SOCS: Socially Intelligent Computing to Support Citizen Science

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The NSF-funded project conducted by Kevin Crowston at Syracuse University will investigate the capabilities and potential of social-computational support systems in the context of citizen science, defined as "partnerships between volunteers and scientists that answer real-world questions". The research will examine nature of the computational systems currently used in a number of citizen science projects and will use these insights to improve computational support for different kinds of citizen science projects. The project will focus on the following three goals: (1) developing a practical understanding of the conditions under which social computation can enhance science and education; (2) generating new research models of social-computational systems that support large-scale public participation in scientific research; and (3) developing and testing social-computational systems that incorporate explicit knowledge about human cognitive and social abilities.The project will produce societal benefits by investigating how involving the public in scientific research can advance scientific goals while contributing to the science education of the volunteer participants, determining the conditions under which citizen science can prove beneficial for large-scale data collection and analysis, and providing guidelines for improving the design and implementation of computational support systems for citizen science projects.