National Geographic FieldScope

本项目将扩展目前由美国国家地理学会（NGS）支持的基于网络的科学信息门户网站FieldScope的功能和应用。目标是为公众参与科学研究（PPSR）项目创建一个单一的、强大的基础设施，任何组织都可以使用它来创建自己的项目并支持自己的参与者社区。FieldScope目前为其现有用户群提供各种工具和应用程序，包括GLOBE项目和切萨皮克湾监测系统。该应用程序使用户能够贡献自愿的地理数据收集工作，并在专业和业余用户之间共享信息。该项目将开发和测试现有FieldScope应用程序的增强版本。该项目支持功能齐全的基于web的应用程序的主要编程开发，这将大大提高当前应用程序的可用性。随着新特性和功能的编程，该项目涉及到对新功能的广泛评估，并涉及到三个基于公民的组织作为测试平台。该项目将提高现有系统处理大量用户和用户组的能力，并增加可供任何用户使用的工具的数量和种类；通过适应通用api提供定制；并通过在云计算环境中使用虚拟服务器来扩展计算机空间，从而限制对已安装硬件的需求。这种方法能够在必要时调用资源，并在需求减少时缩减规模，从而最大限度地提高存储和计算能力。该平台将包括高级可视化功能，作为一套可供用户使用的分析工具的一部分。社交网络应用程序也将被纳入一个特定网站的用户之间的通信方式。入门网站的运作将由政府统计处支援，并免费提供给任何申请空间的用户。象征性的费用将适用于需要大计算空间或额外功能的大型组织。用户组可以要求NGS提供自定义功能，以支付开发和部署的成本。该项目的评估是广泛的，重点是形成性评估，作为识别用户偏好的一种手段，从网站的外观和感觉到所需的工具类型和预期的用途类型。形成性评估将在网站功能的编程和格式化之前进行。该项目响应了整个公民科学社区对基于网络的应用程序的需求，使个人能够参与感兴趣的主题，在这样一个网站上以各种方式进行交互，包括提交数据和信息，与他人和该领域的工作科学家一起分析信息，并利用最先进的工具，如可视化，作为一种理解收集数据的方式。已经有许多来自不同群体的建议创建类似类型的站点，每个站点都基于自己的感知需求，并以自己的特定学科或主题为基础。这个活动可以更广泛地服务于这个社区，并为类似的团体省去从头开始创建网站的麻烦和费用。

This project will expand the functions and applications of FieldScope, a web-based science information portal currently supported by the National Geographic Society (NGS). The goal is to create a single, powerful infrastructure for Public Participation in Science Research (PPSR) projects that any organization can use to create their own project and support their own community of participants. FieldScope currently provides various tools and applications for use by its existing user base that includes the GLOBE project and the Chesapeake Bay monitoring system. The application enables users to contribute volunteered geographic data collection efforts and sharing information among both professional and amateur users. The project would develop and test an enhanced version of the existing FieldScope application. The project supports major programming development for a fully-functional web-based application that would significantly enhance the usability of the current application. Along with programming new features and capabilities, the project involves extensive evaluation of the new capabilities and involves three citizen-based organizations as testbeds. The project will increase the capability of the existing system to handle large numbers of users and user groups and also increase the number and variety of tools available to any user; provide customization through the adaption of common APIs; and provide for expansion of computer space through use of virtual servers in a cloud computing environment thereby limiting the need for installed hardware. This approach would maximize storage and computing power by being able to call on resources when necessary and scaling back when demand decreases. The platform would include advanced visualization capabilities as part of a suite of analytic tools available to the user. Social networking applications would also be incorporated as a way of enabling communication among users of a particular site. The operation of the portal would be supported by the NGS and made available free of charge to any group of users applying for space. Nominal fees will be applied to large organizations requiring large computing space or additional features. User groups can request NGS supply custom features for the cost of development and deployment. The evaluation of this project is extensive and focused on formative evaluation as a means to identify user preferences, from look and feel of the site to types of tools desired and types of uses expected. The formative evaluation would be conducted ahead of any commitment to programming and formatting of the features of the site. The project responds to a need expressed throughout the citizen science community for web-based applications that enable individuals to engage in a topic of interest, interact in various ways on such a site including the submission of data and information, analyze the information in concert with others and with working scientists in the field, and utilize state-of-the-art tools such as visualization as a way of making sense of the data being collected. There have been numerous proposals to create similar types of sites from various groups, each based on its own perceived needs and grounded in its own particular discipline or topic. This activity could serve this community more broadly and save similar groups the trouble and expense of creating sites from scratch.