title: Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.
abstract: The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution.
authors: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Turin, Italy; Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors: Alina
authors: A
authors: Sîrbu
authors: Department for Artificial Intelligence and Applied Computer Science, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; L3S Research Center, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Becker
authors: Institute for Complex Systems (ISC), CNR, Rome, Italy.
authors: Saverio
authors: S
authors: Caminiti
authors: KERMIT, Dept. of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Bernard
authors: B
authors: De Baets
authors: VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium.
authors: Bart
authors: B
authors: Elen
authors: Extreme Citizen Science Research Group, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Louise
authors: L
authors: Francis
authors: Physics Department, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors: Pietro
authors: P
authors: Gravino
authors: Department for Artificial Intelligence and Applied Computer Science, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; L3S Research Center, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Hotho
authors: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Turin, Italy.
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Ingarra
authors: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Turin, Italy; Physics Department, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; SONY-CSL Computer Science Lab, Paris, France.
authors: Vittorio
authors: V
authors: Loreto
authors: CSP-Innovation in ICT, Torino, Italy.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Molino
authors: L3S Research Center, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany.
authors: Juergen
authors: J
authors: Mueller
authors: VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Peters
authors: CSP-Innovation in ICT, Torino, Italy.
authors: Ferdinando
authors: F
authors: Ricchiuti
authors: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Turin, Italy.
authors: Fabio
authors: F
authors: Saracino
authors: Institute for Complex Systems (ISC), CNR, Rome, Italy; Physics Department, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
authors: Vito D P
authors: VD
authors: Servedio
authors: L3S Research Center, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany.
authors: Gerd
authors: G
authors: Stumme
authors: VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Theunis
authors: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Turin, Italy.
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Tria
authors: VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium; KERMIT, Dept. of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Joris
authors: J
authors: Van den Bossche
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D001364:Awareness; D003256:Community Participation; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007390:International Agencies
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants