Publication Date

12-2017

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

10-23-2017

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Science in Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Major Advisor

Jerry Alan Fails, Ph.D.

Advisor

Bogdan Dit, Ph.D.

Advisor

Maria Soledad Pera, Ph.D.

Abstract

Citizen science leverages a distributed user-base which participates in crowd-sourced scientific inquiry. Geotagger is a citizen science project that allows people to collaboratively investigate the natural world around them and share their findings. Citizens are rarely compensated for their work and individual contributors can feel isolated which leads to motivation problems. This thesis focuses on engaging citizen scientists and motivating their contributions via social interaction and engagement. As a part of this work, a number of social enhancements have been developed as extensions to the existing Geotagger project. These enhancements and their effect on social engagement were evaluated using in-field studies and design investigations with children. In the studies, children engaged effectively with each other using the social enhancements in Geotagger, and showed a preference for the application that included these social enhancements.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/B2J41B

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