Citizen Science Association
Special Sessions
Workshops
Register for workshops when you register for C*Sci2023.
Both in-person and online workshops are available. Please scan the full menu list for workshops in Tempe on May 23rd as well as workshops offered online and at other times (including in-person on May 26th).
Workshops have fees to help offset costs, except in cases where costs are covered by the workshop organizer. A limited number of seats are available at reduced or no cost. If you cannot participate in a workshop because of fees, please contact events@citizenscience.org for options before you register.
Tuesday, May 23rd (in-person)
All workshops in this list will take place on Tuesday May 23rd, from 9am-12pm unless otherwise noted. Please review the listing carefully to note all times and fees (where applicable).
Most of these workshops have attendee limits. Please only register for a workshop if you will be present to attend.
Click the workshop name to expand details.
Organized by: Darlene Cavalier, Professor of Practice, Arizona State University and Founder, SciStarter
SciStarter, a hub for participatory research, digitally connects people, projects and partners and helps project leaders efficiently and economically recruit, support and learn more about participants, while accelerating research .
SciStarter also develops and distributes original content across media platforms including DiscoverMagazine.com and bi-monthly messages to its 160,000+ members.
This workshop will help you make the most of SciStarter for your project, event or research by providing an overview and offering four round-robin breakout tables for hands-on demonstrations and real-time digital facilitations.
Organized by: Sarah Huebner, University of Minnesota/Zooniverse
Note: This workshop has an 8:30am start time and will consist of two 1.5 hour blocks of instruction follow by time to try out the tools and get individual help.
This workshop will provide help with using new tools developed by Zooniverse.org, including the introduction of machine learning into project workflows. We will also demonstrate how teams can integrate citsci at both the collection and classification stages by combining efforts across platforms.
Organized by: Jessica Bean, UC Berkeley, The FieldScope Project
*This workshop is also being offered online on a separate date (May 18th).
FieldScope is partnering with projects providing place-based programs to support sensemaking with stories and data that are responsive and relevant to community and curricular needs. Projects include:
Tick Talk • River Otter Ecology Project • Khmer Friendship Garden • Indigenous Language Preservation
The workshop will start with hearing from each of four featured community science projects to get a sense of the kinds of stories that are being told via the platform. Attendees will also get a very brief overview and discussion of the FieldScope platform, its features, and the ways in which the FieldScope team can partner with various programs. Additionally, attendees will have an opportunity to think about how to incorporate scaffold storytelling activities in their programs, and how different kinds of data visualizations can serve as entry points for sense-making with participants.
Organized by: Lisa Rasmussen, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and Caren Cooper, North Carolina State University
In this workshop, we will help you “think like an ethicist” using the Data Ethics Toolkit. You will earn a badge and certificate by learning to identify relevant ethical obligations and tensions in your project, and making decisions that fulfill your unique obligations for managing project data. Participants will need to bring their own electronic device in order to earn the Data Ethics for Practitioners badge by the conclusion of the workshop, but will be welcome without such a device as well.
Organized by: CSA Data and Metadata Working Group Co-Chairs Charmel Menzel (ESRI), Greg Newman (CitSci.org), and Nancy Sheehan (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Is your goal to have volunteer collected data used for science and decision-making? If yes, then join us for this hands-on workshop. We will review F.A.I.R. and Open Science principles, provide a messy dataset for you to work with and leave with a better understanding of how to tackle data needs.
Organized by: Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta (University of Arizona Department of Environmental Science)
Co-Authors/Presenters (alphabetical order): Zain Alqattan (PhD student, University of Arizona), Sanlyn Buxner (University of Arizona), God’sgift Chukwuonye (PhD student, University of Arizona), Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro (SUNY New Paltz), Kathy High (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Miriam Jones (Community Outreach Specialist III, University of Arizona), Abby Kinchy (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Tal Margalit (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Jessika Mesa (MS student, University of Arizona), Henry C. Muñoz, Sr. (Concerned Citizens and Retired Miners Coalition of Superior, AZ), Lisa Ochoa (Teacher, Hayden High School), Kunal Palawat (PhD student, University of Arizona), Hannah Price (Undergraduate student, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Sebastian Ureta (Universidad Alberto Hurtado), Daniel Valenzuela (PhD student, Universidad Alberto Hurtado) Dan Walls (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).
