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Author name: Matthew T. Dearing

Citizen Science Programming Best Practices from the Association of Nature Center Administrators

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A thorough guide created by past directors at the Great Smokey Mountains Institute at Tremont and published by the Association of Nature Center Administrators is a wonderful resource for program leaders around the world who are interested in developing new and improving existing citizen science projects.

In addition, this guide will prove to be useful for the individual amateur researcher to help organize personal projects and stimulate ideas for getting involved within the community and even within ones own backyard.

A partial version is available for download below (16 pages of 88), and the complete document may be purchased for $20 directly from the ANCA.

“The Director’s Guide to Best Practices in Citizen Science” :: Copyright 2007 :: [ DOWNLOAD ]

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Environmental Scientists use Citizen Science to Monitor Wildlife Road Crossings

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Scientists from the University of Montana and the University of Calgary reported in 2007 on their use of local citizens to monitor and record observations of wildlife crossings of Highway 3 in southwestern Alberta, Canada. The data is being used to better understand wildlife movement in the area and how a planned highway improvement project might impact the environment.

This is a wonderfully useful approach for data collection in order to provide a potentially more broader look at a long-term natural pattern. What is particularly interesting about this report, however, is that is does address what will ultimately be the most critical issue for citizen science programs to overcome: how to guarantee that data collected from unregulated and potentially biased and subjective observers can be filtered into a set of data that can be considered scientific.

Citizen science data may never be considered as “real science” unless biases and unintentional errors can be monitored or filtered out. As long as the data collection sets are sufficiently large, then statistical analysis against a known, accurate sub-set of data can be used. Of course, once statistics is brought into the picture, then some generalizations are typically required, which can lessen the viability of the data.

I do believe that this is “legitimacy issue” is fundamental, and must be addressed by program leaders in the crowdsourcing citizen science projects.

“Evaluation of a Citizen-Science Highway Wildlife Monitoring Program” :: In Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation :: May 20, 2007 :: [ READ ABSTRACT ]

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Financial Support for the Neurotech Industry–no bailout needed, yet

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The Neurotechnology marketplace is a fledgling industry and it must remain exciting with many potentials to continue to encourage new brave entrepreneurs to enter in the field in the coming decade. However, our current global economic hiccup is certainly hard on everyone, and cash flow for neurotech companies is a serious issue.

The equally young Neurotechnology Industry Organization is a great start to bringing additional lobbying support for the market, but hitting challenging times early on in the industry’s development will likely slow down advancements in the coming years. Neuron News keeps a very close eye on the NERV NASDAQ NeuroInsights Neurotech Index (see the financial chart presented below), the following article gives us a brief look–from a pure stock investor’s perspective–of the growing concerns for the sector and how the industry is coping.

“Can neurotech deliver on its growth promise?” :: BloggingStocks :: November 12, 2008 :: [READ ]

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Nanotechnology Meets Neurotechnology

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Nanotechnology will be the key field of research that will bridge future gaps between advancements in neurological control and interfaces that connect our own bodies to our own brains in new and exciting ways.

Vivek Maheshwari and Ravi Saraf recently wrote a thorough review of advances from nanotechnology in the developments of artificial “skins” that can mimic the sensitive electrical responses of the human sensation of touch. Michael Berger from Nanowerk provides a nice overview of the published review to help guide you through this important research.

The exciting next step, then, is to integrate the nano-skin with the neuro-device through a direct functional link between living neurons in an embedded structure that connects the electrical activity of the artificial skin to the brain in a meaningful way.

“Nanotechnology skin to rival human touch” :: Nanowerk :: September 30, 2008 [ READ ]

“Tactile Devices To Sense Touch on a Par with a Human Finger” :: Wiley InterScience Abstract (read) :: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 7808 – 7826 :: [ READ REVIEW ARTICLE PDF ]

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Preparing to Witness a New Consciousness Soon

Consciousness & Mind / / Leave a Comment

Neuron News has been on a bit of break since mid-September, and we will be trying to roll out more activity in the near future as best as possible. This break was initially due to a brief return to the theater with a role in a local production of Glenngary Glenn Ross by David Mamet at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois.

Now, our family is getting very close to welcoming in our latest addition, Andrew, who will be due anytime from now until early December. So, we are quite busy taking care of the “nest” and making sure Mommy is taken care of as best as possible.

One rather interesting experience I enjoyed with our first child, Elizabeth, was watching her brain develop from the first cry in the hospital room to my first observation of an inkling of a consciousness. This observation was certainly un-scientific, but there was just something… something noticeable in the way her eyes became a little more focused; there was something behind those eyes that didn’t seem to be there yesterday.

I hope to document these observations with Andrew–which I’m sure will be quite subjective–with his development from little living blob of cells to something more; something with a brain that has developed beyond simply pumping blood and expanding and contracting lungs. I do believe that a baby is born without a sophisticated “consciousness,” whatever that might really mean as we still have no scientific understanding of our notion of sentient beings. But, there is a transition. A transition from non-thinking to thinking; from basic biological mechanics to … something more.

It is a profound and amazing process, and I can’t wait to witness this transition once again.

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A Celestial Halloween Frightful Sight

Inspiring Citizen Science / / Leave a Comment

So, it might be less frightful and more magical, but the planets will be aligned this Halloween night for a great show for all of the trick-or-treaters and their parents. Be sure to look up toward the sunset this Friday evening — in between doorbell rings and candy looting — to witness a fantastic early evening alignment of the crescent moon, Venus, and Jupiter.



More great Moon-planet alignments will be visible over the next month, and you can read more about these great observing and photographing opportunities with the article below…

“Halloween Sky Show” :: Science@NASA :: October 28, 2008 :: [ READ ]

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Last updated June 20, 2022