eOceans is a citizen science tool that crowdsources ocean data on sharks, stingrays, coral reefs, and general marine ecosystem health. eOceans was founded in 2013 by Christine Ward-Paige, who sees the rise in citizen science activity within conservation initiatives as a powerful tool to aid researchers who would benefit from data from a variety of locations, which is of particular importance for marine research on species that have a wide habitat range. Citizen scientists can be divers, snorkelers, fishers, sailors, or researchers themselves, and as long as they collect data with approved techniques, contributions are welcome to be submitted. The highest priority for eOceans is to have standardized, high-quality data, so they request that data, unlike in other citizen science apps, not include pictures. Instead, citizen scientists should collect data by conducting “check-ins” (recording data at the same point in regular intervals), and “auto-tracking” sampling techniques (belt transects, distance sampling, and roving) and reporting observations on their app. In the view of Ward-Paige, pictures themselves are just snapshots of a particular species and do not provide any information beyond that species present in that location at one particular time. Pictures also are not generally useful for assessments of the ocean or even a species’ status. In many ways, the lack of a certain species could be more telling. eOceans regularly reviews and standardizes data so that participating scientists and community leaders who solicit the data can depend on eOceans as a source of high-quality data. eOceans prohibits the sale of their data to any industry or persons who cause damage or exploit the ocean as well. This organization and its app have a very strong emphasis on quality, which could dissuade popular use, but that also means that the integrity of their data is very high.
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Biodiversity, Citizen Science, Ecological Monitoring, Psychology, Regulation
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies