Review Article

The Citizen Science Landscape: From Volunteers to Citizen Sensors and Beyond

Table 4

Utilising Flickr for image-based citizen science programs.

Project title and URLDescriptionPassive promotionActive promotionActive data searchingProject base

Whale Shark Identification (http://www.flickr.com/groups/whalesharkidentification/)To collect images to be submitted to http://www.whaleshark.org for identification from group members and other Flickr users through the search facility. It is worth noting that this Flickr Group has been formed by a volunteer and is not officially part of the project. YY
Recruits members to promote
YN
MantaWatch
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/mantawatch/)
A place for enthusiasts to meet and a promotion tool directing people to their Website (http://mantawatch.com). Does not seem to actively recruit members or search out images of manta rays on Flickr.YNNN
Humpback whale flukes
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/humpbackflukes/)
To collect images to be submitted to http://www.coa.edu/nahwc.htm for identification from group members and other Flickr users through the search facility. The same project also has a whale catalog (http://www.flickr.com/photos/flukematcher/) located on Flickr so that individuals can manually match their sightings. A further more regional group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/northatlanticflukes/) has formed due to the volume of photos uploaded. YY
Recruits members to promote
YN
Citizen Science: Great Blue Heron (http://www.flickr.com/groups/csgreatblueheron/)This group aims to create a database of geo-tagged images of the Great Blue Heron, entirely run and initiated by volunteersYY
Recruits members to promote
YY
BeeID
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/beeid/)
A completed project run by student volunteers, and overseen by a lecturer, whereby members of the public are encouraged to upload photos of UK bees (Honeybees, bumblebees, and solitary bees) to their Flickr account and “geotag” them to place them on a map, with the aim of studying distribution and phenology.YY
Recruits members to promote
NY