The case studies below demonstrate the data journey for specific marine citizen science projects, covering their planning, collection, processing, preservation, sharing and reuse.
The project was planned and co-founded by Ben Holt, who has 20 years of experience in marine biodiversity research and data analysis, in consultation with experts, directors and staff. Click on the icons below to find out more about the main considerations made when planning the project.
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Ensuring there was a balance between collecting valuable data and public engagement, with the primary focus being volunteer engagement.
There was a strong need for a protocol that allowed the public to collect data in an easy and enjoyable way. Even if the data were not used for scientific purposes, there was a need to feedback event results to participants and enhance their experience.
At the start of the project, The Big Rock Pool Challenge, data were already being collected at the existing Plymouth and Falmouth sites, so permission was already granted. When bringing in new sites because of the creation of new hubs around the UK, the licensing foreach survey site must be considered. This can be challenging due to difficulties identifying landowners from whom to request permission to access the survey sites, especially in the intertidal zone.
Considerations were also made for the data licensing and the use of iNaturalist. The images and data have different permissions, and itis encouraged by record centres to change the licensing for records collected using the app from CC-BY-NC (default) to CC-BY.
From the start of the project the team was aware that iNaturalist data would need to be verified to ensure there was no cheating in the games and due to a responsibility to verify the quality of their own records in the wider context of iNaturalist. A process for verification by project volunteers was developed to check the records. One of the key benefits of using iNaturalist is the in-built validation checks to ensure mandatory metadata is captured.
Processing is done automatically by iNaturalist, with all records standardized to the same format and exported via the app so further data processing was not planned.
During the planning process there was a consultation with DASSH and other experts from NBN to ensure that data would flow from iNaturalist to DASSH and NBN, where it would be openly available, taking into consideration any potential bottlenecks caused by the validation process.
There was also a requirement to have a simple download on the website so the public can download of the data with simple instruction.
![[The Rock Pool Project plan image]](/assets/images/citizen-science/case-studies/rock-pool-project/TRPP_Introduction_Plan_1.jpg)
