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Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (FedCCS) Community: All Things Geo Crowdsourcing
Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 2:30 - 4:30 PM ET
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- Elizabeth McCartney (USGS) - National Digital Trails and GaiaGPS
- Will Mortenson (NGA) - NGA Open Mapping Enclave (NOME)
- Tom Gertin (State Department) - MapGive to Develop Open Geographic Data
- Chris Clasen (NGA / GMU) - NaviGator Geographic Game With a Purpose
- Kim Stephens and Katie Picchione (FEMA) - FEMA Crowdsourcing Unit Maps
- Scott Kaplan (NGA) - Civil Air Patrol GIS Use of Crowdsourcing Tools
Past Open Innovation Community Meetings
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What does Open Innovation mean?Open Innovation: Open Innovation is an umbrella term that refers to participatory methods and techniques for obtaining ideas, expertise, and resources from the public, organizations, and experts in an open way. Citizen Science: The public participates voluntarily in the scientific process, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications, and solving complex problems. Crowdsourcing: An open call for voluntary assistance from a large group of individuals for gathering ideas, observations, or services. Many crowdsourced efforts use rigorous procedures to ensure data quality, such as checking for agreement from multiple volunteers or developing verification protocols. Challenges & Prize Competitions: An approach to federal contracting that promotes innovation by offering a monetary or non-monetary reward upon completing a specific objective or task. Prize competitions are a proven way to increase innovation for the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. Incentivized, open competition is a standard tool in many agencies’ toolboxes for delivering more cost-effective and efficient services, and advancing agencies’ core missions. Civic Hacking: A creative and collaborative approach to problem solving. Hackathons are gatherings that encourage meaningful engagement between technology developers, designers, data scientists, subject matter experts, civil society, and other relevant stakeholders, making them great places to understand our users, build volunteer community and capacity, as well as recruit new talent. The goal is to produce quick and creative solutions, learn new tools and skills, and meet new people. |
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Open Innovation Community Wiki
Join OI Community Listserv | Join USGS Open Innovation Teams Site (Code: mom37z3)
CitizenScience.gov | Join Federal Crowdsourcing & Citizen Science (FedCCS) Community Listserv
Challenge.gov | Join Federal Challenge & Prize Community Listserv
April 2020 Newsletter
A monthly newsletter with links to upcoming and past events related to open innovation.
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Next Open Innovation (OI) Meeting
Series of talks and open discussions to inform the USGS Open Innovation Strategy
All Hands on Deck: COVID-19 Open Innovation Efforts and The Opportunity Project Earth Sprint
Friday, April 17, 2020 at 3:00 - 4:00 PM EDT
Join Microsoft Teams Meeting
Conference Call: +1-719-733-3211 | Conference ID: 353 576 72#
One Click Mobile Call: 719-733-3211,,35357672#
Local numbers | Reset PIN | Learn more about Teams |Meeting options
Sophia B Liu (USGS Open Innovation Lead) will provide an overview of the various open innovation efforts inside and outside of government that have emerged in response to COVID-19. She will also discuss The Opportunity Project Earth Sprint and proposed Problem Statements.
Citizen scientists are playing the Foldit game designing protein structures to fight against coronavirus. GISCorps digital volunteers are crowdsourcing information online to develop the COVID-19 Testing Sites Locator Map in coordination with the FEMA Crowdsourcing Unit. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Call to Action to the Tech Community on New Machine Readable COVID-19 Dataset led to a series of Artificial Intelligence Challenges on Kaggle for developing text and data mining tools for the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset Challenge (CORD-19). USAID has also launched the COVID-19 Innovation Hub to aggregate and highlight innovations responding to COVID-19. More examples can be found on the COVID-19 Open Innovation Efforts wiki page. How can USGS and the Community for Data Integration (CDI) community learn from these open innovation efforts in terms of how we integrate and communicate data, how we understand and communicate risk, and how we contribute and use open innovation efforts that can inform the decisions we all are having to make in our professional and personal lives right now in this global crisis?
The US Census Bureau sponsors The Opportunity Project (TOP) to engage government, communities, academia, and the technology industry to facilitate cross-sector collaboration in the development of new digital solutions with open data that help strengthen American economic opportunity. This year they are hosting a 12-Week Earth Sprint and a COVID-19 Sprint starting this summer. It would be great to have USGS more officially involved and potentially collaborate with other federal agencies and non-profit organizations to define high-priority challenges facing the public. Sophia will present potential Problem Statements to submit to the TOP 2020 Earth and COVID-19 Sprint (see the attached PDF documents for more information and guidance on TOP).
