You’re inspired to start an influential project, you designed it, implemented the plan, and then measurements start coming in. You stare at a table overflowing with rows and columns of values. What’s next? Data analysis is the vital link between obtaining measurements and actually understanding them and communicating results. Using CitSci.org’s features, you have the
Citizen science starts with an idea All citizen science and community science projects begin as ideas. Perhaps you work for a city and are interested in how local greenspaces support pollinators. Or maybe you’re a researcher trying to understand how invasive plants spread. Or you’re a member of your community concerned about how activities affect
What do you do when a new industry or development comes to your community with the potential to shake-up natural resources? When the shale and natural gas boom came to Pennsylvania in 2010, many communities throughout the state were confronted with that very question. Large developments sprung up in areas historically spared from energy development,
Scientific publication is an important milestone for many citizen science projects, that can sometimes feel elusive. But, with a little front-end planning and guidance, it can be done. A paper by the American Trout Lily Project, hosted on CitSci.org, was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Ecology! Their paper and their process for becoming published provides an
Calling all project managers – we need your training materials! Do you ever wonder how your training materials and approaches influence data quality? You work hard to develop training materials and offer in-person trainings for your volunteers, yet the scholarly literature suggests that, despite your best efforts, land managers and scientists may still question the
A BioBlitz is a rapid species inventory that generally occurs over a 24 hour period with scientists and citizen scientists counting as many species as they can over this time in a given place. The goal of BioBlitz programs is to get the public excited about the science opportunities within their own backyard while at
Celebrating Citizen Scientists Spring is finally here and with it comes Citizen Science Day on April 14th! Join us in celebrating the amazing work of citizen scientists like yourselves from around the world! In this second installment of our Volunteer Spotlight series, you’ll meet a few more of the people behind the projects and hear
Spring is finally here and with it comes Citizen Science Day on April 14th! Join us in celebrating the amazing work of volunteers like yourselves from around the world! Special Volunteers At CitSci.org, we are inspired by the work volunteers do for their projects! We’d like to take this opportunity to share some inspirational stories
What is Stream Tracker? As spotlighted in our March Newsletter, Stream Tracker is a citizen science project funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program. It is run out of the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability (ESS) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Stream Tracker studies intermittent streams – i.e., streams
What is a hypothesis and why do I need one? Developing a hypothesis is the next step in the scientific method after you’ve developed your research question. (For more information on developing a research question, check out our last blog post. A hypothesis is essentially a tentative explanation related to your research question. Sometimes referred to
