Part II Citizen Science, Participatory Sensing and Social Computation

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1 Part II Citizen Science, Participatory Sensing and Social Computation

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3 Introduction Mordechai (Muki) Haklay and Vito D.P. Servedio In the first part of the book, we have explored the nature of sensing technology and how we can learn about environment conditions through their actions. In the second part we turn to the social aspects of such actions. At the outset of the EveryAware project, the awareness for participatory environmental sensing was just emerging. At the time, the head of the European Environmental Agency, gave a statement that demonstrated the realisation that only through bottom-up actions we can deal with today s challenges (McGlade 2009): The key to protecting and enhancing our environment is in the hands of the many, not the few::: That means empowering citizens to engage actively in improving their own environment, using new observation techniques... But how are we to achieve this? The set of chapters in Part II is providing us with some of the necessary ingredients. The first part took a technical and engineering approach to sensing that is open to participants from all walks of life, looking at sensing devices, platforms and what technological solutions are offered to deal with issues of privacy, trust and measuring the state of the environment. In the second part, we take insights from social science approaches to participation, engagement and the use of information. We are particularly drawing on knowledge from the fields of geography, cartography, sociology, psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, and environmental studies. M. (Muki) Haklay Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk V.D.P. Servedio ( ) Institute for Complex Systems (ISC-CNR), Via dei Taurini 19, Rome, Italy Physics Department, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 2, Rome, Italy vito.servedio@roma1.infn.it

4 160 M. (Muki) Haklay and V.D.P. Servedio The second part of the book comprises of six chapters. The first chapter provides framing for the section, and in a way, positions the EveryAware project within the much wider study of environmental information production and use. In this chapter, The Three Eras of Environmental Information: The Role of the Experts and the Public, Muki Haklay makes the case that we are now entering a new era in the history of environmental information. The first era, from the 1960s to the early 1990s, focused on information that was created by experts, for experts use. In the second era, from 1990s to the early 2000s, information was also shared with the public. Now, in the third era, we see the public not only accessing information but also producing it. This analysis positions participatory sensing within the long view of public access to, and production of, environmental information. Once the public is involved in the production of environmental information, visualisation of this information is of critical importance both in the case of information that is provided by public authorities, where it is important to ensure that the information is legible, and in the case of public generated information, where it can serve as a motivator for further data collection. Beate Tomio (Weninger), in her chapter Cartographic Visualisation of Noise and Aspects of Public Understanding of this Information demonstrates how maps play a critical role in this communication, and therefore cartographic knowledge should be used to ensure that mapping information is clear and understandable. She shows the complexities of communicating noise modelling information, including a proposal for alternative visualisation of noise information. Another critical element of participatory sensing, especially the one that is reliant on mobile phones apps and sensing devices, is the interaction of the users with the technology. Here, knowledge from the area of Human-Computer Interaction form the basis for the chapter by Charlene Jennet, Eleonora Cognetti, Joanne Summerfield and Muki Haklay on Usability and Interaction Dimensions of Participatory Noise and Ecological Monitoring. The chapter reports on empirical studies that explore how participatory sensing of noise and ecological observations is done. The two studies look at the practices of participants outside the laboratory during data collection activities. The analysis provides indication for common issues and usability challenges that need to be integrated into the design and implementation of participatory sensing projects. Christian Nold and Louise Francis, in their Participatory Sensing: Recruiting Bipedal Platforms or Building Issue-Centred Projects? take a design-led approach that questions the form of participation that is practiced in citizen science and participatory sensing projects. By positioning participatory sensing activities within the wider framework of social practices, they challenge common assumptions that underlie participatory sensing, and offer a framework that emphasises the way in which people come together around a specific issue that concerns them an issuecentred approach to the recruitment and engagement of participants. They then show how such an approach provide effective engagement during the EveryAware project. Continuing with examples for engagement from the EveryAware project, Vito Servedio, Saverio Caminiti, Pietro Gravino, Vittorio Loreto, Alina Sirbu and Francesca Tria Large Scale Engagement through Web-Gaming and Social Computation

5 Introduction 161 look at how the Experimental Tribe (XTribe) platform has been used in the project to engage remote participants in social experiments and large scale human computation. The chapter explains how the system was developed and deployed, and what has been learnt and achieved through it. The final element of the EveryAware participatory sensing air quality is covered by Jan Theunis, Jan Peters and Bart Elen in their Participatory Air Quality Monitoring in Urban Environments Reconciling Technological Challenges and Participation. The chapter explores the challenges and the potential of participatory sensing in the area of air quality monitoring. This chapter provides a vivid demonstration of the tensions between official and regulatory frameworks for monitoring, which have specific protocols for data collection and standards for information use, and the emerging area of low-cost sensors and DIY practices in community-led air quality monitoring. They are demonstrating that in an area that is complex on the technical and scientific level, an integrated approach in which scientists and the public work together may be the most appropriate. The final chapter Getting Out of Their Way: Do-It-Yourselfers, Sensing, and Self-Reliance, by Cindy Regalado, returns to the themes that were explored by Nold and Francis, and examines the social practices that participatory sensing creates in the context of using existing tools, as well as Do-It-Yourself science. Regalado positions DIY sensing within social theory and shows how it can be framed through a conceptual framework that looks at personal aspects as well as systematic and societal aspects. She uses the bottom-up participatory sensing of the Public Laboratory of Open Technology and Science as an example for her framework, and how it relates to specific actions of bottom-up sensing. Together, the seven chapters of Part II provide new insights into participatory sensing and citizen science that EveryAware explored. Participatory sensing is happening at the nexus of social, technical and scientific complexities. While at first sight, the two environmental elements that the project focused on have been part and parcel of public concerns about the environment for over 50 years, with evidence that air quality regulations date back to the Roman times, they are far from simple operationality. Understanding what is noise and how to measure it requires an understanding of the physics of sound production, consideration of atmospheric condition, understanding of the psychophysiological response by humans and the social, political and economic trade-offs within which the specific phenomena happens. Noise that is emerging from a noisy party in the house next door is different from traffic or airport noise due to the social-cultural context, although in terms of air vibration they might have things in common. The same physical sound at 1pm might not be considered as noise, while at 1am it will. The same is true for air quality, where what is measured, the impact on human health, the source and the potential of acting on the basis of the information form a complex web of relationships between people, technology and knowledge.

6 162 M. (Muki) Haklay and V.D.P. Servedio These complexities should be seen as an important ingredient in the way EveryAware evolved they allowed the exploration of interdisciplinary understanding between engineering, physical science and social science over the way people perceive, measure, and understand the environment around them. The range of the chapters in this section provides a vivid demonstration to the way engagement and participation is understood in different domains, as well as the different facets of making it works. Together, they show the range of skills and fields of knowledge that are needed for an effective participatory sensing which yield scientifically relevant outcomes. Reference McGlade, J.: Climate crisis needs empowered people, stm