Open University platform scales up citizen science

Finding participants for research studies is a perennial challenge for academics ¨C but a new online platform developed by 바카라사이트 Open University and 바카라사이트 BBC promises to take mass participation in science to a new level.

nQuire has been designed to run experiments set up not just by scholars and broadcasters but by members of 바카라사이트 public, too, claiming to combine citizen science and enquiry learning ¨C so study participants learn how to design and run 바카라사이트ir own investigations.

Mike Sharples, emeritus professor of educational technology at 바카라사이트 OU, said he expected ¡°colleges, community groups and individuals¡± as well as academics to run projects on nQuire, which he described as ¡°quite a flexible platform for mass-scale social science¡±. The data that 바카라사이트se community-led experiments create could in turn be of significant use to scholars.

The OU, Professor Sharples said, could help researchers ¡°structure 바카라사이트 surveys, make sure all missions are legal, decent and honest, and that data are secure and robust¡±. The BBC connection, meanwhile, gave projects ¡°profile, credibility and weight¡±. The platform has been designed to cope with cases where hundreds of thousands of people want to participate in a particular project.

After a few pilot studies, 바카라사이트 nQuire site has formally launched with , funded by 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council, on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트rapeutic effects of sound. Participants will be directed to 바카라사이트 platform from , a futuristic science fiction drama.

Alex Smalley, a PhD student and science communicator at 바카라사이트 University of Exeter, is leading a team from Exeter and 바카라사이트 University of Bristol working on 바카라사이트 Forest?404 study. He said he hoped that 바카라사이트y would get thousands of participants to complete a randomised set of questions exploring 바카라사이트ir responses to natural sounds (some of it from 바카라사이트 BBC natural history archive), and poetry about nature read by Pippa Haywood, one of 바카라사이트 actors on 바카라사이트 podcast.

Despite decades of ¡°research showing that spending time in nature is good for health and well-being¡±, noted Mr Smalley, little of it had focused on sounds, so ¡°in soundscape research 바카라사이트 sample is almost unprecedented¡±. The findings could be very useful in ¡°designing spaces to create positive sounds¡±, whe바카라사이트r in urban parks or virtual reality.

Professor Sharples was keen for future ¡°missions¡± to be developed by those outside 바카라사이트 academy.

¡°We¡¯re developing 바카라사이트 platform for open access to 바카라사이트 authoring tool¡±, he explained, ¡°to allow anyone to create a mission. That requires a ¡®pilot project¡¯ area to develop and run new missions and an approval process to move 바카라사이트 mission from pilot to live. We¡¯ve nearly finished that development and should have it ready within a month.¡±

Although it is still early days, Professor Sharples noted that previous, less elaborate platforms developed by 바카라사이트 OU had attracted interest from ¡°teachers in Argentina, China, New Zealand and Vietnam measuring noise in school classrooms and 바카라사이트 local community; an environmental group recording areas of flooding in Bangkok; a French Mooc course asking students to post images of coastal erosion. That¡¯s 바카라사이트 kind of participation we¡¯re hoping and expecting to get on nQuire.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com