Citizen Science
- Citizen Science is scientific research that the general population helps to conduct. Ordinary citizens, often non-scientists, help contribute data to research projects using computing devices.
- Gives a wide range of people the ability to contribute to scientific studies which provides more diverse data.
Popcorn Hack
How do you believe participating in a citizen science project could enhance both scientific research and public engagement, and can you share any specific areas of scientific study where citizen science might make a significant impact in the future?
ANSWER: It could enhance the amount of scientific research by providing more data about a field of work and it would increase public engagement because people would be motivated to conduct their own research to contribute to science. One area where citizen science could make a significant impact is in research about space because there is a lot of data that can be taken by citizens to help the overall research of space.
Homework
Question 1
Explain the concept of crowdsourcing. Provide examples of how it is commonly used in different fields.
ANSWER: Crowdsourcing is a work strategy where multiple contributers across the internet work to help make a project. It is commonly used in websites like wikepedia and crowdfunding site like kickstarter which require the work of people on the internet.
Question 2
Discuss the benefits and challenges associated with crowdsourcing. How can organizations effectively harness the power of crowdsourcing while mitigating potential drawbacks?
ANSWER: Some benefits of crowdsourcing is for large projects to be done quickly and potentially more efficienty because of the mass amounts of contributors from all over the internet. Organizations can help mitigate drawbacks by having some kind of fact checker by using AI or a smaller team of people to make sure information on a project is inputted correctly.
Question 3
Identify a real-world example of a successful crowdsourcing project. Explain the project, its goals, and the positive outcomes achieved through the collaboration of a large group of people.
ANSWER: A successful crowdsourcing project is kickstarter. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website where the goal is to help people create fundraisers and raise money for business products that they are trying to sell. Some positive outcomes of this is that many businesses have been able to pick up some popularity and funding for their products.
Question 4
Create a hypothetical scenario where crowdsourcing could be applied to solve a specific problem. Describe the problem, the type of contributions you would seek from the crowd, and the potential impact of implementing the crowdsourced solution.
ANSWER: One scenario could be raising money for someone’s medical treatment that they cannot afford. Using crowdsourcing to start a crowdfunding page on gofundme could help raise money for that person’s treatment. The impact this would have on a patient without the funds to pay for their medical treatment would be huge because they would be able to recieve proper care with the help of those on the internet.