Today’s #opttoact Week 18. Let’s participate in a citizen science project or two!
Zooniverse: www.zooniverse.org
iNaturalist: www.inaturalist.org
[Video Description: Barbara, a white woman with curly red hair, is sitting on a tan chair and wearing a dark purple long sleeve sweater in front of a gray background.]
Transcript: Today’s #opttoact Week 18! Lately, we have been stuck inside for what feels like a long time because of the COVID-19. If you are looking for something to do, scientists all over the world need your help and they ask for help through citizen science projects. What is a citizen science? It is an opportunity for the public work with the scientists to conduct research. I will name two of many great websites full of citizen science projects that you can participate from the comforts of your home. The first one is Zooniverse. Researchers from all over the world post their projects on the website. People like you can choose a project or two and volunteer your time. You’ll be able to study authentic objects of interest gathered by researchers, like images of faraway galaxies, historical records and diaries, or videos of animals in their natural habitats. You don’t need any specialized background, training, or expertise to participate in any of the projects. The second one is iNaturalist. You can download the app on your phone. You can snap a photo of a species, record and share your observations on the app. If you do not know the name of the species you just snapped a photo of, you still can upload it. With everyone uploading their data, you all are creating research quality data for scientists. The data helps scientists learn where species locate and what’s happening to them. Through this collaborative effort, we can better understand and protect our nature. We have actually made some major discoveries through the citizen science projects – all thanks to you! Pretty cool, right?!
