Social Networking and Citizen Science

To engage youth in the collection of urban ecological data, UEI is harnessing the power of social media by launching a Twitter feed for the collection of ecological observations, to be displayed on the Field Studies Wikispace. Students and teachers can now send a text message directly to their Twitter accounts, using a specific tag, to record their ecological observations, such as unique bird sightings, signs of seasonal change, and animal behaviors. Here's a recent photo upload of blooming skunk cabbage in Newton:



Social networking tools such as Twitter have become a new and vital resource for the citizen science movement, used to gather and organize ecological research data, and to informally communicate with others who are also conducting research.