Ajates Gonzalez, Raquel

Cobley, Andrew

Hemment, Drew

Woods, Mel

Xaver, Angelika

English

Citizens' observatories (CO) are a recent innovation connecting people, science and technologies to create collaborative data, knowledge and action around environmental challenges, both local and global. We argue COs present a novel framework for collective intelligence, with reference to the GROW Observatory (GROW), which builds community and insights through the collaborative sensing of soil, in particular soil moisture. The ambition in GROW is to enhance and harness collective intelligence through data and knowledge derived in collaboration between community food production networks, soil and satellite scientists, and policy makers, and thereby to play a vital role in addressing issues related to climate action, food security, and life on land

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                                                                    University of DundeeEnhancing collective intelligence through citizen scienceHemment, Drew; Woods, Mel; Ajates Gonzalez, Raquel; Cobley, Andrew; Xaver, AngelikaPublication date:2019Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication in Discovery Research PortalCitation for published version (APA):Hemment, D., Woods, M., Ajates Gonzalez, R., Cobley, A., & Xaver, A. (2019). Enhancing collective intelligencethrough citizen science: The case of the GROW citizens’ observatory. Poster session presented at CollectiveIntelligence 2019, Pittsburgh, United States.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in Discovery Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or othercopyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated withthese rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from Discovery Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain. • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Download date: 22. Jul. 2021Enhancing collective intelligence through citizen science: The case of the GROW citizens’ observatory  DREW HEMMENT​, ​UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH MEL WOODS, RAQUEL AJATES GONZALEZ, ANDY COBLEY, ​UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE ANGELIKA XAVER, ​VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY  1. INTRODUCTION Citizens' observatories (CO) are a recent innovation connecting people, science and technologies to                         create collaborative data, knowledge and action around environmental challenges, both local and                       global (Hemment et al. 2016a). We argue COs present a novel framework for collective intelligence,                             with reference to the GROW Observatory (GROW), which builds community and insights through the                           collaborative sensing of soil, in particular soil moisture. The ambition in GROW is to enhance and                               harness collective intelligence through data and knowledge derived in collaboration between                     community food production networks, soil and satellite scientists, and policy makers, and thereby to                           play a vital role in addressing issues related to climate action, food security, and life on land. 2. ENHANCING COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE THROUGH THE GROW OBSERVATORY The European Commission (EC) is supporting the development of an ecosystem of COs to inform and                               empower citizens to participate in environmental decision making, and to move towards more                         inclusive, sustainable and smart economic development (European Commission, 2014). The potential                     to scale citizen science (CS) to such a level of involvement, due in part to increasing access to portable                                     devices with sensors and connectivity, has been identified as a robust methodology to involve the                             public in data collection and evidence-based policy making (Craglia and Granell Canut, 2014). The                           value of collective intelligence has been recognised in CS, exemplified in different ways by                           OpenStreetMap (collective mapping), Wikimapia (description of places), eBird (recording and                   describing birds), iNaturalist and iSpot (wildlife), and iRecord (biodiversity). COs bring a scope and                           scale to enhance collective intelligence through the technical, human and contextual dimensions of CS                           at once. However, challenges remain, such as sustaining participation over time, trust and uptake in                             data, and new service innovation for such diverse stakeholders.  GROW is one of four projects funded by the EC in 2016 to demonstrate the concept of COs (Hemment                                     et al. 2016b). It is the first attempt to deliver an operational CO at a continental scale and with a long                                         term, sustained commitment. Soil is a threatened resource, and is being degraded at an alarming rate                               (FAO and ITPS, 2015). Soil moisture plays an important role in regulating climate, and in extreme                               climate events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, desertification and wildfires. Additionally there is                           an urgent need to support food production techniques that preserve or regenerate soils. In order to                               support decision-making to deal with the aforementioned issues, we propose to enhance the veracity of                             climate forecast information, and amplify the knowledge on regenerative food growing practices. To                         this end, GROW is generating an unprecedented crowdsourced soil moisture dataset to ground-truth                         Sentinel-1 satellites of the European Earth observation program Copernicus, and create information                       and visualisations that can improve the way people grow food and care for soils.   