@article {192,
	title = {Citizen Science System Assemblages: Toward Greater Understanding of Technologies to Support Crowdsourced Science},
	year = {2011},
	month = {6/2011},
	keywords = {Citizen Science, system assemblages},
	author = {Prestopnik, Nathan and Kevin Crowston}
}
@article {374,
	title = {Citizen science system assemblages: Toward greater understanding of technologies to support crowdsourced science},
	year = {2011},
	month = {06/2011},
	publisher = {Syracuse University School of Information Studies},
	type = {Unpublished working paper},
	abstract = {We explore the nature of technologies to support citizen science, a method of inquiry that leverages the power of crowds to collect and analyze scientific data. We evaluate these technologies as system assemblages, collections of interrelated functionalities that support specific activities in pursuit of overall project goals. The notion of system assemblages helps us to explain how different citizen science platforms may be comprised of widely varying functionalities, yet still support relatively similar goals. Related concepts of build vs. buy, support for science vs. support for participants, and web satisfiers vs. web motivators are used to explore how different citizen science functionalities may lead to successful project outcomes. Four detailed case studies of current citizen science projects encompassing a cross-section of varying project sizes, resource levels, technologies, and approaches to inquiry help us to answer the following research questions: 1) What factors influence the composition of a system assemblage for citizen science? 2) What do typical system assemblages for citizen science look like? 3) What effect does the assemblage composition have on scientific goals, participant support, motivation, and satisfaction? and 4) What are the design implications for the system assemblage perspective on citizen science technologies?},
	keywords = {Citizen Science, Design Science, system assemblages},
	author = {Prestopnik, Nathan and Kevin Crowston}
}
@article {9999,
	title = {Describing public participation in scientific research},
	year = {2011},
	publisher = {Syracuse University School of Information Studies},
	abstract = {We report the results of a descriptive survey of citizen science projects, a form of scientific collaboration engaging members of the public with professional researchers. This phenomenon has seen explosive growth in recent years and is garnering interest from a broadening variety of research domains. However, the lack of adequate description of this diverse population hinders useful research. To address this gap, we conducted a survey of citizen science projects. We present a description of the phenomenon to establish a basis for sampling and evaluation of research on citizen science, including details on project resources, participation, technologies, goals, and outcomes. We then reflect on several points of potential development, including technologies to support participation, potential for expanding engagement, and data policies. The diverse organizational and functional arrangements in citizen science projects suggest a variety of areas for future research.},
	keywords = {Citizen Science},
	author = {Wiggins, Andrea and Kevin Crowston}
}
@unpublished {9999,
	title = {Exploring Collective Intelligence Games With Design Science: A Citizen Science Design Case},
	year = {2011},
	abstract = {Citizen science is a form of collective intelligence where members of the public are recruited to contribute to scientific investigations. Citizen science projects often use web-based systems to support collaborative scientific activities, but finding ways to attract participants and confirm the veracity of the data produced by non-scientists are key research questions. We describe a series of web-based tools and games currently under development to support taxonomic classification of organisms in photographs collected by citizen science projects. In the design science tradition, the systems are purpose-built to test hypotheses about participant motivation and techniques for ensuring data quality. Findings from preliminary evaluation and the design process itself are discussed.},
	keywords = {Citizen Science, Design Science, Games},
	author = {Prestopnik, Nathan and Kevin Crowston}
}
@conference {2011,
	title = {From Conservation to Crowdsourcing: A Typology of Citizen Science},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the Forty-fourth Hawai{\textquoteright}i International Conference on System Science (HICSS-44)},
	year = {2011},
	month = {1/2011},
	address = {Koloa, HI},
	abstract = {Citizen science is a form of research collaboration involving members of the public in scientific research projects to address real-world problems. Often organized as a virtual collaboration, these projects are a type of open movement, with collective goals addressed through open participation in research tasks. Existing typologies of citizen science projects focus primarily on the structure of participation, paying little attention to the organizational and macrostructural properties that are important to designing and managing effective projects and technologies. By examining a variety of project characteristics, we identified five types{\textemdash}Action, Conservation, Investigation, Virtual, and Education{\textemdash}that differ in primary project goals and the importance of physical environment to participation.},
	keywords = {Citizen Science},
	author = {Wiggins, Andrea and Kevin Crowston}
}
@conference {2011,
	title = {Gaming for (citizen) science: Exploring motivation and data quality in the context of crowdsourced science through the design and evaluation of a social-computational system},
	booktitle = {{\textquotedblleft}Computing for Citizen Science{\textquotedblright} workshop at the IEEE eScience Conference},
	year = {2011},
	month = {12/2011},
	address = {Stockholm, Sweden},
	abstract = {In this paper, an ongoing design research project is described. Citizen Sort, currently under development, is a web-based social-computational system designed to support a citizen science task, the taxonomic classification of various insect, animal, and plant species. In addition to supporting this natural science objective, the Citizen Sort platform will also support information science research goals on the nature of motivation for social-computation and citizen science. In particular, this research program addresses the use of games to motivate participation in social-computational citizen science, and explores the effects of system design on motivation and data quality. A design science approach, where IT artifacts are developed to solve problems and answer research questions is described. Research questions, progress on Citizen Sort planning and implementation, and key challenges are discussed.},
	keywords = {Citizen Science, data quality, Design, Design Science, Games, Gaming, motivation, Participation, Social Computational Systems},
	url = {http://itee.uq.edu.au/~eresearch/workshops/compcitsci2011/index.html},
	author = {Prestopnik, Nathan R. and Kevin Crowston}
}
@conference {2011,
	title = {Mechanisms for Data Quality and Validation in Citizen Science},
	booktitle = {"Computing for Citizen Science" workshop at the IEEE eScience Conference},
	year = {2011},
	month = {12/2011},
	address = {Stockholm, Sweden},
	abstract = {Data quality is a primary concern for researchers employing public participation in scientific research, or {\textquotedblleft}citizen science,{\textquotedblright} to accomplish data collection and analysis tasks. This mode of scientific collaboration relies on contributions from a large, often unknown population of volunteers with widely variable expertise. In this paper, we review the commonly employed mechanisms for ensuring data quality. We also discuss results of a survey of citizen science projects that reports on the use of some of these mechanisms, noting that it is most common for projects to employ multiple mechanisms to ensure data quality and appropriate levels of validation.},
	keywords = {Citizen Science, data quality, data validation},
	url = {http://itee.uq.edu.au/~eresearch/workshops/compcitsci2011/index.html},
	author = {Wiggins, Andrea and Newman, Greg and Stevenson, Robert D. and Kevin Crowston}
}