Our goal is to improve environmental health, literacy, and decision-making through co-producing environmental quality data. To do this, we not only need to increase access to environmental monitoring tools and information, we also need to evaluate team dynamics, public interactions, and the broader impacts of these transdisciplinary processes. In this Workshop, we will use the projects: (1) Gardenroots, (2) Project Harvest, and (3) Our Soils as case studies to highlight how to build transdisciplinary teams and develop bilingual peer education materials to engage communities in rural and urban areas. We will share our bilingual training and data sharing tools and resources, and discuss our “lessons learned”, team dynamics, and communication strategies. Presenters will lead interactive and inquiry-based activities and train participants on how to use affordable and accessible water and soil testing kits that community groups can assemble and anyone can learn to use. These kits can be used to test for lead and/or arsenic in water and soil samples and can be performed outside of a laboratory. For example, the soil kits can provide an estimated qualitative, nonspecific bioaccessible range of arsenic and lead in soils. Participants will be asked to reflect and develop environmental health mental maps based on their current perceptions and social disposition. The tools and activities presented can be generalizable and used by other community science teams.
Organized by: Stephanie Letourneau, Dickinson College’s Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring; Phoebe Galione, Dickinson College’s Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring; and Julie Vastine, EPA
When volunteers transition from doing science to understanding science, there are exponential opportunities. This session will explore approaches to data interpretation in community-based monitoring programs. Workshop participants will experience and learn tools to implement guided data experiences. Reflecting on their own data interpretation workshop experiences, presenters will explore best practices when engaging communities with data, methods for establishing technical background, effective and efficient data visualization strategies, challenges, and success stories.
Other days, times, and formats (online and in-person)
Several workshops are being offered online and/or in-person, and at times other than Tuesday morning. Please review the listing carefully to note all dates, times, and fees (where applicable).
Online workshops, or workshops with online components, are available to anyone who registers for the event (whether in-person or virtual). Check back – other online workshops may be added.
In-person workshops have attendee limits. Please only register for a workshop if you will be present to attend.
Click the workshop name to expand details.
Online: Thursday, May 18th, 3pm-4:30pm Eastern (12-1:30pm Pacific)
This workshop is also being offered in-person in Tempe on May 23rd.
FieldScope is partnering with projects providing place-based programs to support sensemaking with stories and data that are responsive and relevant to community and curricular needs. Projects include:
Tick Talk • River Otter Ecology Project • Khmer Friendship Garden • Indigenous Language Preservation
The workshop will start with hearing from each of four featured community science projects to get a sense of the kinds of stories that are being told via the platform. Attendees will also get a very brief overview and discussion of the FieldScope platform, its features, and the ways in which the FieldScope team can partner with various programs. Additionally, attendees will have an opportunity to think about how to incorporate scaffold storytelling activities in their programs, and how different kinds of data visualizations can serve as entry points for sense-making with participants.
Organized by: Jessica Bean, UC Berkeley, The FieldScope Project
In-person and online: Friday, May 26th, 9am-12pm Arizona local time (adjust if attending virtually). Register WKO.12 if you plan to attend online, and WK.12 if in person – do not register for both.
Presented by Leaders and Advisors of CSA’s Environmental Justice Practitioners Working Group, listed in alphabetical order: Veronica Bitting (Southeastern Healthcare Center of NC – SEHCNC), Antonio Garcia, Ms. Margaret Gordon (West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project), Valerie Johnson (Shaw University), Vincent Martin, Ayo Wilson (West End Revitalization Association), Brenda Wilson (West End Revitalization Association), Omega Wilson (West End Revitalization Association)
As science institutions seek and secure new funds for Environmental Justice (EJ) research, there is an urgent need to ground good intentions in formal agreements with communities. This workshop will draw on the expertise of leaders of CSA’s EJ Practitioners Working Group (EJP), who have decades of experience navigating, leading, and mentoring such partnerships. This workshop is an entryway for anyone wanting to develop equity in their own partnership, as well as anyone in a position of power or leadership who wants to strategically support, fund, or advocate for equitable partnerships.
