{"360751":{"#nid":"360751","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Crowd science provides major boost for certain research projects","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECrowd science is making possible research projects that might otherwise be out of reach, tapping thousands of volunteers to help with such tasks as classifying animal photos, studying astronomical images, counting sea stars and examining cancer cell images. Also known as \u201ccitizen science,\u201d these efforts to involve ordinary people in research projects have attracted interest from policy makers, scientific agencies and others.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA study published January 5 in the early edition of the journal \u003Cem\u003EProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E (PNAS) takes what may be the first comprehensive look at this trend, finding common threads in seven projects hosted on Zooniverse, now the most popular crowd science platform. The study\u2019s findings regarding the contributions made by thousands of volunteers offer both encouragement and caution, describing the considerable value of donated time and noting the limitations of nonprofessional research assistance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are seeing projects that couldn\u2019t be done before, and we are seeing them done on a massive scale and at a fast speed,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/scheller.gatech.edu\/directory\/faculty\/sauermann\/index.html\u0022\u003EHenry Sauerman\u003C\/a\u003En, an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EScheller College of Business\u003C\/a\u003E at the Georgia Institute of Technology. \u201cHowever, these are not conventional laboratory research projects going online. It\u2019s not a substitution of crowd science for conventional research projects.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough a few crowd science projects require technical knowledge from contributors, most expect little more than the ability to follow simple instructions \u2013 such as examining images of galaxies to note their shape, or reporting what animals are doing in photos. Assistance from crowd scientists is important because the sheer volume of work involved would otherwise put projects beyond the reach of conventional research teams.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe key is to translate the complicated science into something that\u2019s easily done by people who don\u2019t need to understand the scientific details,\u201d explained Sauermann, who has been studying the crowd science phenomenon. \u201cThe broad idea is to get people involved who have an interest in science, even if it is a fairly shallow interest. Anybody can participate as long as they have a computer and can do the basic tasks required.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough crowd science is attracting considerable interest right now, it\u2019s actually not a brand new idea. For years, ornithologists have used amateur bird watchers to count populations of different species and report their locations. What\u2019s new is access by the general public to masses of scientific images and data made possible by the broad reach of the Internet and ubiquity of personal computers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sauermann and co-author Chiara Franzoni from the Politecnico di Milano in Italy studied seven projects hosted on Zooniverse, one of several platforms providing crowd science infrastructure. They found that most volunteers spend relatively little time on the projects they support, with the majority of work done by a small fraction of the volunteers. But even brief involvement adds up when thousands of volunteers pitch in.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExamining the records of the seven projects over a 180-day study period, the researchers followed the activities of 100,386 participants who contributed a total of 129,500 hours of unpaid labor. At the rate normally paid to undergraduate students, that help would have been worth more than $1.5 million. The amount of labor by project ranged from $22,717 to $654,130.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe contributions received by projects varied dramatically over time, with large spikes in assistance tied to promotion efforts of projects or news media coverage. While this variability may be problematic for some types of tasks, Sauermann said, it may not be a problem for other types of tasks such as classifying large numbers of archived images.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough the value of the unpaid labor seems attractive, there are costs involved. Projects must be designed for untrained volunteers, infrastructure must be set up, projects must be promoted, and project leaders need to interact with the community to ensure continued involvement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s not like simply outsourcing something,\u201d Sauermann said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big-time commitment on the part of the scientists to make these things happen. Because of the investment, this makes the most sense for projects that have a large scale, where a lot of outside help is needed.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough each project is different, crowd science volunteers usually handle tasks that computers can\u2019t do because they require human judgment. For instance, in one project, volunteers were asked to characterize blurry images of animals. That kind of task is easy for humans, but difficult for computers. In other projects, humans noted unexpected objects that would have been ignored by computers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat motivates people to share their time for research projects? Sauermann says many crowd science projects parallel hobbies such as astronomy or bird-watching. In other cases, people may contribute because they feel they are helping society.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s a way to match people who are interested in looking at animal pictures or galaxies with people who need someone to look at animal pictures or galaxies,\u201d Sauermann said. \u201cWhen they get together, all parties benefit, and that\u2019s what makes crowd science so promising.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe phenomenon also provides an opportunity to build understanding and support for science.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany people don\u2019t have a tangible connection to science,\u201d he said. \u201cCrowd science can give people the hands-on experience of science, and therefore a better appreciation of it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHundreds of crowd science projects have been done so far, with astronomy and the life sciences the most popular fields. Sauermann expects \u201can explosion\u201d of projects in other areas of science as word spreads about the success of the projects and more infrastructure is created to host them. But he cautions that researchers hoping to use volunteers must continue to present interesting opportunities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think we are really at the beginning of something big,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s going to be difficult to get people to participate in topics that don\u2019t seem interesting or important to society. There may be areas of science that seem boring or unimportant. If asked to help with such projects, people may just prefer to watch television.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION\u003C\/strong\u003E: Henry Sauermann and Chiara Franzoni, \u201cCrowd Science User Contribution Patterns and their Implications,\u201d (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015). \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.dx.doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.1408907112\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.dx.doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.1408907112\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E177 North Avenue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u0026nbsp; USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Brett Israel (404-385-1933) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECrowd science is making possible research projects that might otherwise be out of reach, tapping thousands of volunteers to help with such tasks as classifying animal photos, studying astronomical images, counting sea stars and examining cancer cell images. Also known as \u201ccitizen science,\u201d these efforts to involve ordinary people in research projects have attracted interest from policy makers, scientific agencies and others.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers have taken a comprehensive look at the growth of crowd science, describing the considerable value of donated time and noting the limitations of nonprofessional research assistance."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2015-01-05 15:21:51","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:46","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-01-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-01-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"360721":{"id":"360721","type":"image","title":"Zooniverse Home Page","body":null,"created":"1449245782","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:16:22","changed":"1475895096","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:36","alt":"Zooniverse Home Page","file":{"fid":"201551","name":"zooniverse-home.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/zooniverse-home_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/zooniverse-home_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":379895,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/zooniverse-home_0.jpg?itok=1XualYJ1"}},"360901":{"id":"360901","type":"image","title":"GalaxyZoo Home Page1","body":null,"created":"1449245782","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:16:22","changed":"1475895096","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:36","alt":"GalaxyZoo Home Page1","file":{"fid":"201555","name":"gzscreenshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gzscreenshot_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gzscreenshot_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":380043,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/gzscreenshot_0.jpg?itok=l967xkwL"}},"317371":{"id":"317371","type":"image","title":"Henry Sauermann","body":null,"created":"1449244974","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:02:54","changed":"1475895027","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:27","alt":"Henry Sauermann","file":{"fid":"199972","name":"sauermann.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sauermann_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sauermann_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":359375,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sauermann_0.jpg?itok=bLUN3ZCW"}}},"media_ids":["360721","360901","317371"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"5554","name":"Citizen science"},{"id":"113621","name":"crowd science. Scheller College of Business"},{"id":"100471","name":"henry sauermann"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch News\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E(404) 894-6986\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}