TEDx Brum talk by Lucy Bastin, Aston University : the quality of volunteered geographic information, the value of citizen science and how we can all critically assess evidence and engage in open peer review. Live recording at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBoUdkuwtw

1. Here comes the
science…
…but how will
we know?

3. Engage in fair peer review.
State your purpose clearly
and honestly.
Acknowledge uncertainty.

4. Aren’t we ALL scientists now?

5. http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/rizk/
http://www.galaxyzoo.org/
http://www.opalexplorenature.org/

6. http://www.ushahidi.com/
Collaboration / peer review
http://www.openstreetmap.org/

8. http://www.openheatmap.com
http://geocommons.com
http://cartodb.com
Tweet mapping with R – shared computation by Miguel Rios
http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/

9. Citizen Science
• It’s hard to run controlled experiments in
conservation planning, flood management,
infrastructure development…
• To make strategic decisions, we rely on models
- to train and validate those models we need
data.
• Volunteered data can be timely and plentiful
…………….But is it any good?

10. The state of automated amateur weather observations (2013)
Bell, S., Cornford, D. & Bastin, L. Weather. 68, 2, p. 36-41.

11. Gappy data
http://code.flickr.net/2008/10/30/the-shape-of-alpha/
http://www.flickr.com/map/
Clustr
+
Flickr

12. Image © Simon Bell

13. Image © Simon Bell

14. Fitness-for-purpose
The state of automated amateur weather observations (2013)
Bell, S., Cornford, D. & Bastin, L. Weather. 68, 2, p. 36-41.

15. Peer-reviewing data and models
GeoViQua http://geoviqua.org

16. Forbes, 25/4/2013

17. Obstacles to Open Data and Models
• It’s my livelihood
• It’s confidential
• What if it was misused by a
blunderer?

18. ‘Only 12% of diabetes sufferers in South
Birmingham have been recorded by GPs’
How much harm could a blunderer do?

20. ‘Only 12% of diabetes sufferers in
South Birmingham have been recorded by GPs’
17,428 diabetic patients registered with GPs
126,322 diabetic patients not registered
...nearly 50% of the local population.
Q1. Does it fit with independent evidence?

21. Q2. What data am I actually looking at?

23. Q3. What are the spatial units?

26. ‘Spline interpolation was used to estimate values
at intermediate locations’
Q4: Why (not just how) was a technique used?

31. Q5. Where’s the uncertainty?

36. x 5,000

38. Why not automate everything?

39. Copied from Casino Royale (Columbia Pictures, 1967)

41. foldit http://fold.it/portal/

42. Old Weather (a Zooniverse project) http://www.oldweather.org/

43. British Library – Old Maps Online http://www.bl.uk/maps/index.html

44. Fritz et al., Remote Sens. 2009, 1, 345-354; doi:10.3390/rs1030345 http://www.geo-wiki.org/