Anecdata.org
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Type of site | Citizen science web portal |
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| Available in | English, Vietnamese, German, Romanian, Polish, Spanish |
| Owner | MDI Biological Laboratory |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | No |
| Current status | Online |
Anecdata.org (often shortened to Anecdata) is a citizen science web portal developed by the Community Environmental Health Lab at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.[1] Anecdata.org supports projects in the collection of observational data, primarily in environmental science, biology, and public health.[2] Anecdata was founded in 2014 to provide a data management system for the citizen science projects run by the Community Environmental Health Lab and has since expanded to include more than 200 projects, where more than 8,000 registered users have contributed over 30,000 images and more than 50,000 observations.[3] In addition to the desktop site, there is a corresponding mobile app that can be used to submit observations to existing projects.[3] Anecdata.org also acts as a data repository where data can be stored, discovered, and shared to other users.[4]
Notable Projects
[edit]Litter-Free Digital Journal
[edit]The Litter-Free Digital Journal is a project from the South Carolina Aquarium hosted on Anecdata.org with a custom app, that encourages participants to track and remove plastics and other litter from both land and water.[5] Users Since the start of the project in 2016, data from more than 7,000 litter cleanups have been entered into the project by more than 1,500 citizen scientists.[5] In 2017, a total of 9,746 pieces of trash were logged and 2,333 total litter pieces in 2018. However, in 2019 the number of litter pieces recorded grew to 32,600 and in 2020, more than doubled, with 74,977 pieces of trash collected and logged.[6] The data from this project has inspired participant activism[7] and has been used to influence public policy in South Carolina, including plastic bag bans.[8]
The Great Green Crab Hunt
[edit]The Great Green Crab Hunt project is a citizen science project led by the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Sea Grant and hosted on Anecdata.org. The project aims to support scientists and policymakers in finding solutions to the problems caused by the invasive species, European green crabs.[9] The project uses a mobile app and participants document the number, shell hardness, sex, and size of crabs seen during one hour.[10] Since the project's inception in 2019, more than 100 observations documenting more than 400 crabs have been added to the project.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Broom, Dick (2 March 2018). "MDI Bio Lab spawning business ventures". The Ellsworth American. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ Disney, Jane; Bailey, Cait; Farrell, Anna; Taylor, Ashley (2017). "Next Generation Citizen Science Using Anecdata.org". Maine Policy Review. 26 (2): 70–79. doi:10.53558/PHKW8135. ISSN 2643-959X. S2CID 158183463.
- ^ a b Bailey, Cait; Farrell, Anna; Purty, Turam; Taylor, Ashley; Disney, Jane (2021). "Development of Privacy Features on Anecdata.org, a Free Citizen Science Platform for Collecting Datasets for Climate Change and Related Projects". Frontiers in Climate. 3: 28. doi:10.3389/fclim.2021.620100. PMC 8444998. PMID 34541525.
- ^ Bailey, Cait; Disney, Jane; Farrell, Anna; Taylor, Ashley (October 2018). "Anecdata.org: Data collection with the power of the crowd". OCEANS 2018 MTS/IEEE Charleston. pp. 1–5. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.2018.8604652. ISBN 978-1-5386-4814-8. S2CID 57762393.
- ^ a b "Litter-Free Digital Journal". www.anecdata.org.
- ^ Balchunas, Caroline (11 February 2021). "The Lowcountry has a serious litter problem, data shows". WCIV.
- ^ Harrison, Joyce. "COLUMN: Conserving Spartanburg starts with being conscious about litter". Spartanburg Herald Journal.
- ^ Schiferl, Jenna. "How a trash app is influencing local, statewide litter regulations". Post and Courier.
- ^ a b "The Great Green Crab Hunt". anecdata.org.
- ^ Haas, Kimberly Haas. "Scientists ask for public's help to count green crabs on the Seacoast". UnionLeader.com. New Hampshire Union Leader.