This workshop will debut a new project, led by the EJP, to compile, develop, pilot, and share tools that outline intentional processes: processes for generating equity and fostering solutions-oriented science in community-research partnerships. Participants will hear success stories that point to the value and need for such tools to address critical issues, and will explore tools and concrete pathways to support positive change in their own work. The workshop will include a transparent look at one of the first pilot cases of this new project, the collaborative development of an operational model for CSA as a partner and as a supporter in the movement for equitable research.
This project is also laying the groundwork for a sustainable EJP program of services that support equitable partnerships. A sustainable model would include fee-based services such as trainings or consulting to scaffold the use of these tools by researchers or scientific institutions. CSA is also committed to equitable partnerships with community leaders. The fees for this workshop both pilot a sustainability model and help CSA uphold that commitment to equity. All fees go towards the honoraria and travel funds that make it possible for you to connect with these leaders. Please register at the highest rate within your capacity to reflect the value of this knowledge and of these practices.
Sliding scale fees: $147 (suggested) • $93 • $60 • $28 • amount within reach for you
Field Trips
Register for field trips when you register for C*Sci2023.
Field trips have fees to help offset costs, except in cases where full costs are covered by the field trip host. A limited number of seats are available at reduced or no cost. If you cannot participate in a field trip because of fees, please contact events@citizenscience.org to inquire about options before you register.
Field trips are scheduled for the afternoon of Monday May 22nd and morning of Tuesday May 23rd. Please check date and time below before registering. Most of the field trips have attendee limits. Please only register for a field trip if you will be present to attend.
Click the title of the field trip title below to expand details.
Monday, May 22, 3-5pm
Fee: $35 per person
Requirements: Comfortable walking shoes. Transportation to/from site will be provided, departing from the Memorial Union.
The ASU Natural History Collections are comprised of nine different collections that support the university’s teaching, research and public outreach functions. Supported by the School of Life Sciences, the collections emphasize flora and fauna from the arid southwest of North America, especially Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Collectively, the holdings rank among the largest collections of Sonoran desert biota in the world. Visitors during the C*Sci Conference will be guided on a tour of the Natural History Collections and learn about the research being done with access to these specimens. Visitors will turn their curiosity into action by participating in a citizen science project to speed up transcription of specimens through history.
Monday, May 22, 3-5pm
Fee: $10/person
Requirements: none; building is walking distance from the Memorial Union
Visitors will be toured through the many exhibits and activities within the School of Earth and Space Exploration on ASU’s campus. To cap off the event, visitors will see a 3D astronomy program in the Marston Center. Unlike to a planetorium presentation, the program will take you beyond our view from Earth and into the solar system to explore our place in the universe. The theater employs Definiti SkySkan Planetarium technology utilizing 4K projection systems that render Earth and Space Science themes in 3D stereographic vision.
Monday, May 22nd, 2-5pm
Fee: $18/person
Planning: Attendees will take light rail to the Science Center. Field trip fee covers entry into the Center.
Attendees will join a presentation in the AZ Science Center lecture space before an open hour explore the museum on their own. During the free explore time, attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a community embedded exhibition, led by conference peers displaying and communicating their work to general Arizona Science Center attendees and staff (for an option to present, see Community Embedded Events below). Following the free explore time and exhibition, attendees will be welcomed into the AZ Science Center Design Lab to workshop how to leverage partnerships with community organizations, namely museums and libraries, to promote engagement and communication of scientific research. The Design Lab session will be hosted by the outreach team at the Arizona Science Center.
NOTE: This opportunity is open for both C*Sci2023 attendees (for the above fee) and accepted C*Sci2023 Community Embedded Event presenters (at no cost). See details regarding Community Embedded Event opportunities, and how to apply to present, below.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 7:30am-11am
Fee: $75/person
Planning: You will be in both an indoor and outdoor setting for this field trip. Wear comfortable hiking appropriate clothing, including a hat, sunscreen or sun-shielding clothing, hiking shoes, water, sunglasses, and bring a light snack. We will be staying close to the trailhead, but will visit the nearby Bajada Nature Trail for a total of 1 mile or less of hiking. Transportation to/from site will be provided, departing from the Memorial Union.