GROW is a coordinated network and action made up of scientists, NGO’s, communities and                           individuals with an interest in land and environment, collectively they deploy sensors, use data, and                             various online and mobile interfaces, and global monitoring systems. This creates a novel                           Collective Intelligence 2019 2​    ​D. Hemment, M. Woods, R. Ajates Gonzales, A. Cobley, A. Xaver  socio-technical system (Geels, 2010) that brings together these different actors to create innovative                         datasets and learning. On the one hand, GROW employs the power of mass education, online                             networking, open data in place based communities to create knowledge on a peer-to-peer level. On the                               other hand, it bridges between domains and scales, connecting hyper-local and global, and citizens,                           scientists and policymakers. GROW empowers participants to measure the same parameter(s) while                       addressing local context and issues, and the power of open and decentralised knowledge creation is                             leveraged to address intractable environmental, social, technical and organisational challenges.   Technically, GROW builds on existing state-of-the-art, both in platforms and components. The system                         has been designed to handle the speed, volume and variety of data from low-cost sensors, and with the                                   adoption of interoperable standards the potential to integrate data from additional devices. We build                           on the application of established and standard methodologies for collecting and analysing data on soil                             and land cover/land use (Zaman et al., 2015) through the use of a mobile app, DIY and off the shelf                                       sensors, and data muling infrastructure. Trust in data quality is addressed by a strategy and checks                               at two stages: before and after data collection. Citizen focused assurances include training, robust                           design of protocols and submissions forms, sensor calibration, trials, and data quality checks.   GROW aims to close the loop to sustainability through service innovation with the continual update of                               citizen generated data, producing valued information and services. This is a holistic approach to                           collective intelligence, enacting an entire ecosystem. Thus, we propose COs represent a novel                         approach to collective intelligence through CS at scale (Buecheler et al., 2010 and 2011; Tinati et al.,                                 2014). This is represented by a participatory design framework that sets out values and a seven-stage                               process to bring together social learning and engagement strategies such as digital storytelling                         methods with innovative data collecting tools and infrastructure.  3. RESULTS GROW results include adoption of new practices and emergent outcomes within ​GROW Places (GPs),                           as well as applications of data by professional scientists, data artists and community participants. 3.1 Extending and enhancing the collective intelligence of GEOSS GROW adds a novel ​in-situ component to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).                             Currently, there are 3,300 GROW sensors operating and returning data across nine sites (GPs) in the                               EU, increasing up to 12,000 over a nine month period. Analysis is underway to use these data to                                   validate the new generation of remote sensing satellites, Copernicus' Sentinel-1. The availability of                         observations on the ground is vital, not only for validating Sentinel-1, but also for further developing                               the emerging high-resolution products. GROW furthermore brings designers, artists, grassroots                   communities, policymakers and small and medium-sized enterprises into the GEOSS community.  3.2 Dynamic visualisation of data to generate insights and wisdom Citizen-generated sensor data are being used to create dynamic maps and visualisations for growers,                           scientists and policy makers (Jimenez et al., 2018). Continuous estimations of soil moisture over the                             region in which the sensors are placed are generated by interpolating satellite and sensor data. The                               information is visualised through data exploration and design (Fig. 1). These maps can help food                             growers benefit from the crowdsourced data, aninform policymakers on decisions about environmental                       policies, such as where to invest public funds to reverse desertification or prevent floods. 3.3 Stimulating innovative ideas through art GROW has worked with artists Kasia Molga and Scanner to develop an online networked digital                             artwork, ​By the Code of Soil (Fig. 2). Custom code and algorithms translate dynamic soil moisture,                               Collective Intelligence 2019 Enhancing collective intelligence through citizen science: The case of the GROW citizens’ observatory     3  temperature and light data from the nearest cluster of GROW sensors into graphical shapes and                             electronic sounds, creating a 'data portrait' of soil properties in each GP. This networked artwork is                               triggered by the transition of Sentinel-1A overhead – once every 6 days – encouraging reflection on the                                 instrumentation of Earth observation.   