Abstract: This paper introduces the Zooniverse citizen science project and software framework, outlining its structure from an observatory perspective: both as an observable web-based system in itself, and as an example of a platform iteratively developed according to real-world deployment and used at scale. We include details of the technical architecture of Zooniverse, including the mechanisms for data gathering across the Zooniverse operation, access, and analysis. We consider the lessons that can be drawn from the experience of designing and running Zooniverse, and how this might inform development of other web observatories.

Citation: R. Simpson, K. R. Page, D. De Roure (2014). Zooniverse: Observing the World’s Largest Citizen Science Platform. 2nd International Web Observatory Workshop, ACM.

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This work was presented at HAIDM 2015. The 2015 workshop on Human-Agent Interaction Design and Models was co-organised by SmartSociety.

Abstract: The majority of volunteers participating in citizen science projects perform only a few tasks each before leaving the system. We designed an intervention strategy to reduce disengagement in 16 different citizen science projects. Targeted users who had left the system received emails that directly addressed motivational factors that affect their engagement. Results show that participants receiving the emails were significantly more likely to return to productive activity when compared to a control group.

Keywords: Peer production, crowdsourcing, citizen science, intervention strategies.

Citation: Segal, A., Gal, Y.A.K., Simpson, R.J., Victoria Homsy, V., Hartswood, M., Page, K.R. and Jirotka, M., 2015, May. Improving productivity in citizen science through controlled intervention. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web Companion (pp. 331-337). International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee.

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