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Open Innovation Announcements
April 2020 Newsletter
A monthly newsletter with links to upcoming and past events related to open innovation.
FEMA PrepTalk Released
"Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science as Force Multipliers for Emergency Management"
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Featured on FEMA.gov homepage and available on FEMA PrepTalk website.
Check out the YouTube Video and the Discussion Materials which includes COVID-19 Open Innovation Resources.
Dr. Sophia B Liu shares her journey in studying the use of social media in disasters since 2005 with Professor Leysia Palen, researching the use of citizen science to inform earthquakes and coastal hazard models at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and helping to initiate the FEMA Crowdsourcing Unit at the National Response Coordination Center with Chris Vaughan and Emily Martuscello. In the past 15 years, the use of social media and interactive maps has evolved to become effective communication channels in disasters, emergency managers and hazard scientists are integrating data from the public to provide actionable intelligence during emergency response, and digital volunteers are becoming vital in curating data across the internet and untraditional channels during disasters to inform situational awareness. PrepTalks are sponsored by FEMA, International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Naval Postgraduate School, and National Homeland Security Consortium. Other FEMA PrepTalks that might be of interest are:
The Next Pandemic: Lessons from History - John M. Barry
Let the Community Lead: Rethinking Command and Control Systems - Aaron Titus
Our Changing World: The Challenge for Emergency Managers - David Kaufman
Upcoming Open Innovation Meetings
Celebrate Citizen Science Month: Take Your Kids Teleworking with Citizen Science
Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 11:00 - 12:00 PM ET
April is Citizen Science Month!
Citizen Science Month resources
Distance Learning at Home and with Citizen Science
Share educational resources to learn at home for kids
Federal and other citizen science projects for kids
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Celebrate Citizen Science Month: Take Your Kids Teleworking with Citizen Science
Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 11:00 - 12:00 PM ET
- April is Citizen Science Month!
- Citizen Science Month resources
- Distance Learning at Home and with Citizen Science
- Share educational resources to learn at home for kids
- Federal and other citizen science projects for kids
Tackling the Paperwork Reduction Act with DOI Generic Information Collection Request
Friday, April 24, 20202 at 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET
- Background on the Paperwork Reduction Act
- A Guide to the PRA - Digital.Gov Resources
- DOI Generic Information Collection Request for Crowdsourcing for Citizen Science
- Request for potential projects that want to use DOI Generic ICR
- Request for feedback on draft 60 Day Notice
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What does Open Innovation mean?Open Innovation: Open Innovation is an umbrella term that refers to participatory methods and techniques for obtaining ideas, expertise, and resources from the public, organizations, and experts in an open way. Citizen Science: The public participates voluntarily in the scientific process, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications, and solving complex problems. Crowdsourcing: An open call for voluntary assistance from a large group of individuals for gathering ideas, observations, or services. Many crowdsourced efforts use rigorous procedures to ensure data quality, such as checking for agreement from multiple volunteers or developing verification protocols. Challenges & Prize Competitions: An approach to federal contracting that promotes innovation by offering a monetary or non-monetary reward upon completing a specific objective or task. Prize competitions are a proven way to increase innovation for the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. Incentivized, open competition is a standard tool in many agencies’ toolboxes for delivering more cost-effective and efficient services, and advancing agencies’ core missions. Civic Hacking: A creative and collaborative approach to problem solving. Hackathons are gatherings that encourage meaningful engagement between technology developers, designers, data scientists, subject matter experts, civil society, and other relevant stakeholders, making them great places to understand our users, build volunteer community and capacity, as well as recruit new talent. The goal is to produce quick and creative solutions, learn new tools and skills, and meet new people. |
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Upcoming MeetingsFederal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (FedCCS) Community of PracticeFEDERAL GOVERNMENT MEETING |
