Citizen Social Science is an exploratory collaboration between Nominet Trust, Swarm and a wider community including citizen scientists, developers, game designers, data analysts, graphic/UX designers, data visualisers and social innovators.

1. CITIZEN
(SOCIAL)
SCIENCE
THE EXPLORATORY CHALLENGE
HOW CAN MASS PARTICIPATION ADDRESS
PERSISTENT SOCIAL CHALLENGES THROUGH THE
USE OF NETWORKED DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES?

2. CITIZEN SCIENCE
WIKIPEDIA
"the systematic collection and analysis of
data; development of technology; testing of
natural phenomena; and the dissemination of
these activities by researchers on a primarily
a vocational basis"

3. EXAMPLES ARE EMERGING ON
ALL SORTS OF AMAZING AND
UNLIKELY TOPICS…

4. GALAXIES…

5. GARDEN BIRDS…(RSPB)

6. INTERSTELLAR DUST…(NASA)

7. AFRICAN ANIMALS….

8. PROTEINS…

9. AND MANY MORE….IN SPACE

10. AND ON EARTH…

11. INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY
(KITS/SENSORS + WEB/MOBILE)

12. NEW COMMUNITIES ARE
FORMING..

13. BUILDING PLATFORMS TO
ENABLE PROJECTS TO HAPPEN

14. WE ARE OPENLY EXPLORING
HOW TO APPLY THIS APPROACH
TO SOLVING SOCIAL ISSUES…

15. #CITSOCSCI
Citizen Social Science
How mass participation
can address persistent
social challenges through
the use of networked
digital technologies

16. SOME
EXAMPLES…

17. REAL-TIME TRAFFIC

18. CITIZEN SOCIAL SCIENCE – VIA
CROWD-SOURCED MEDIA

19. POTHOLE MAPPING
VIA A MOBILE APP

20. IT SEEMS TO WORK BEST
WHEN….
THE ACTION REQUIRED IS ALMOST PASSIVE; LOW
BARRIER TO ENTRY
CAPTURE AND ENCOURAGE SERENDIPITOUS
DISCOVERY
DE-CENTRALISE CONTROL (FIND THE BALANCE
BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND CHAOS)
ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE FRIENDLY COMPETITION
PUT IN PLACE AN EFFECTIVE MECHANIC TO
CURATE/MAKE SENSE OF THE COLLECTION ACTION
AND ALLOW SMALL ACTIONS TO ADD UP TO SOLVE
BIG PROBLEMS
THERE IS A DIVERSITY OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE
CROWD

21. SOME PRINCIPLES
1. Need an emotive force e.g. help kill cancer
2. Need a problem that can be broken into
‘isolated’ chunks to be solved
3. Need a large dataset that can’t be analysed
by a computer OR that doesn’t exist
currently
4. Need a domain expert to help frame the task
5. Need a simple unit of work that doesn’t
require significant ‘expertise’
6. Need freely available technology
7. If it’s already been done, need to find ways
to improve usage, awareness and experience

22. COME AND GET
INVOLVED!