Fig. 1. Concept exploration for visualisation of GROW                  Fig. 2. ​By the Code of Soil​, artistic representation of  dynamic soil moisture map © Moritz Stefaner 2018           ​ ​GROW soil data © Kasia Molga & Scanner 2018  3.4 Social innovation through collective intelligence GROW has introduced a social dimension to CS activities, namely developing a hybrid of face-to-face                             and online communities of practice (CoP) focused on social innovation outcomes such as ensuring that                             citizen generated data are useful and usable by communities. Place-based engagement in GPs is                           spearheaded by a network of ​Community Champions (CCs). Complementary, citizen engagement is                       underpinned by peer-to-peer online learning to foster the power of collective decision-making,                       resulting in changes to practices of soil and land management, as well as food production.  4. LIMITATIONS AND NEXT STEPS Insights to inform future iteration and development of GROW, and the emergence of a CO ecosystem,                               are being developed to cover both social and technical barriers to implementation. A case study                             approach is being applied to generate recommendations focused on the advantages and challenges of                           using a place-based CoP approach as an engagement and sensor deployment strategy. There are                           limitations in reporting such a user-centred approach when longitudinal analysis is needed both of                           continuous time-series data, and of the sustainability and resilience of participating communities.                       These limitations are being addressed through a planned release of toolkits (methods and tools) to                             support continued activity, and through a business plan for the continuation of the CO. 5. CONCLUSION GROW has formalised connections between CS and widely available technology to create impact and                           more effective problem solving, bringing multi-users from different networks and different scales                       together. GROW’s contribution is an ecosystem approach addressing many dimensions at once and at                           scale. This enables GROW to overcome gaps in each of the levels. For example, the pressing need for                                   satellites to be ground-truthed, is addressed through a human-scale set of technologies, such as                           smartphones and handheld sensors, and online interaction and data platforms are grounded in                         place-based communities, art, and education. The hybrid model not only triggers novel interactions,                         data generation and knowledge to address urgent challenges for science and society, but harness them                             into a coherent unit that gives rise to collective intelligence.  Collective Intelligence 2019 4​    ​D. Hemment, M. Woods, R. Ajates Gonzales, A. Cobley, A. Xaver   REFERENCES  Buecheler, T., Sieg, J.H., Füchslin, R.M. and Pfeifer, R., 2010. Crowdsourcing, open innovation and collective intelligence in the scientific method: a research agenda and operational framework. ​In The 12th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems​, Odense, Denmark, 19–23 August 2010 (pp. 679-686). MIT Press. Bücheler, T. and Sieg, J.H., 2011. Understanding science 2.0: Crowdsourcing and open innovation in the scientific method. Procedia Computer Science​, 7, pp.327-329. Molga, K. and Scanner, 2018. ​By the Code of Soil, Connect with invisible networks, above and below​. Available: http://www.codeofsoil.com. Craglia, M. and Granell Canut, C., 2014. ​Citizen Science and Smart Cities​. JRC/EUR-​Scientific and Technical Research Reports. European Commission, 2014. http://bit.ly/1FbWcBB. FAO and ITPS, 2015. ​Status of the World’s Soil Resources (SWSR) – Main Report​, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, Rome, Italy. Geels, F.W., 2010. Ontologies, socio-technical transitions (to sustainability), and the multi-level perspective. ​Research Policy 39:495–510. GROW, 2019. ​Who are the people behind GROW?​ Accessible: https://growobservatory.org/about  Hemment, D., 2010. Environment 2.0: Participatory Mass Observation. ​Leonardo​ Vol. 43, No.2. MIT Press. Hemment, D., Woods, M., Cobley, A., Bouvard, J., Mollfulleda, A., Khawaja, M., Buontempo, C., Skalsky, R., 2016a. The GROW Observatory: Empowering citizens through collaborative earth observation data and knowledge. 10th GEO European Projects Workshop 2016, 31 May–2 June 2016, Berlin, Germany. Hemment, D., Amditis, A., Fritz, S., Wehn, U., Moorthy, I., and Tsertou, A., 2016b. The Next Generation Citizen Observatories. In ​The First International ECSA Citizen Science Conference 2016​, 19–21 May 2016, Berlin, Germany. Jimenez, I. C., Hemment, D., Bojovic, D., Cucchietti, F., Calvo, L., Stefaner, M., Buontempo, C., 2018. Introducing design in the development of effective climate services. ​Climate Services​ Vol. 9. Tinati, R., Simperl, E., Luczak-Roesch, M., Van Kleek, M. and Shadbolt, N., 2014. Collective Intelligence in Citizen Science, ​A Study of Performers and Talkers​. arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.7551. Available: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1406/1406.7551.pdf.  Zaman, J. and De Meuter, W., 2015, March. Discopar: Distributed components for participatory campaigning. In Pervasive Computing and Communication Workshops (PerCom Workshops), 2015 ​IEEE International Conference​. pp. 160-165. IEEE.          Collective Intelligence 2019 

Enhancing collective intelligence through citizen science:The case of the GROW citizens’ observatory

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Enhancing collective intelligence through citizen science:The case of the GROW citizens’ observatory

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