You may have noticed that we’ve been a little quiet on the blog and Twitters lately. That’s because we spent the better part of the week in Portland, Oregon, for the Conference on Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR for short), held in conjunction with the Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting.

I’ll be writing more in the next couple weeks about the fascinating research I heard about at ESA – neat work on indoor ecology and the bacteria and fungus-amongus, diamondback terrapins crossing the runway at JFK airport, and the consequences of artificial light at night on birds, bats and bugs.

But I digress – The Conference on Public Participation in Scientific Research was a 2-day extravaganza convening over 300 uber-enthusiastic participants to share, reflect, improve and celebrate the practice of citizen science – a veritable citizen science rodeo, if you will.

I marveled at the diversity of projects represented by the participants at the meeting.

There were familiar programs like Project BudBurst and the Community Collaborative, Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) where citizens monitor and share observations about organisms and environmental phenomena, participating in long-term ecological and meteorological research.

There were projects like Galaxy Zoo and foldit that are engaging participants through their computers, harnessing the power of our collective cognitive surplus (a fancy way of describing the free time, energy and brain-power our modern lives afford us) to classify galaxies and figure out the optimal folding structure of proteins.

Your Wild Life's snazzy poster about our microbiome research at the PPSR meeting.

There were projects like Grupo Tortuguero and Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS)that emerged directly from local communities. With DIY-tools, mobile technologies, and grassroots organizing, citizens have been empowered to research and tackle environmental problems where they live.

The main currency of the PPSR meeting – unlike a lot of other conferences that we science and outreach-types go to – was posters. It was so fun and energizing to wander through row after row of colorful, poster-clad bulletin boards and chat with folks who are as excited to share their work and experience as we are.

A handful of posters and conversations during the three (!) poster sessions caught my attention as something I thought our Your Wild Life peeps would like – these projects all shared the common theme of exploring and noting the nature in the places where we live.

  • Picture Post – Annette Schloss at University of New Hampshire and colleagues would like your help monitoring the environment where you live… using a camera! Participants in Picture Post use a digital camera to take photos in a consistent, sequential order from a fixed location every one to two weeks. Photos are uploaded to a website and are analyzed to monitor changes in the site (for example, seasonal changes in plants like flowering time and leaf-out) over time. I’m thinking your backyard could be an interesting place for a Picture Post!

And this is just a tiny smattering of the AWESOME projects I learned about at the PPSR meeting. If you’re interested in the practice of citizen science, I strongly encourage you to visit the PPSR Conference website to learn more about the people, presentations, posters and projects showcased during this tremendous two-day gathering – I guarantee you’ll be as jazzed as I was about what you learn!