What's New with the Zooniverse
Presenters: Lucy Fortson, Andrea Simenstad, & Darryl Wright, University of Minnesota
Abstract: Come join us as we showcase new functionality on the Zooniverse online citizen science platform. This includes information on how to build a project on Zooniverse that will be available in our new Mobile App. We will also describe how we have been using various new techniques including machine learning in particular with camera trap projects to speed up the classification of images. We’ll show examples from Snapshot Wisconsin, Snapshot Safari and CameraCATalogue. Finally, we’ll describe work underway to connect the data collection platform CitSci.org with Zooniverse so research teams can take advantage of both ways of engaging volunteers more readily.
Lead Presenter Bio: Dr. Lucy Fortson is a professor in the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. She is a co-founder of the Zooniverse online citizen science platform which engages over 1.7 million volunteers in projects ranging from astronomy to zoology. Andrea Simenstad and Darryl Wright are both members of the UMN Zooniverse team; Andrea is a front-end web developer for the Zooniverse project interface and Darryl leads machine learning efforts for Zooniverse.
Citizen Science and Machine Learning as Tools for Natural Resource Management
Presenters: Sarah Huebner & Abby Guthmann, University of Minnesota
Abstract: The recruitment of public volunteers (“citizen scientists”) to assist with research has become a popular method of processing Big Data in the Information Age. Snapshot Safari, an ecological monitoring network designed for long-term observation of endangered wildlife populations throughout eastern and southern Africa, has attracted thousands of volunteers to help classify the species, count, and behavior of animals caught on camera in various African parks and reserves. This presentation will discuss the successes, challenges, and future directions of utilizing citizen science to advance research programs. The strategy of incorporating machine learning may provide the key to maximizing volunteer effort and quickly producing usable data for research and conservation management purposes.
Lead Presenter Bio: Sarah Huebner is a graduate researcher with the University of Minnesota Lion Center (UMNLC) and the Research Manager for an international camera trapping/citizen science project entitled Snapshot Safari. Sarah studies the role of megaherbivores, particularly elephants, in mitigating the ‘landscape of fear’ created by African lions. Abby Guthmann is a graduate researcher with the UMNLC, and she studies how rotational grazing is being used to restore degraded grassland and increase pasture productivity in Kenya’s Enonkishu Conservancy.
Drones and Citizen Science: Opportunities and Challenges
Panelists: Angela Gupta, University of Minnesota, Kyle Kasten, Monarch Joint Venture & Lucy Fortson, University of Minnesota
Abstract: This panel, with audience engagement, will discuss the opportunities and challenges of combining new technologies with innovative solutions to further Citizen Sciences. Panelists Angela Gupta, Kyle Katsen, and a representative from Zooniverse, will discuss the challenges and opportunities of using UAS, unmanned aerial systems (often called drones), and other dispersed or crowd sourced data gathering processes.
Drones are becoming more and more common-place in research, field monitoring and species detection. Drones collect data very quickly and efficiently, but also present a number of challenges. A single flight may collect thousands of images that can be difficult or time-consuming to process. Citizen science may provide some of the answers for how to cope with such large datasets. Programs like Zooniverse have a proven track record of using citizens to process images. Drones are also expensive for researchers, but are becoming more readily available within citizen populations. Are there lessons that can be applied to these problems that have been learned from platforms like iNaturalist?
These professionals will engage with the audience for (hopefully) a rigorous discussion of the opportunities and challenges.
Lead Presenter Bio: Angela Gupta has experiences using UAS, iNaturalist and the Great Lakes Early Detection Network (GLEDN) app for invasive species early detection and verification with professional, volunteer, citizen scientists and other audiences. Kyle Kasten has experience using drones to monitor for milkweed for his monarch butterfly work. Lucy Fortson and the Zooniverse team have lots of experience crowdsourcing visual data review for citizen science.