title: Leveraging Citizen Science and Information Technology for Population Physical Activity Promotion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  While technology is a major driver of many of society's comforts, conveniences, and advances, it has been responsible, in a significant way, for engineering regular physical activity and a number of other positive health behaviors out of people's daily lives. A key question concerns how to harness information and communication technologies (ICT) to bring about positive changes in the health promotion field. One such approach involves community-engaged "citizen science," in which local residents leverage the potential of ICT to foster data-driven consensus-building and mobilization efforts that advance physical activity at the individual, social, built environment, and policy levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  The history of citizen science in the research arena is briefly described and an evidence-based method that embeds citizen science in a multi-level, multi-sectoral community-based participatory research framework for physical activity promotion is presented.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several examples of this citizen science-driven community engagement framework for promoting active lifestyles, called "Our Voice", are discussed, including pilot projects from diverse communities in the U.S. as well as internationally.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The opportunities and challenges involved in leveraging citizen science activities as part of a broader population approach to promoting regular physical activity are explored. The strategic engagement of citizen scientists from socio-demographically diverse communities across the globe as both assessment as well as change agents provides a promising, potentially low-cost and scalable strategy for creating more active, healthful, and equitable neighborhoods and communities worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, and Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Research & Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Abby C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Sandra J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Jylana L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sheats
authors.affiliation: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA.
authors.forename: Lisa G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Rosas
authors.affiliation: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Buman
authors.affiliation: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Austin, TX.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salvo
authors.affiliation: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca NY.
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Seguin
authors.affiliation: The University of Haifa School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, the University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.affiliation: Eshel-The Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Randi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garber
authors.affiliation: Santa Clara County Public Health Department, San Jose CA.
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Broderick
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Studies in Physical Activity, Culture & Education, Department of Kinesiology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Susan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Zieff
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Olga Lucia
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Sarmiento
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Silvia A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banchoff
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan Rivera
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dommarco
keywords: active living; citizen science; community; health equity; physical activity promotion; population health