Citizen Science: Data Gathering Through Crowdsourcing

The people of today are no strangers to social media.

Our titos and titas are on Facebook (and in some cases, Instagram) sharing their family vacation pictures, and most of us have heard our parents or grandparents tell us cute stories about how they found their grade school seat-mate through social media.

Last summer, I personally found out how social media can be used as a tool to help people. My family and I rescued an African Grey Parrot from our neighbor’s tree, and we figured that it was a pet because of the band it had on its leg. I did my research, and found a Facebook group full of parrot owners and bird enthusiasts. Through this group and other crowdsourcing, we were able to track down the aviary the rescued parrot came from and eventually, they led us to the real owner. We quickly arranged to meet up and the family who owned the rescued parrot came over to pick him up. Apparently, he had already been missing for a month and only responds to Spanish!

This funny parrot story goes to show how social media has even greater potential than we initially thought. The internet and social media have become tools in data-gathering for conservation efforts; for helping scientists monitor a variety of things, such as wildlife populations, coral bleaching, pollution, and even changes in coastlines; and for increasing awareness among the general public (yes, regular citizens like you and me!). We call this citizen science. 

What is citizen science?

Citizen science is public participation by non-professionals in research through means like crowdsourcing, data analysis, and data collection. In essence, it breaks down big research tasks into smaller ones that anyone can easily do, even without a scientific background. Through citizen science, scientific research and conservation efforts are made more accessible and doable by people who come from non-scientific backgrounds (like me). 

Why is it important?

Bringing science to the forefront and making it accessible to everyone, regardless of their background, is vital in empowering people to act based on information grounded on data and facts. It enables more people to make logically sound decisions and formulate better opinions, hence avoiding making hasty generalizations regarding new technology. 

Today we live in a society of fake news and rumor-mongering, in the Philippines as in many other countries. The controversy surrounding Dengvaxia, on how it allegedly caused the death of several children, is a good test for evaluating how public opinion can easily be swayed by people in power. Another example is the general idea among our population that all Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are “bad,” when in fact some are good (e.g., climate change-resilient crops, crops which are drought-tolerant and disease-resistant, and fast-maturing varieties). 

Science and politics are becoming increasingly intertwined, and it is vital that we Filipinos are equipped with the correct information in order to engage in meaningful discourse regarding public policy. Citizen science is a simple and effective way to achieve this, and can have benefits for both those who participate as well as the body of research to which they contribute.

Citizen Science in the Philippines

 The following are a few examples of local citizen science projects:

Philippine Coral Bleaching Watch

Coral bleaching has become a serious threat to reefs resulting from rising sea levels and a warming planet. Due to the geographic scale and almost instantaneous timeframe of coral bleaching, the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute decided to use citizen science to assess the extent and severity of coral bleaching nationwide. Ordinary citizen divers or snorkelers can upload photos and videos of the reefs they encounter through a link provided on the Watch’s Facebook page, which directly helps coral scientists in tracking and studying the effects of climate change on coral reefs. Philippine Coral Bleaching Watch regularly uploads alert maps for bleaching, and also accepts data on crown of thorns outbreaks, marine pollution, and the general health of corals.

@theateneowild on Instagram showcasing a black-naped Oriole

@theateneowild on Instagram showcasing a black-naped Oriole

Ateneo Wild and UP Wild

The Ateneo de Manila University campus and the University of the Philippines Diliman campus both serve as home to a variety of flora and fauna. Students, professors, and anybody with a phone or a camera can take pictures of wildlife they see around each campus and submit their photos to the respective Facebook pages of The Ateneo Wild and The UP Wild, and the pages in turn post the entries with a brief description of the species. For example, the Ateneo Wild page shares the scientific name, common name, origins of the species, where the picture was taken, and other fun facts about the specimen. Both the group’s pages increase awareness about escaped pets such as African love birds and red-eared turtles, endemic species, and migratory birds. These provide people with an avenue to learn more about urban biodiversity and its nuances, and the chance to better appreciate the interaction between people and wildlife.

Philippine Cockatoo.jpg

Sagip Katala Movement

The Philippine Cockatoo, locally known as the Katala, is a critically-endangered endemic species. Years of poaching, usually for the pet trade or to satisfy the local demand for bushmeat, decimated the Philippine Cockatoo population on Rasa Island in Palawan to as little as 23 birds. Thanks to the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program and 20 years of work, the population has steadily grown to 300 on the island alone, and in other project sites, the population is estimated to be at a little more than 1,000. Volunteers manually count the birds on the island, and some of their wildlife wardens actually used to be the very people who actively poached the species. Change did not happen overnight though, nor did it involve just one group of society: it took 20 years to rehabilitate the population, with the cooperation of all relevant local government units, international funders, local communities, and concerned government agencies.

These examples are just some of the ways that citizen science has contributed to addressing and filling the gaps on raising awareness and assisting conservation and rehabilitation efforts in our country. Hopefully, efforts like these inspire more and more people to appreciate and participate in citizen science for the betterment of our environment. May these encourage us to really look at our surroundings, and learn and truly appreciate the roles of the flora and fauna we share our world with.

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Intern Reflections, BiodiversitySteph HilarioCitizen Science, city life, Wild life, Participation