Sign up to Join this New Community of Practice: 

If you wish join the community, please email citizen_innovation@usgs.gov

If you wish to send an email to the distribution group, please use: gs-sdc-citizen_innovation_cop@usgs.gov



Description: The Citizen-Centered Innovation community welcomes the participation of anyone interested in Open Innovation efforts like Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science, Civic Hacking, and Challenge & Prize Competitions at USGS and other DOI bureaus. Connect with other USGS and DOI bureaus on related open innovation efforts. Participate in monthly USGS and DOI meetings and working groups to share best practices, resources, and emerging open innovation projects.

Point Of Contact: Sophia B Liu (Innovation Specialist at Science and Decisions Center), sophialiu@usgs.gov



Citizen-Centered Innovation Community

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of Citizen-Centered Innovation Community is to:

  • Promote an understanding of the role and potential benefits of open innovation efforts (crowdsourcing, citizen science, civic hacking, challenges & prize competitions) for USGS as well as across the DOI bureaus and offices;
  • Facilitate and enhance connections between the USGS and the larger federal and public Citizen Science and Open Innovation communities;
  • Provide access to information and tools to support the proper, effective, and creative use of these open innovation efforts within the USGS and across DOI bureaus;
  • Engage the public to foster and improve the public's scientific literacy and use of USGS and DOI products and services.




Upcoming Monthly Meetings

Citizen-Centered Innovation Monthly Meeting

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/461778105

Or Telephone: US: +1 669 900 6833 Meeting ID: 461 778 105

Or One-Tap Mobile: US: +16699006833,,461778105#

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 3:00 - 4:00 PM EDT

  1. Overview of the Report to Congress for the Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act (15 U.S.C. 3724)
    1. Discuss the FY17-18 Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Guidance and Report Form
    2. Discuss the Draft list Agency-level CCS Practices
  2. Updated CitizenScience.gov Website
    1. Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Catalog
    2. USGS CCS Projects
  3. Announcements: Upcoming Conferences and Meetings
    1. CrowdSourcing Week (CSW) Global - October 24-28, 2018
    2. Wilson Center Event - November 2018
    3. Citizen Science Association (CSA) Conference - March 13-17, 2018

Federal Community of Practice for Crowdsourcing & Citizen Science (CCS) Monthly Meeting

  • FCPCCS@listserv.gsa.gov, the FCPCCS listserv (Federal Employees Only)
  • Every 4th Thursday of the Month at 2:30 - 4:30 PM EST

Past Meetings

USGS and DOI Citizen-Centered Innovation Monthly Meeting (Google Doc Meeting Notes)

Science and Decisions Center (SDC) Citizen-Centered Innovation Seminar Series

  • Sophia B Liu - Operationalizing Crowdsourcing at FEMA (VIDEO) (SLIDES)
  • CDI Statement of Interest Proposal - "Developing a Playbook to Operationalize Crowdsourcing for Emergency Management through the Standardization of Data, Tools, and Procedures" (PDF)



Resources

USGS and DOI Resources

Other Agency Resourcs

Related Community and Activities Sites

Federal Resources
Non-Federal