It all started with an alien oyster 👽🦪…
not 1 but thousands of them.

Pacific oysters are considered invasive species, disruptive to local ecosystems, transforming it into a homogenous mass, which leads to a potential loss of biodiversity.

This case inspired us to work on the topic of conservation and prevention of biodiversity loss early on in the process. During user interviews, we’ve learned that a lot of people are genuinely interested in biodiversity but lack the tool to actively engage with environment around them.

A DREAM TEAM 👩🏼 👩 🧑🏼

It was a 8-week long summer internship @HubOcean - a foundation with a great purpose - to unlock ocean’s data. I joined a team as an interaction designer working alongside marine biologist and marine technology engineer. We’ve collaborated with many academic and industry experts to understand how we might engage the public into research and building more trust in citizen science.

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Let’s create a citizen science component for the Ocean Data Platform

It’s an open collaborative tool that liberates and aggregates ocean data to encourage scientific collaboration.

How might we build a bridge between citizens and researchers?

UNDERSTANDING NEEDS AND FRICTION(S)

Scientists often have large gaps in their data that they can’t cover on their own

Public is searching for ways to contribute to a healthier ocean but doesn’t know how

support their collaborative efforts?

of 🧒 citizens, 🧑‍🔬 researchers and 👩‍💼 businesses

and facilitate the communication between citizens and researchers to close data gaps in marine biodiversity? 🦑🐙🐚

How can we make sure the collected data is trustworthy?

How to motivate users to collect data continuously?

Uncertain Bella, 18, Drammen

Sceptical Kristian, 48, Bergen

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE USERS? (based on 10+ interviews that we conducted)

Needs 🤌

I want to contribute but my schedule is busy and I am scared to commit.

I wish I could understand how particular project is connected to others

Fears 😱

What if I don’t have enough knowledge on how to gather the data properly?

I want to know the impact of my contributions and where does this data go

Needs 🤌

I am reluctant to use citizen science as a reliable source of data

Who owns the data after the project?

I need to know how beneficial this idea is before I fully commit

Emerging patterns ✨

  1. User must be addressed in a personal way

  2. Success should be celebrated

  3. Give - get loops established

  4. Building confidence

  5. Flexible - tailored to everyday life

  6. Playful learning

Emerging patterns ✨

  1. Building trust in data quality

  2. Easy to create

  3. Transparency in privacy

Fears 😱

Mobile App for Citizen Scientists

The app encourages general public to engage with marine biodiversity related projects and fill the data gaps crucial for the research.

Citizen scientist can:

○ understand the context of the project

○ learn what has been done so far

○ dive deeper into more resources

○ familiarize with needed actions

PROJECTS PAGE

Manage ongoing projects, check personal progress and read Data Stories

SOCIAL FEED

Upload the content from your activities to inspire others and communicate with researchers

EXPLORE MAP

Find projects based on range, type of activity, habitat, species, timeline, and impact

PROFILE PAGE

Filled with analytics, and recognitions for your contributions

SPECIES RECOGNITION

RESEARCHER’S PORTAL

Researchers create projects in Ocean Data Platform and connect with citizen scientists.

A LITTLE DEMO

citizen scientist’s side

researcher’s side

Wave app 🌊 can incentivize researchers to use citizen science to its full potential and encourage people to reconnect with the ocean.

GAMIFICATION ELEMENTS TO ENSURE CONTINUITY OF DATA CAPTURE

MORE TRUSTWORTHY DATA FOR RESEARCHERS

TESTING + FEEDBACK

"We as a society have a very limited knowledge of the ocean due to its size and how it's all connected."

"It's a blessing and a curse, since the primary concern is to get people interested, but then it often goes at expense of data quality"

"This is extremely important work. It's a new tool to work together.

We need to systematize the data in a clever way – then filter it out so it makes sense for both researchers and citizen scientists and try to organize it.”

🕒     8 weeks of working together

🧪     20 user testing sessions

👨🏽‍🔬.   10 researchers involved in the process

🧳     2 field trips to Cognite and Fornebu beach

☕     ∞ cups of coffee

🦪    15 Alien Oysters found