Disrup'ng  Science!(in  a  good  way)Humanity  +  Summit  @  Harvard:

Rise  of  the  Ci8zen  Scien8stDarlene  Cavalier

Science  For  Ci8zensh>p://scienceforci8zens.net

Common Misconception (among scientists)

Who  are  Ci8zen  Scien8sts?

•50  million+  worldwide

•46%  surveyed*,  hold  graduate  degrees  (na8onal  avg  is  9.9%**)

•Highly  educated,  affluent,  ac8ve  users  of  the  Internet.*2009 Brownstein/Science Cheerleader survey of 150 active citizen scientists

Who  are  Ci8zen  Scien8sts?

MOST CITIZEN SCIENTISTS ARE GEN JONERS: who have an “aching to act.”  

Why  volunteer  for  science?

1. To help safeguard or improve the environment.

2. To learn more about a subject I’m interested in.

3. To generally expand my knowledge, broaden my mind.

4. To help improve my community.

5. To help advance science.

Citizen scientists donʼt do scientific research for a living; they practice science for personal satisfaction.

Online data analysis citizen scientists

Demographics: avg age 43 yrs old; 80/20 men/women; 28% hold Masters degree+; 29% hold Bachelors

#1 reason these 250,000+ people volunteer to sort through images of galaxies?

“To contribute to research.”Source: Jordan Raddick (JHU), Galaxy Zoo survey: “Why do people

become citizen scientists?”

Why now?

Internet makes it easy to obtain and share information

Instrumentation is cheaper, more accessible

Mobile smart phones: GPS, digital photography, microscopes, sensors

Open data

Impact?Peer reviewed papers

Discoveries:  Amateur  astronomer,  Anthony  Wesley,  discovered  a  hole  in  Jupiter’s  atmosphere,  the  

size  of  the  Earth!  

At  least  three  ci'zen  scien'sts  played  key  roles  in  what  has  become  known  as  Climategate.

       Six-­‐year-­‐old  Alyson  Yates  and  her  mom,  Kate,  discovered  a  rare  nine-­‐spoKed  ladybug  

while  taking  part  in  Cornell  University’s  Lost  Ladybug  ci'zen  science  project.          By  running  DNA  tests,  teenagers  in  NYC  found  a  new  breed  of  cockroach  and  

discovered  food  labels  lie.  

Impact?White House

Increasing number of published papersField of academic study

Policy: Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology

Public Understanding of Science

Buzz

The NY Academy of Sciences: The Growth of Citizen ScienceThe New York Times: A New Kind of Big ScienceO’Reilly Report: Citizen Science and Urban SensingTreeHugger: The Big Deal with Citizen ScienceEducation.com: Citizen Science benefits to childrenSeed Magazine: Creating Citizen ScientistsCNN Citizen Science and Climate Change  

And  many  more.

What  we  do

We  enable  regular  folks  to  tap  their  inner  scien8sts  and  improve  the  world.

The  problem

Millions  of  people  eager  to  explore  science  and  nature  can’t  find  the  thousands  of  research  ac8vi8es  they  could  be  par8cipa8ng  in.

Our  solu'on:  the  Project  Finder

Fireflies,  oil  spills,  the  moon,  your  local  river…

Yup,  our  database  has  a  project  for  that.

Harnessing  the  power  of  America’s  greatest  resource,  to  improve  our  world.