13 research outputs found
Testing the Waters: Blogging for User Needs Analysis, Information Access, and Building a Community of Practitioners
ABSTRACT This panel session will focus on three strategies for using blogs to improve access to collections, understand information needs of those searching the collections, and build communities of practice with information professionals serving similar user groups. Three presenters will share their experiences, goals, methods, and results. A facilitated discussion with the audience will follow the presentations and allow attendees to brainstorm on possible uses of blogging outside the box to reach the goals of their current projects or initiatives that they are hoping to undertake in the near future
Outreach Strategies to Engage Citizen Scientists: Insights from the Biodiversity Heritage Library
How do you successfully engage volunteers in citizen science projects?
In recent years, citizen science has grown considerably in popularity, resulting in rapid increases in the number of citizen science and crowdsourcing projects and providing cost-effective means for scientists to gather more data over broader spatial ranges to tackle research questions in a wide variety of scientific, conservation, and environmental fields Bonney et al. 2016, Aceves-Bueno et al. 2017. While the proliferation of such projects has produced a growing abundance of citizen scientist-generated data and published research informed by citizen science methods Follett and Strezov 2015, this also means that volunteers have a greater number of projects competing for their time.Â
When faced with an increasingly-crowded landscape, how can you generate interest in a citizen science or crowdsourcing project and maintain contributions over the projectâs lifetime?
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) supports a variety of citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, from transcribing field notes to tagging scientific illustrations with taxonomic names on Flickr and enhancing data for 19th century periodicals through its Zooniverse-based Science Gossip project. Through a variety of outreach strategies including collaborative social media campaigns, partnerships with citizen science communities, and interactive incentives, BHL has successfully engaged volunteers with diverse projects to enrich the libraryâs data and increase discoverability of its collections.
This presentation will discuss outreach strategies for citizen science projects that BHL has undertaken to further support research initiatives with our content. In addition, the presentation will share lessons-learned and offer suggestions that attendees can apply to their own citizen science engagement efforts
Outreach Strategies to Engage Citizen Scientists: Insights from the Biodiversity Heritage Library
How do you successfully engage volunteers in citizen science projects?
In recent years, citizen science has grown considerably in popularity, resulting in rapid increases in the number of citizen science and crowdsourcing projects and providing cost-effective means for scientists to gather more data over broader spatial ranges to tackle research questions in a wide variety of scientific, conservation, and environmental fields Bonney et al. 2016, Aceves-Bueno et al. 2017. While the proliferation of such projects has produced a growing abundance of citizen scientist-generated data and published research informed by citizen science methods Follett and Strezov 2015, this also means that volunteers have a greater number of projects competing for their time.Â
When faced with an increasingly-crowded landscape, how can you generate interest in a citizen science or crowdsourcing project and maintain contributions over the projectâs lifetime?
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) supports a variety of citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, from transcribing field notes to tagging scientific illustrations with taxonomic names on Flickr and enhancing data for 19th century periodicals through its Zooniverse-based Science Gossip project. Through a variety of outreach strategies including collaborative social media campaigns, partnerships with citizen science communities, and interactive incentives, BHL has successfully engaged volunteers with diverse projects to enrich the libraryâs data and increase discoverability of its collections.
This presentation will discuss outreach strategies for citizen science projects that BHL has undertaken to further support research initiatives with our content. In addition, the presentation will share lessons-learned and offer suggestions that attendees can apply to their own citizen science engagement efforts
The Biodiversity Heritage Library: Empowering Discovery through Free Access to Biodiversity Knowledge
The advancement of knowledge about life on the planetâits origins, preservation, and loss of species and environmentsâis dependent on access and reference to library collections. The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a global digital library that serves the biodiversity research community, as well as a widening circle of those interested in learning more about life. Through an international consortium of natural history and botanical libraries and in close collaboration with researchers, bioinformaticians, publishers, and information technology professionals, BHL has democratized access to biodiversity information and revolutionized research worldwide, allowing everyone, everywhere to study and explore life on Earth
Association of IntimaâMedia Thickness Measured at the Common Carotid Artery With Incident Carotid Plaque: Individual Participant Data MetaâAnalysis of 20 Prospective Studies
Background The association between common carotid artery intimaâmedia thickness (CCAâIMT) and incident carotid plaque has not been characterized fully. We therefore aimed to precisely quantify the relationship between CCAâIMT and carotid plaque development. Methods and Results We undertook an individual participant data metaâanalysis of 20 prospective studies from the ProofâATHERO (Prospective Studies of Atherosclerosis) consortium that recorded baseline CCAâIMT and incident carotid plaque involving 21â494 individuals without a history of cardiovascular disease and without preexisting carotid plaque at baseline. Mean baseline age was 56âyears (SD, 9âyears), 55% were women, and mean baseline CCAâIMT was 0.71âmm (SD, 0.17âmm). Over a median followâup of 5.9âyears (5thâ95th percentile, 1.9â19.0âyears), 8278 individuals developed firstâever carotid plaque. We combined studyâspecific odds ratios (ORs) for incident carotid plaque using randomâeffects metaâanalysis. Baseline CCAâIMT was approximately logâlinearly associated with the odds of developing carotid plaque. The ageâ, sexâ, and trial armâadjusted OR for carotid plaque per SD higher baseline CCAâIMT was 1.40 (95% CI, 1.31â1.50; I2=63.9%). The corresponding OR that was further adjusted for ethnicity, smoking, diabetes, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, lowâ and highâdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, and lipidâlowering and antihypertensive medication was 1.34 (95% CI, 1.24â1.45; I2=59.4%; 14 studies; 16â297 participants; 6381 incident plaques). We observed no significant effect modification across clinically relevant subgroups. Sensitivity analysis restricted to studies defining plaque as focal thickening yielded a comparable OR (1.38 [95% CI, 1.29â1.47]; I2=57.1%; 14 studies; 17â352 participants; 6991 incident plaques). Conclusions Our largeâscale individual participant data metaâanalysis demonstrated that CCAâIMT is associated with the longâterm risk of developing firstâever carotid plaque, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors