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Research often involves teams of scientists collaborating across continents. Now, using the power of the Internet, non-specialists are participating, too. Citizen Science falls into many categories. A pioneering project was SETI@Home, which has harnessed the idle computing time of millions of participants in the search for extraterrestrial life.

"The Macaulay Library is the world's largest and oldest scientific archive of biodiversity audio and video recordings. Our mission is to collect and preserve recordings of each species' behavior and natural history, to facilitate the ability of others to collect and preserve such recordings, and to actively promote the use of these recordings for diverse purposes spanning scientific research, education, conservation, and the arts." A great example of what citizen science can build!

BOINC is an open-source software platform where you can choose a project, download the software, and use the idle time on your computer to assist in scientific research. It's not about citizen science, but it's a useful resource for people who are interested in participating in citizen science.

Citizen Cyberlab's repository of online resources on citizen science: a collection of over 500 references concerning education, crowdsourcing, participation and much more!

It is a pity that most of these papers are not open, not free...

The report describes potential benefits of citizen science for both science and society, especially given the advent of new mobile technologies that enable remote participation. Who really benefits the most from these developments: the amateurs or the professionals?

Our projects live within the 'Zooniverse', the home of Citizen Science on the web. Each is inspired by a science team who provide the initial ideas, the reassurance that what we're doing can make a real contribution and an audience who are willing to use the end result.

I have gathered a large list of on-going citizen science projects and related tools which, I am sure, will benefit everybody interested in getting involved with hands-on science. Some of the projects in my list were mentioned in Clarkes' video lecture - I realize that some people were looking for references to those.

The list is now here as well: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3os4Z9kDO9UeFBMYTBPR0tqMW8/edit

Gracias por tu contribución. I liked it so much because of "Marine LitterWatch" because it is a really big problem in Mexico, it can be applied by government to clean the populated beaches, el Cañón del Sumidero or Sumidero Canyon, and to sensibilize people. Additional to that, the app can be used in big cities to decide where to colocate new tanks of rubbish.

Awesome research site for science.

Cool citizen science in BC!

Lists current citizen science opportunities with NASA.

The Guide describes how to develop, implement and evaluate citizen science to study biodiversity and environment. The Guide is created for UK residents, however if you're interested in this subject I'm sure it's possible to find some useful tips.

Arabic initiatives in open knowledge

Test out this form of citizen science, a 2-3 minute survey on environmental attitudes and education. A friend is involved in this study at the University of Leeds.

Easy to take.

Dr Jane McGonigal (a professional game developer) talks about the time spent playing video games (which approximates to the span of human evolution), and that this time has to increase to make any major changes to the world. I have selected this resource partially in relation to week 3's Clarke's lecture (and others), which talks about using our idle time to do something meaningful - participate in citizen science games, for example. Dr McGonigal's talk very much illustrates this point - except that it talks about solving global issues through indirect games, e.g. a World Without Oil online game simulates a world in which you have to survive oil shortage. Creator's research shows, that people maintain the skills and habits they have taken up after playing this intense game, which include making better choices for our changing environment. The only difference here from actual citizen science games is that Dr McGonigal's games are fictional (rather than providing direct data / input for actual scientific research), however, they empower people to influence global change, which is the topic of the other lectures this week, especially Morozov's thoughts about the power of internet and connectiveness to create "revolutions". Although Morozov has taken up a rather critical view, suggesting only those who want it, take the best from the Internet, Dr McGonigal's ideas might be what bridges the two - taking games, which are integral part of many people's lives, especially in the younger generation, and turning them into real "life schools" may help more people get the idea and the essential skills to "fix" their environments. In all honesty, this is a video I would watch again and again, and recommend it to anyone who would listen (and that doesn't happen often for me).

Gamification for learning - using game elements - sounds very promising. Prior to the internet, technology, there were board games or hands on projects - all with the intent to engage and interact with each other. So it is no surprise to me given the appropriate design/project that students can learn and solve real world problems. Letting students choose their persona and role also allows them to make their own future and take ownership for how they want to participate. Just like the original promise of multimedia training that was purported to replace the traditional classroom events and enable getting the "best" teacher recorded for all to have the same experience...I believe it was then thought that the learning experience needs o be "blended". Different techniques - online, face to face, etc.. This is not my field of expertise so these are just personal opinions. If the online game approach can be combined with face to face and tactile/outdoor activities, aka a blended approach - I think that might be very useful. I do also believe that design solutions should be encouraging win win situations to reinforce collaboration and the feeling that all can succeed. One question I might have is how do you measure success in learning?

Gaming promoters unfortunately for me have a commercial agenda and its always difficult to make that balance of pure learning and commercialization aspect