title: The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring.
abstract: Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, H9X3V9, Canada. jeremy.brammer@mail.mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Jeremy R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Brammer
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, Kirk Hall, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5C8, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicolas D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700 Station CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 2Y2, Canada.
authors.forename: A Cole
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.affiliation: Jardin botanique de Montréal, Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuerrier
authors.affiliation: NORDECO, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Finn
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Danielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Kanwaljeet
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dewan
authors.affiliation: Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Thora Martina
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Micha V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, GPO Box 553, Canberra City, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Rod
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kennett
authors.affiliation: Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec, H3A 1B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Larocque
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mulrennan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6708, PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arun Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Pratihast
authors.affiliation: Institut des sciences de l'environnement, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saint-Arnaud
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, H9X3V9, Canada.
authors.forename: Murray M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Humphries
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002170:Canada; D003201:Computers; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003625:Data Collection; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005002:Ethiopia; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans
keywords: ciencia ciudadana; citizen science; community-based monitoring; conocimiento ecológico tradicional; monitoreo basado en comunidades; monitoreo y manejo participativo; participación de público en la investigación científica; participatory monitoring and management; public participation in scientific research; traditional ecological knowledge