Through its Citizen Science Program, the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy in Scottsdale, Arizona, has developed ways to broaden the impact of volunteers, empowering them to become scientists, educators, and advocates. Volunteers can participate in all aspects of projects, plus help set research priorities and overarching goals and collaborate with scientists to achieve those goals. This structure provides substantial benefits to the Conservancy, the volunteers, and the resources we are working to understand and protect. Because of the strong engagement of citizen scientists, the Conservancy is able to work on more than 15 scientific projects concurrently. Much of the work is done in Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the largest urban preserve in the country. Our work focuses on protecting the diverse ecosystem of flora and fauna, maintaining the habitat connectivity the Preserve provides within the region, and determining cost-effective management practices that can be used throughout the Sonoran Desert. Come learn about our unique Citizen Science model and get a chance to demo some hands-on field activities we regularly conduct with volunteers. We will close out this experience by returning to the workshop room and hosting a conversation about citizen science programming and the importance of being embedded in the local community.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 9-11:15am
Fees: $30 per person
Requirements: comfortable walking shoes. Transportation to/from site will be provided, departing from the Memorial Union.
Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour and presentation of citizen and conservation science activities on site. The National Phenology Network will be present to provide an orientation on data gathering techniques and goals. You will be free to wander the gardens after the presentation.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 9-11:30am
Fee: $35/person
Planning: Come prepared with comfortable walking shoes, a hat for the sun, water, and sunscreen. Field trip fee includes cost of entry to the Museum. Participants will independently take the light rail to the site.
Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park is located on the site of a 1,500-year-old village of the Ancestral Sonoran Desert people. The 2/3-mile main outdoor interpretive trail takes you through a prehistoric Hohokam archaeological village site with a partially excavated platform mound, ballcourt, and replicated prehistoric houses. The Museum galleries provide preservation, education, and collaborative interpretation of the cultural history of the Phoenix area. As part of your visit, you will take an intimate tour of the areas not open to the public, where the museum keeps all of the artifacts not on display. As the official archaeological repository for the city of Phoenix, PGM receives many archaeological objects found during excavations in the city. See how the museum processes, organizes, and cares for the various objects in the collections from pottery, baskets, stone tools, and more. You will also hear from a special guest presenter about indigenous knowledge in the Southwest.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 8am-12pm
Fee: $48/person
Planning: Participants are advised to dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes for walking. Transportation is included. Before the field trip, all participants should follow instructions for downloading the Sanitary Survey app:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/documents/instructions-sanitary-survey-app.pdf
Attendees are invited to join an environmental training field demonstration along the Salt River watershed with the US EPA. This field trip will include a field demonstration of the US EPA’s new mobile Sanitary Survey App for Marine and Fresh Waters (App) as a new tool in the public health protection toolbox of states, tribes, local governments and community partners. A sanitary survey is a widely accepted tool used to identify sources of fecal pollution in fresh and marine recreational waters; however, the sanitary survey data typically is collected using paper forms, making the data difficult to share and use. The Sanitary Survey App is intended to make data downloading easier for sharing and use in predictive models, thus facilitating timely decisions on beach closures and remediating impaired waters. Participants will be required to download the App on their mobile device or computer prior to leaving for the field trip and will have the opportunity to test the App during the field trip.
The field trip will require walking several blocks (approximately 1.5 mile in total) between locations around the Salt River watershed. Participants are advised to dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes to walk in.
COMMUNITY EMBEDDED ACTIVITIES
While you’re in Tempe, AZ for the conference, consider sharing your expertise with curious community members and/or discovering how “third spaces” such as libraries, serve as community hubs for citizen and community science.
Apply here to be matched with local libraries and community based organizations seeking subject matter experts and/or opening their doors to share their c*sci experiences.
Community Embedded Activities are scheduled throughout the conference week. Participating conference attendees with be matched with local libraries and community based organizations seeking subject matter experts and/or opening their doors to share their c*sci experiences. This is an opportunity to share your expertise with curious community members and/or discover how “third spaces” such as libraries, serve as community hubs for citizen and community science.
All attendees are welcome to apply. Up to 50 attendees will be matched. Round trip transportation will be provided by ASU.
NOTE: one of these opportunities coincides with a Field Trip, listed above, called “Exploring Partnerships With Community Organizations at the Arizona Science Center.” This opportunity is open for both C*Sci2023 attendees (for a fee) and accepted C*Sci2023 Community Embedded Event presenters (at no cost).