Citizen Science for Social JusticeAbby Kinchy will talk about how deliberation about values and political commitments can help citizen science organizers and participants navigate the dilemmas they face. Abby Kinchy is a Sociologist Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She studies environmental politics and writes about conflicts involving science, social movements, and controversial new technologies. Most recently, she co-authored "Science by the People: Participation, Power, and the Politics of Environmental Knowledge" (Rutgers, 2019). Her research examines the relationship between science and democracy, with two main objectives: 1) to illuminate how science shapes politics and policy making, and 2) to understand changing forms of public participation in the making of science and technology. Kinchy's research and teaching focus on topics relating to agriculture, ecological sustainability, and environmental justice. Most recently, Kinchy's research has focused on the politics of "citizen science" - public participation in scientific research. In addition, her current NSF-funded project, Nuestros Suelos/Our Soil, explores how citizen science could help urban communities to identify heavy metal contamination in soil and to advocate for solutions. She previously led the NSF-funded Watershed Knowledge Mapping Project, which examined the practices and politics of environmental monitoring in the context of shale gas development, or "fracking." Kinchy's work extends beyond the politics of citizen science. She is the author of Seeds, Science, and Struggle: The Global Politics of Transgenic Crops (MIT, 2012). She is also a co-organizer of STS Underground, a research network that advances social science research on the technoscientific dimensions of mining, burial, and other forms of subterranean exploration. Relevant Open Access Publications:
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Open Innovation Resources
Past Open Innovation Meetings Ignite Open Innovation (OI) Forums are a series of different talks and panels to inform the development of a USGS Open Innovation Strategy. Join USGS Open Innovation Teams Site
Search for USGS Open Innovation Team using Code: mom37z3 Ignite OI Forum Stream ChannelPast Meeting Videos on Stream |
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Federal Open Innovation Resources
The Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (FedCCS) Community of Practice works across the government to share lessons learned and develop best practices for designing, implementing, and evaluating crowdsourcing and citizen science initiatives. The FedCCS is a grassroots community open to all federal practitioners working on, funding, or just interested in learning more about crowdsourcing and citizen science. We seek to expand and improve the U.S. government’s use of crowdsourcing, citizen science, and similar public participation techniques for the purpose of enhancing agency mission, scientific, and societal outcomes. For more information, check out the FedCCS 2-Page Overview, FedCCS File Sharing Trello Site (contains past FedCCS Meeting Notes and other resources), and visit: CitizenScience.govFedCCS Community Meetings are every Last Thursday of the month at 2 - 4 PM Eastern Time. FedCCS Community Listserv InfoFedCCS is for Federal Employees only FedCCS Community Team Site |
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Past Ignite Open Innovation Forum Meetings
Tackling the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
in the Age of Social Media and Web-based Interactive Technology
Thursday, June 18 at 2 PM Eastern
Crowdsourcing, citizen science, and prize competitions are open innovation techniques for engaging, educating, and empowering the public to contribute their talents to a wide range of scientific and societal issues. Often these contributions come from a large number of volunteers and can vary in the types of information or activity being requested. When the federal government collects information from 10 or more non-federal people, this often requires Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Clearance to ensure we reduce the burden on the public for collecting information. Although these open innovation activities are often voluntary and not typically seen as a burden on the public, there is still growing confusion on if PRA applies to these public engagement projects and how to complete the PRA process. In this Ignite Open Innovation (OI) Forum, we have three Information Collection Clearance Officers from DOI (Jeff Parrillo), USGS (James Sayer), and FWS (Madonna Baucum) that will explain the basics of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), discuss how the PRA applies to crowdsourcing, citizen science, and prize competition activities, as well as a Q&A discussion with the audience.
