about how to get involved with COASST and citizen science focused on marine ecosystem health. A transcript can be accessed here.  Music in this episode: “Smile for Me, Sun” from Adam & Alma, used under a Creative Commons license via the Free Music Archive.   Other resources mentioned in this episode: BeachCOMBERS Beach Watch NOAA Marine Debris Program Mussel Watch Marine Mammal Stranding Network SEANET Great Lakes Monitoring Program 

COASST

NASA-funded Community Snow Observations (CSO) project recruits citizen scientists to help collect snow depth observations – anytime and anywhere, and then they can submit their observations via the mobile-sharing platform Mountain Hub. Co-host Caroline Nickerson chats with one of the project leaders, David Hill, and one of CSO’s volunteers, Katie O’Connell, talk about the importance of collecting snow depth data around the world--how that informs both local knowledge of things like avalanches and water availability, to how data contributed by everyday hikers can better inform global models of snow availability and its relationship to the water cycle. You can find a transcript here.

Community Snow Observations

This episode spotlights EarthEcho International and one of the organization’s signature programs, the EarthEcho Water Challenge. Kicking off in March each year on World Water Day, EarthEcho encourages participation in the Water Challenge year-round. Founded by the grandchildren of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, EarthEcho's mission is to inspire young people throughout the world to take action for a more sustainable future. Caroline Nickerson talks with Sean Russel, the Manager for EarthEcho's Water Challenge program, and Katelyn Higgins, a student leader in EarthEcho and member of the group's Youth Leadership Council. They discuss what it means to incorporate youth voices at every level of the organization, how to explain water chemistry to kids, how water monitoring can turn into water action, and how you can get involved in the science to better understand and protect the waters where you live. A transcript is available here.

EarthEcho Water Challenge

This episode is all about trees and how users of the Curio can map and monitor urban and community trees globally. Terrence Pickles is the founder of Exeter Trees, which attempts to document and preserve every tree in Exeter, in the UK, using both YouTube and the Curio app, which was developed by our second guest, Paul Hickey. Co-host Caroline Nickerson talks to Terrence and Paul about their motivations for doing the work they do, the kinds of results they’ve had so far, and how you can get started using Curio to better see and understand the whole of the world, or at least the trees you walk by every day. A transcript can be accessed here.   Music: Discount Fireworks, "Dots 1" and "Five," used under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 US license.  

Curio

Citizen Science, a podcast from SciStarter, spotlights the many ways communities are exploring and changing the world around them through public participation in science.

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Citizen Science

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