Activities For The Civic Geek: Citizen Science

Citizen Science is the idea that we, as citizens, can and should be involved in scientific pursuits, research, and promotion.  It’s a profound idea mixing civic involvement, science, and of course pure geekery.

“Citizen Science” is a lovely term for people from all walks of life doing and helping with scientific work as citizens.  You don’t have to be a scientist to help – but you may work with them, collecting data, building tools, crunching numbers, and more.  It’s a mix of citizenship, crowdsourcing, and science.

It’s hard to sum up just what you can do as a citizen scientist, because there’s so many options.  The resources below can guide you, but a few ideas:

  • You may gather information on environmental change in your area – great for your friends, family, club, or convention to help out with.
  • Use your writing skills to transcribe rare documents and scientific information into more enduring formats – or even other languages.
  • Promote science education at your convention.
  • Use your knowledge of your local area to help with civic disaster planning based on your area’s unique challenges.

That’s just a a small idea of what you can do as a citizen scientist.  A little research will almost certainly find a project that’s right for you and your geeky interests -or your club, convention, writer’s group, and more.

If you don’t have time?  Well invite citizen science groups to your school, place of work, club, or convention so they can talk about what they do and recruit people.

As a citizen scientist you’ll help out worthy causes, learn, and make connections.  There’s really no downside to it except you only have so much time in the day.

 

Citizen Science

  • Computing
    • Code For America – An alliance of coders and citizens that innovate on technology, draft policies, and create apps to help citizenship.
  • Environment
  • Space
  • STEM
    • Citizen Science Alliance – A collaborative effort of scientists, software developers, and educators to promote and organize citizen science and citizen science projects, as well as science awareness. Their projects are tracked in Zooniverse.com.
    • Science Cheerleader – A site focusing on Cheerleaders who chose science careers, promoting science awareness, and where the former can promote the latter, all with good humor and a serious mission.
    • Scientific America’s Citizen Science Page – Scientific American’s resource for citizen scientists, listing projects and updates. A good way to find something to fit your interests.
    • SciStarter – A site to find, join, and contribute to scientific endeavors. Contains a large database of citizen science projects for you to check out.
    • Zooniverse – The Citizen Science Alliance’s website for hosting citizen science projects. A good place to go and find specific projects to get involved in.

Civic Geek Catalog Update 12/21/2014

The latest updates to the Civic Geek catalog are here!  Be sure to visit the main site for the entire rundown sorted by Geeky Interest or Focus.

Computing

  • Charitable Work
    • DataKind – Helps connect data experts with good causes – and they’re looking for help from data techs, managers, and more!

General

  • Charitable Work
    • Kirkland Geek Gala – A geek event that raises funds for Seattle Children’s Hospital via Extra Life.
  • Collectibles
  • Education
    • Donors Choose – An online charity that helps you fund education intiatives in a project stile.

STEM

  • Citizen Science
    • SciFiles – Uses grassroots, micro-donations, and showcasing vetted projects to promote scientific advancement – with a heavy emhpasis on civilian science.

Writing/Reading

  • Books
    • Books To Prisoners – A US charity that sends free books to prisoners across the Unitied States, with a focus on self-improvement, education, and stopping recidivism.
  • Literacy
    • Alaska Literacy Program – An Alaska-based literacy charity with an emphasis on training and certifying teachers and tutors to impart reading, writing, and speaking skills.
    • Book Ends – A nonprofit focusing on empowering children through literacy and a focus on leadership in communities.
    • Family Reading Partners – A coalition of people and organizations that promotes literacy via family reading practices.
    • Reach Out And Read – A nonprofit organization of medical providers who promote literacy and school readiness in pediatric care with parental advice.
  • Military Support

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Geek Catalog Update: 7/26/2014

Astronaut

So here’s my latest additions to the geek catalog (which is sorted by your geekery or your community focus).  Go on, get involved!

We’ve got a heaping helping of Citizen Science, resources for female geekery, and more!

General

  • Female Geeks
    • Geek Feminism Blog – A blog on women’s issues in geekdom, as well as other human/civil issues in that sphere. Also has excellent news roundups.
  • Health
    • Operation Hammond – A network of medical professionals and trained people that provide medical services for conventions and staff training.

Pinball

STEM

  • Citizen Science
    • Citizen Science Alliance – A collaborative effort of scientists, software developers, and educators to promote and organize citizen science and citizen science projects, as well as science awareness. Their projects are tracked in Zooniverse.com.
    • Scientific America’s Citizen Science Page – Scientific American’s resource for citizen scientists, listing projects and updates. A good way to find something to fit your interests.
    • SciStarter – A site to find, join, and contribute to scientific endeavors. Contains a large database of citizen science projects for you to check out.
    • Zooniverse – The Citizen Science Alliance’s website for hosting citizen science projects. A good place to go and find specific projects to get involved in.
  • Environment
    • Nerds For Nature – And all-volunteer organization that brings together communities, scientists, and technologists to understand and preserve nature, including hands-on projects. Located in California.
  • Female Geeks
    • Mothercoders – An organization focused on helping mothers get tech-savvy and up-to-date for this economy.

Video Games

  • History
    • Atari Party – A Californian organization that hosts events with hands-on use of classic Atari game consoles. Always looking for volunteers – and you can always found your own!

Writing

  • General
    • NaNoWriMo – Everyone knows National Novel Writing Month, but they’re an organization that relies on organizers, donations, and more – and that’s your chance to get involved!