Speakers
- Jeff Parrillo - Department of Interior (DOI) Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer
- Madonna Baucum - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Information Collection Clearance Officer (DOI alternate)
- James Sayer - U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Information Collection Clearance Officer
Agenda
- Background on the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
- Overview of the Digital.gov Resource - A Guide to the Paperwork Reduction Act
- Discussion on how the PRA applies to Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science, and Prize Competition activities
- Visit Open Innovation June 18 Meeting Page for more PRA Resources
Indigenous Observation Network (ION):
Community-Based Water Quality Monitoring Project
Friday, June 19 at 2 PM Eastern
The hydrology of the Yukon River Basin has changed over the last several decades as evidenced by a variety of discharge, gravimetric, and geochemical analyses. The Indigenous Observation Network (ION), a community-based project, was initiated by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC) and USGS. Capitalizing on existing USGS monitoring and research infrastructure and supplementing USGS collected data, ION investigates changes in surface water geochemistry and active layer dynamics throughout the Yukon River Basin. Over 1600 samples of surface water geochemistry (i.e., major ions, dissolved organic carbon, and 18O and 2H) have been collected at 35 sites throughout the Yukon River and its major tributaries over the past 15 years. Active layer dynamics (maximum thaw depth, soil temperature and moisture) have been collected at 20 sites throughout the Yukon River Basin for the past eight years. Important regional differences in geochemistry and active layer parameters linked to permafrost continuity and tributaries will be highlighted. Additionally, annual trends and seasonal dynamics describing the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the watershed will be presented in the context of observed hydrological changes. These data assist the global effort to characterize arctic river fluxes and their relationship to the carbon cycle, weathering and permafrost degradation.
Ryan Toohey, hydrologist and Science Applications Coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (AKCASC). His interests in water quality led Toohey to pursue an environmental science degree from Huxley College at Western Washington University. He graduated with an environmental science degree in the year 2000, having focused on water quality and Geographic Information Systems. In 2012, Toohey received an interdisciplinary joint Ph.D. in environmental science with a focus in both hydrology and agroforestry from the University of Idaho and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica. In addition to his position at the Alaska CASC, Toohey serves as an Affiliate Research Assistant Professor for the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Nicole Herman-Mercer is a social scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey in the Decision Support Branch of the Water Resources Mission Area's Integrated Information Dissemination Division. Nicole began at the USGS in 2008 as a Student Intern in Support of Native American Relations (SISNAR) working on a case study of Indigenous Observations of Climate Change in a rural Alaska Native Village in the Yukon River Basin. Her work explores the interactions between different knowledge systems regarding human dimensions of landscape change and water resources in rural Alaska Native villages. She manages the Indigenous Observation Network and also conducts research on the impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities in Alaska. Currently, her focus is on the co-production of knowledge utilizing community-based and participatory methods in the Arctic and sub-Arctic to form a better understanding of environmental change and impacts on the populations of this region.
Past FedCCS Meetings
Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (FedCCS) Community of Practice
FedCCS July 2020 Meeting
"Online Citizen Science, Update on OSTP Data Call, and COVID-Economics Wiki"
Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 2:00 – 4:00 PM Eastern Time
The FedCCS July 2020 Meeting will have three presentations, an open forum, and an informal networking session at the end.
Dr. Maria Aristeidou (The Open University) will present key findings from a paper she recently published on "Online Citizen Science: A Systematic Review of Effects on Learning and Scientific Literacy."
Dr. Giff Wong (IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI)) will provide a brief update on the reporting process and timeline for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) "FY19-20 Implementation of Federal Prize and Citizen Science Authority Progress Report."
Dr. Peter Meyer (Bureau of Labor Statistics) will give a FedCCS Member Lightning Talk on his interest in enabling crowdsourcing among federal employees and other specialists through wiki platforms. He will give a demo of his COVID-Economics Wiki that he has recently been working on to develop a bibliography database that tracks academic literature related to COVID economics.
Online Citizen Science: |
OSTP Citizen Science Report: |
FedCCS Member Lightning Talk: |
FedCCS June 2020 Meeting
"NOAA Citizen Science on Data Quality" and "Eterna OpenVaccine for COVID-19"
Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 2:00 – 4:00 PM Eastern Time
FedCCS Meetings are typically every last Thursday of the month. We are shifting the time to start at the top of the hour at 2:00 - 4:00 PM Eastern with the last 30 minutes available for informal virtual networking. The FedCCS June 2020 Meeting will include a presentation from Laura Oremland on citizen science data quality from NOAA Case Studies and from Do Soon Kim on the EteERNA OpenVaccine COVID-19 Challenge.
Laura Oremland (NOAA Citizen Science Co-Coordinator) will provide an overview of NOAA’s citizen science programs, describe the data quality assurance and quality control processes applied to different programs, and summarize common themes and recommendations for collecting high quality citizen science data.
Do Soon Kim (visiting researcher at Stanford University) will talk about the Eterna OpenVaccine Challenge for COVID-19 and how they are harnessing online gamers to develop mRNA vaccines stable enough to be deployed to everyone in the world and not just a privileged few.
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