Lights, camera…citizen science: assessing the effectiveness of smartphone-based video training in invasive plant identification.
The rapid growth and increasing popularity of smartphone technology is putting sophisticated data-collection tools in the hands of more and more citizens. This has exciting implications for the expanding field of citizen science. With smartphone-based applications (apps), it is now increasingly practical to remotely acquire high quality citizen-submitted data at a fraction of the cost of a traditional study. Yet, one impediment to citizen science projects is the question of how to train participants. The traditional "in-person" training model, while effective, can be cost prohibitive as the spatial scale of a project increases. To explore possible solutions, we analyze three training models: 1) in-person, 2) app-based video, and 3) app-based text/images in the context of invasive plant identification in Massachusetts. Encouragingly, we find that participants who received video training were as successful at invasive plant identification as those trained in-person, while those receiving just text/images were less successful. This finding has implications for a variety of citizen science projects that need alternative methods to effectively train participants when in-person training is impractical.
Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Jared
J
Starr
Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Charles M
CM
Schweik
Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Nathan
N
Bush
Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Lena
L
Fletcher
Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Jack
J
Finn
Service Forestry, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Jennifer
J
Fish
Invasive Species and Information Technology, Center for Invasive Species & Ecosystem Health, University of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia, United States of America.
Charles T
CT
Bargeron
D040421:Cell Phone; D006801:Humans; D058865:Introduced Species; D008027:Light; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification