gatheR An exploration of the
potential of citizen science for the state of nature
partnership
July 2015
2
Flow
1. What we’ve done on the project
2. The emerging story, vision and overall proposition
3. A film bringing to life the vision
4. Where to start and making it happen
WHAT WE’VE DONE ON THE PROJECT THE APPROACH, BACKGROUND AND OVERALL FEEDBACK
4. Show how ownership of the next SoN report can broaden beyond expert, professional community into more public awareness, understanding and action.
4
Project objectives
3. Define how citizen science could become a way to engage the public and make nature recording both popular and scientifically robust.
1. Explore the potential of citizen science as an approach to broaden public participation
2. Define what a good citizen science proposition for State of Nature could look like practically – in terms of level of ambition, audiences, design, resources/feasibility
5
An open question to explore around whether public participation in scientific recording could:
1. Help deepen nature connection in the public by giving them more ownership in both the development of the overall story and the conclusions/actions emerging from it
2. Help to increase breadth and depth of the data recorded in the future beyond the 5% of species currently captured and reported
Scope of the project
6
Areas we explored during the project
4. Engagement approaches We will explore different levels of ambition around engagement that we might achieve by bringing an even wider partnership together Learn from potential gaming, design, media/content, technology approaches
3. Mapping existing activities We will map what is already being done and identify ways to amplify that and expand the reach of State of Nature to new audiences/geographies/species. Learn from partners about their motivations and activities
1. Credibility of public involvement There is often a deep mistrust of public science within professional science community that forms a big barrier to effective citizen science approaches Learn from Cancer Research UK and their citizen science programme
2. Potential audiences Exploring opportunities for 5 key audiences that we could enrol and engage in any citizen science activity Dig into needs of engaged naturalists, armchair nature enthusiasts, explorer families, schools/teachers, farmers
The process we’ve been through
Framing overall project - Gather
Inviting participation SoN stakeholders
Securing venue - WWT Barnes
Mapping existing citizen science
activities
Short stakeholder interviews/online
survey
Developing stimulus/content
for workshop
1 day Swarm event
Creative collaboration and inspiration
Tackling the challenge of what a citizen science proposition could look
like?
Summarising outputs from ‘Swarm’
Developing worked through options to take
forward
Bringing lead idea(s) to life simply
Action planning debrief with steering group
Identifying lead option and action plan to deliver
Framing
Scoping
Swarming
Sense-Making
Activation
early May
mid May to mid June
June 17th 10-5pm
end June
TODAY July 10th
Our Pre-Gather Interviews revealed A desire for an ambitious goal for the project
Developing a bigger challenge/game/community/movement around the topic that encourages more participation in citizen science for nature
Joining the dots between all existing citizen science activities across the partnership to get more people aware and taking part in each project
Taking a theme-based view e.g. organising a push around the seasons, and using that focus to engage a wider audience and rally activity around
9
Increasing the public’s nature connection and growing the audience were the 2 key opportunities
10
8 7
5 4
3 3 3 2 2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Increasing nature
connection
Increasing number and diversity of
public participants
Increasing the evidence base
Creating a strong
collaboration
Linking up existing activities
Increasing capacity for
data gathering
New ideas for partners
Policy / advocacy
Involving the public more
Other
n=17
10
Engaging the public and getting the partners collaborating were seen as the biggest challenges
n=17
12
6
4 3 3
2 2
5
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Engaging a diverse public
Getting partnership agreement
Ensuring data robustness
Maintaining public
engagement
Funding Measuring impact /
objectives
Innovation in technical areas
Other
11
The hopes and fears identified helped us to shape the agenda and way of working for the group
HOPES • Genuine collaboration
• Citizen science reaches its potential
• More diverse audiences in greater numbers
• People take action on the issue
• This changes our approach
FEARS • Poor quality data
• More bureaucracy / duplication of effort
• Doesn’t connect with new audiences
• No funding/competing for funding
• We don’t change or innovate
“We should come to the event with an open mind, willing to consider as diverse set of
options as possible. So far at citizen science events people have very much stuck to the
traditional, what we have done before model.” - Pre-gather input
GATHER WHAT WE DID ON THE DAY AND FEEDBACK
14
Visioning, Opportunity + challenge mapping, Audience exploration + proposition development
15
Overall feedback on the day was very positive
9.1
8.4
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
How would you rate your experience of the Gather
Swarm?
Would you recommend this type of event to others?
“The opportunity to meet people from a wide range of organisations and really
explore our passions and what we should be doing together”
“Finding that there is a common recognition and real enthusiasm across the group that
there is a need to engage people to connect with nature as part of the state of nature
project. And all the amazing ideas on how it could be done”
16
Feedback suggests we’ve built the foundations for a fun, productive and innovative collaboration
5.7 5.7 5.4 5.3
5.1 4.7 4.6 4.6
4.4 4.2
1
2
3
4
5
6
I had fun and enjoyed the day
I felt my voice was heard
I met people who I hope to
work with more in the future
I left with a clearer sense of the opportunity
I felt a sense of community by the end of the
day
I experimented with new ways
of working
I left with a greater
understanding of the
challenge
I took away new insights/ideas
that I can apply in my own work
I left feeling confident that the challenge can be solved
I learnt some new skills and
techniques
17
foundations were built on designing an experience that created the conditions for collaboration
9.2$ 8.9$ 8.9$8.2$ 7.8$ 7.4$ 7.4$ 7.0$
1$2$3$4$5$6$7$8$9$10$
The$hos2ng/facilita2on$by$the$Swarm$team$
The$venue$ The$atmosphere$ The$focus$of$the$challenges$we$tackled$together$
The$diverse$mix$of$people$in$the$room$
The$food$ The$ini2al$briefing$(the$preJread)$
The$background$informa2on$(the$s2mulus,$cancer$research$film,$
examples$of$other$projects)$
18
We asked people what was exciting to them at the end of the day…
Who
• Wide public engagement
• Adventurists
• Inspiring new ‘recorders’
Why
• Love for nature as the hook
• Sharing wonder, getting creative
• Make nature relevant
• State of Nature as a process to be involved with (not just a report)
WHAT
• Storytelling
• Local and global perspectives
HOW
• Collaboration
• Partnership
• Scale
19
Flow
1. What we’ve done on the project
2. The emerging story, vision and overall proposition
3. A film bringing to life the vision
4. Where to start and making it happen
WHERE ARE WE TODAY? BACKGROUND
21
The State of Nature Partnership is Britain’s most ambitious conservation collaboration
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust Association of British Fungus Groups Bat Conservation Trust
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (NERC) Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland British Bryological Society
British Lichen Society British Mycological Society British Trust for Ornithology
Buglife Bumblebee Conservation Trust Butterfly Conservation
Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Marine Biological Association
Marine Conservation Society Mammal Society National Biodiversity Network
People's Trust for Endangered Species Plantlife Pond Conservation
Rothamsted Research Wildlife Trust Wildfowl & Wetland Trust
RSPB National Trust ( Swarm! )
22
the report shows that Nature iN the UK IS In trouble (We don’t need to tell you that….)
23
The state of nature in the UK Is changing because how we live is changing
24
We live increasingly fast, busy lives especially in cities
12% of Britons (18% of men and 6% of
women) work "very long hours" compared
with the OECD average of 9%
Pace of Life
25
Technology is increasingly central to our lives data, processing power, software, engagement
Britain’s 11-15 year olds spend over half their waking hours in front of a screen - 7.5 hours per day, up 40% in a
decade
Rise of screen time
26
A breakdown of traditional local community leads to less strong place-based connections
9 out of 10 Britons think community life is breaking down (Daily Express Living Streets research with 2300 adults)
Community breakdown
27
Increasing pressure on natural habitats through continued development and planning decisions
Pace of life
Between 2006 and 2012, 22,000 hectares
of green space was converted to ‘artificial
surfaces’ including 7000 hectares of
forest.
Loss of Green Spaces
28
People spend less and less time outdoors, connecting with nature
Children’s ‘radius of activity’ has declined 90% since the 1970s1
Less time spent outdoors
29
Breeding a future adult population with less and less awareness and engagement
There are less and less opportunities for most children to explore the natural world through their school education
journey, which is where they spend
most of their young lives
Nature-starved curriculum
30
These shifts in how we live have fundamentally changed our relationship with nature
31
CHANGING LIFESTYLES DECREASING NATURAL RESOURCES CLIMATE CHANGE
EARTH IS NOW ENTERING AN EXTINCTION RATE 1000 TIMES GREATER THAN IN THE PAST
32
A PUBLIC NOT ENGAGED WITH NATURE WON’T LOVE NATURE AND A PUBLIC THAT DOESN’T LOVE NATURE WON’T BE MOTIVATED TO PROTECT IT
BUILDING A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF THE STATE OF NATURE PARTNERSHIP
34
in the face of mounting pressure there is also hope
Increased volunteering for conservation
projects
Growing evidence for the benefits of nature
Technology as a means of engagement, not
competition
30% rise in conservation
volunteering from 2000
Use of apps, games and tech to make science more fun
Studies consistently link health to time
spent in nature
35
Citizen science in conservation is growing
CITIZEN SCIENCE has the potential to
ESTABLISH A RECONNECTION AND
LOVE OF NATURE
Help people discover that change is happening and build awareness of how that change affects
them - locally as well as nationally/globally
Catalyse public engagement by making nature exciting, relevant and interesting to people (again)
Help rejoin the dots between society, culture and nature
through (re)-building community
37
a word summary of the vision for State of Nature captured at gather event
38
shaping a new collective vision for the State of nature partnership approach from 2016
Building onsolid foundation scientific report
TO Growa diverse Learning community
with a love for nature
Data Facts
Evidence Representation
Accuracy
Stories Engagement
Places Connection
Fun
The UK’s Big nature love in
The UK’s Big nature love inThe united state
of nature
The UK’s Big nature love inThe united state
of nature
The people’s state of nature
42
To deliver the vision we identified the need for a proposition that really builds public engagement
1.0 2.0 3.0
science-led
+
NARROW EXPERT
INVOLVEMENT
Expert-guided
+
Purposeful Public
engagement
Expert + Public SHAPED
+
SUSTAINED Public
engagement
+
GROWING SCIENCE CAPACITY
43
“The agreement - I think - that the focus of this should be engagement, more about citizens than science. And the idea that it should be participant-led, with them telling us what they want to about their engagement (or lack of) with nature”
Gather participant feedback
The priority
44
1.0 2.0 3.0
Expert-guided
+
Purposeful Public
engagement
focus for 2016
so the focus for next year should be on growing expert guided purposeful public engagement
Expert + Public SHAPED
+
SUSTAINED Public
engagement
=
GROWING SCIENCE CAPACITY
science-led
+
NARROW EXPERT
INVOLVEMENT
THIS APPROACH CAN help fulfil partner hopes and challenge partner fears
1.0 2.0 3.0
• Bottlenecks • Heavy ask on experts • Problems sustaining
engagement • Low coverage (~5% of
species)
• Builds on/doesn’t replicate existing projects
• Higher engagement • Wider audience • More relevance to public • More relevance to brands
and other partners
• Good data validation • Deep engagement
with narrow audience
• Still bottlenecks and heavy asks on experts
• Some scepticism over data quality
• New forms of collaboration
• Technology and training to alleviate bottlenecks
• More coverage • Wider range of
funders • Sustainability • Deepening
connection
Adv
anta
ges
Cha
lleng
es
WHAT DOES THE STATE OF NATURE PARTNERSHIP NEED TO DELIVER THIS VISION?
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A NEW PROPOSITION
Even within designated audiences a
47
we have identified 6 unique audiences in terms of their needs and potential roles they can play
Within each of these a great deal of variation was described - for example organic farmers vs. industrial farmers vs. grow your own enthusiasts within the farming segment or skiers vs. kayakers vs. ramblers vs. surfers, etc. in the adventurists block. Working closely with these groups will help identify and craft more ideal roles for individuals to play based on interests, experiences and habitats they spend time in
adventurists Farmers Engaged Naturalists
Armchair enthusiasts
Schools and Teachers
Explorer families
48
all audiences were seen as important with particular enthusiasm for adventurists
adventurists Farmers Engaged Naturalists
Needs • Recording
technology, support and connection to other farmers
Needs • Technology and
kit for recording • Place-based
instruction / challenge
Needs • Support and
resources • Recognition
Ideal roles • Gathering and
collection in remote habitats
Ideal roles • Provide
context around land use change locally
• Record species on their land
Ideal roles • Verification • Training • Providing a
context from existing data
• Provide stories
49
All of these audiences represent a broadening of reach and potential for public engagement
Needs • Curriculum support • No or low cost • Not training
intensive with some support
Needs • As easy as
possible • Meet them where
they are • Make it challenge
based
Needs • Free or cheap • Loosely structured • Accessible • Roles for everyone
Ideal roles • Signing
petitions • Identify and
analyse a la Zooniverse
Ideal roles • Gather, collect
and identify at group rather than species level
• Build on natural curiosity
Ideal roles • Data gathering,
especially if unstructured and easy - no expertise required
Armchair enthusiasts
Schools and Teachers
Explorer families
50
Our work identified 8 key building blocks for citizen science 2.0 proposition
Online and physical learning
communities
Learning from wider world of citizen science
New Digital tools and technologies
Innovative Product and
service design
Engaging Content and storytelling
Rewards/incentives for participation
compelling Place-based experiences
Open data approaches and
platforms
51
We asked participants how well current projects deliver and how important they are to the vision
1
2
3
4
5
6
1 2 3 4 5 6
Low capability / low importance =
Ignore
Low capability /
High importance =
Acquire
High capability /
Low importance =
Shed
High capability /
High importance =
Advantage
capability
importance
1
2
3
4
5
6
1 2 3 4 5 6
52
There’s a clear need to learn and develop new approaches and capacity to deliver the vision
Rewards and incentives
Content and story-telling
Learning from citizen science
Open Data
Learning communities
Place-based experiences
Product and service design
Tools and digital technologies
n=11
capability
importance
53
Although there is some variation in perceived capability Across the Partnership today
n=11
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Learning communities
Learning from Citizen science
Digital tools and technologies
Product and service design
Open data Place-based experiences
Rewards and incentives
Storytelling
54
from this ten key themes emerged from the day to help shape the overall proposition
Going beyond the report to
grow a learning
community
Keeping existing
communities rewarded and
engaged
Creating multiple ways
to get involved and
participate
Reaching new audiences
where they are on what
they love
Aggregating existing
projects into single place
establishing shared
knowledge + Open Data practises
who
what
howinviting
Story-telling at local level
setting Challenges
for rewards
Co-creation of whole
programme design
creating new Media and
content partnerships
55
These were all rated important and form the basis for our proposition and potential start points
5.6 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.2 5 4.9 4.9
4.2 3.9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Open data Story-telling Media partnerships
Going beyond the
report
Reaching new
audiences where they
are
Creating multiple ways
to get involved
Co-creation Aggregating existing projects
Keeping existing
communities engaged
Challenges and rewards
n=11
56
“Potential and desire for collaboration across groups, to break down organisational boundaries, sharing data”
“A new way of approaching citizen science - that there's a real opportunity to use all the expertise in the partnership to create a project that finds ways to help people get connected with nature through what they see and like and to use their connections as a way in to help people understand science”
“Develop the implementation of story collecting properly. For example, how to prompt story types, how to ensure continuity, how to share stories that provide entry points for other partners so participating communities are maximised”
Gather participants feedback
The group already have ideas on how best to make this happen…
57
designing a coherent and compelling offer principles for a State of nature 2.0 proposition
1. Joined up approach 2. Building towards an ambitious vision 3. Open to multiple audiences 4. Many ways to participate - for individuals + orgs 5. Transforming partnership into a collaboration 6. Sharing data, learning and knowledge openly 7. Building collective intelligence around the topic
58
Flow
1. What we’ve done on the project
2. The emerging story, vision and overall proposition
3. A film bringing to life the vision
4. Where to start and making it happen
60
Flow
1. What we’ve done on the project
2. The emerging story, vision and overall proposition
3. A film bringing to life the vision
4. Where to start and making it happen
POTENTIAL FIRST STEPS STARTER PROPOSITIONS
62
Potential startpoints for propositions to establish citizen science for nature 2.0
1. Establish and grow the State of Nature learning community
2. Create a local place-based story-telling platform
3. Aggregating existing activities into a single, lightweight platform
4. Co-creating propositions with key audiences - Adventurists / Farmers
5. Develop engaging content to engage and inspire new audiences
6. Rewarding and recognising expert naturalists for their contributions
63
Establish and grow the State of Nature 2.0 learning community
• State of Nature partners • Content and media partners • Interested brand owners • Leading practitioners across key capabilities
• Grow from partnership into a collaboration • Share audience learning and insights • Exchange nature engagement + open data best practise • Get inspired by and build capacity in new skills/topics
Who
Why
WHAT
HOW
• 1 day seasonal ‘unconference/open space’ style learning event(s) • Mix of workshops, speakers and hands-on training sessions • Introduce new and different ways if working
• Open invite to SoN partners and beyond • Hosted at unique, interesting locations • Support with simple online wiki/google group • Could be filmed and shared to help grow community • Curate best ideas/content via e-newsletter and social web
gatheRING A collaboration to improve the
state of nature
What is it?
Blog
2:13 / 7:34
Date 04/10/2015
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
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Oct 2015
4
When’s the next Gathering?
Register
How it worksAbout
Gathering is a 1 day ‘unconference’ where we • meet other fellow practitioners • share learning and best practise in
growing public engagement around citizen science for nature
• get inspired with approaches, and learn new skills and ways of working
• co-create solutions to the big challenges we are all facing in our own work
Register
About How it works
Open space
2:13 /
The agenda for these events is shaped and run by you - the State of Nature 2.0 partnership
This is a chance for you to network, collaborate, learn, share ideas and develop new solutions to the challenges you are facing to engage the public using citizen science
Leader-driven
The events run on ‘Open Space’ principles which give responsibility to participants to self-organise and direct both the agenda and outcomes for the day.
These sessions are typically fast, fun, creative and productive. And we always head to the pub afterwards!
Inspiration
In addition to learning from other, we host short talks and hands-on workshops on diverse topics and approaches
Speakers are briefed to inspire - this is Pecha Kucha style, 20 slides, 20 seconds each. The brief is new and useful insights and stories. Things that will get you thinking and doing things differently….
Blog RegistergatheRING A collaboration to improve the
state of nature
How it works BlogAbout
2:13 /
On a sunny summer day in June, at London Wetlands centre, over 20 leaders representing many different organisations using citizen science for nature cam together for a day of inspiration, learning and visioning
The theme of the day was to develop a new vision and proposition for citizen science for nature with the State of Nature partners.
Read more here
Gathering Summer 2015
Register
Imagining a new future for State of Nature - June 2015
The next Gathering will focus on sharing what works and what doesn’t when it comes to engaging the public with nature and science- with speakers from BBC Springwatch, Google and Patagonia
Read more here
The next Gathering - October 4th 2015 Gathering Autumn 2015
gatheRING A collaboration to improve the
state of nature
67
Create a local place-based story-telling platform Content and stories - Nature love-in
1. New audiences e.g. adventurists, explorer families, armchair enthusiasts
2. Existing audiences e.g. expert naturalists
• Engaging people on what love, notice and care about where they live - place-based narratives
• Creating stories and user-generated content to help tell the story of the state of nature
Who
Why
WHAT
HOW
• A simple, lightweight web platform supported by social media • Writing, sounds, photos, images, videos, art, poetry • User-generated campaign, potential to ‘back the state of nature’
• Potential to start with a local community e.g. Sowing the Seeds and and/or with a potential habitat e.g. urban parks and green spaces, gardens
• Test and learn about the idea by co-designing and prototyping with audiences and
1. A platform to enable and encourage the public tell their stories about the things love, notice, care about locally
2. The platform will build up a living State of Nature map across the UK - start by test/learn hyper-local
3. Could link to aggregation of citizen science projects as a next step, call to action beyond sharing story 69
creating a platform for local story-tellinghttp://www.stateofnature.uk
Flower power Kestrel tracking
Moth mates
70
Aggregating citizen science for nature projects into a single, lightweight online platform
1. Existing and new audiences across our 6 segments 2. Existing and new project owners doing cit sci projects in UK
• Make it much easier for existing and new audiences to find projects to get involved with near where they live
• Help grow the reach and impact of existing and new citizen science projects
Who
Why
WHAT
HOW
• A simple, lightweight web platform for citizen scientists to find projects and organisations can use to upload/promote projects
• An engaging digital experience that makes it easy, fun and rewarding for participating
• Start with existing State of Nature partners • Test and learn about the idea by co-designing and prototyping with
audiences and project owners • Put open call out for wider participation for both users and project
owners
71
Aggregating Existing activities
72
Aggregating Existing activities
1. Bring all existing projects together on one platform
2. Make the platform easily searchable for the public
3. Potential for project ratings/feedback
4. Potential for a rewards/points system for users
aN example platform for aggregating citizen science projects, building a community and helping both public
and scientists do better ‘citizen science’ work
74
Co-creating propositions with key audiences e.g. Adventurists &/OR Farmers
1. New audiences e.g. adventurists &/or farmers 2. State of Nature partners, science/research experts 3. Designers, technologists, comms specialists, service designers
• Finding ways to encourage people who are already out in nature, are connected to nature, to help gather useful information
• Adventurists are particularly interesting and aspirational, new audiences with potential to spread idea more widely
Who
Why
WHAT
HOW
• Challenge-based citizen science projects based on relevant data capture on species/habitats in those environments
• Potential product/service/app design for information/data capture
• Prototyping propositions together (vs. tradtional research groups) enables rapid test and learn and challenges assumptions
• Bring different groups together with experts to design appropriate projects e.g. kayakers, climbers, surfers
Join the adventurists Citizen scientists + adventurers Pioneering wild science
1. Sign-up to become an adventurist 2. Receive a briefing pack, the app
and a sampling toolkit 3. Go out and pioneer wild science 4. Send back your results 5. Help us grow the movement
77
Develop engaging content to engage and inspire new audiences
1. New audiences e.g. explorer families, armchair enthusiasts, expert naturalists
2. State of Nature partners 3. Media and content partners
• Seeing a resurgence/reconnection in popular culture to nature and wildness, engaging content, documentaries, films
• An opportunity to tap into much wider audiences and engage them with a hook/call to action for citizen science/participation
Who
Why
WHAT
HOW
• Partnership with leading content and media players to create new stories, engagement and action around nature connection using citizen science
• Could link to seasonal, watch list species, habitat/place-based challenges which the public are invited to
• Propose exploring early with content/media partners to co-design
78
Potential content partners to engage and inspire new audiences to participate
79
Rewarding and recognising expert naturalists for their citizen science contributions
1. Expert naturalists 2. State of Nature partners 3. Adventure, outdoor, equipment manufacturers/brands
• The majority of the burden of recording, classification and analysis lies with the volunteer community of experts
• Their continued engagement and expertise is critical to the citizen science approach - especially as we widen the audiences
Who
Why
WHAT
HOW
• Partner with adventure, outdoor and technical equipment manufacturers to create an annual awards event
• Recognise outstanding contributions to citizen science for nature across the expert volunteer community
• Open call out for nominations • Crowd-based and expert voting, very simple online site • Bring together for a day and evening event • Sharing stories and learning, plus celebration and recognition
80
Rewarding and recognising expert naturalists for their citizen science contributions
81
Next steps Test and learn, prototyping and Collaboration
Collaboration and involving the public/audiences in the design of the programme were seen as critical
Not just as outcomes but a design principles to guide the process of creating a new State of Nature proposition
When developing propositions, the participants at the Gather event consistently made reference to ‘action research’, ‘co-creation’ and ‘learning’ from audiences.
If State of Nature is going to be a success it needs to embed these principles into this next phase of development, drawing on insights from audiences - existing and prospective - through hands-on prototyping and subsequent testing of assumptions.
FUNDING INSIGHTS AND IDEAS HOW TO TAKE THINGS FORWARD
83
As engagement and participation increase, the diversity of funders will increase as well
1.0 2.0 3.0Science-led
Narrow expert involvement
Expert guided Purposeful public
engagement
Expert + public shaped Sustained public engagement
Growing science capacity
Niche/highly challenging funding
environment
Core funding via environmental and conservation charities and scientific funders
Broader scope of foundations interested in nature engagement
and education (i.e. Esmee Fairbairn).
Potential to engage brands aligned with nature and our wider
audiences and pioneering technology
brands
Potential for self-sustaining and crowd-
funding grows
Increasing number of brands responding to reach and numbers
Technology firms responding to platform
needs
84
A range of different Funders already fund and express interest in citizen science projects
Community grant makers
brands
Technology firms
Governments
Science and health funders
85
success in funding this bigger Citizen Science vision relies on joining the dots around wider impacts beyond pure conservation
Physical health
Community building
Conservation Education
Citizen Science
Mental health
86
engagement and Widening the audience is key to funders
“Citizen science engages people in scientific enquiry and discovery - but GREAT citizen science engages people in activities that help them become excited about the scientific discovery when that wasn't their natural starting
point. CRUK's Cell Slider spoke to an audience of people interested in supporting CRUK's mission - Reverse the Odds spoke to game players who
became more interested in CRUK's mission through their engagement with the citizen science product. What might this look like for those not currently engaging with nature, but through playful and useful experiences can be
brought into wanting to engage further?”
Dan Sutch, formerly of Nominet Trust Now starting up Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology
87
Deepening impact by meeting people where they are at on things they care about
“A group of parents might not be natural campaigners for environmental issues, but adding sensors to their child's pushchairs gives them the data to care about, and campaign about levels of air pollution in their local area. Not
because of 'environmental reasons' but because of their children's health. These tools help people with personal passions care about the natural
environment. It's this learning journey - that starts with individuals' own interests and passions, provides them tools and opportunities - that leads to
wider engagement with nature and resulting social benefits - because through technology you've giving them a reason to care and to engage with the
environment”
Dan Sutch, formerly of Nominet Trust Now starting up Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology
88
The importance of technology
“More and more funders are becoming interested in the role technology can play to address social issues. The idea of tech as an add on, or simply a
collection of websites is disappearing as funders are seeing more examples of tech really shifting the way in which we can design ways of creating social
value. Comic Relief's first digital fund has just closed; Nominet Trust continue to focus there and Esmee, Paul Hamlyn etc are each developing digital areas of focus. This brings two things - specific digital funds and better acceptance of
digitally-focused applications to traditional funds”
Dan Sutch, formerly of Nominet Trust Now starting up Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology
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Examples Potential Funders for State of Nature
Foundations and Trusts
1. Esmee Fairbairn 2. Garfield Weston 3. Underwood Trust 4. John Ellerman
Foundation 5. CHK Charities 6. Ernest Cook 7. Dulverton Trust 8. Scott Bader
Commonwealth Global Charity Fund
9. Calouste Gulbnekian 10.Nominet Trust 11. Central for Accelerating
Social Technology 12. google.org 13.Wellcome Trust
Equipment manufacturers
1. Canon 2. Nikon 3. Pentax 4. Bushnell
Community-based brands
1. Sainsbury’s 2. Waitrose
Outdoor / countryside brands
1. John Deere 2. Patagonia 3. North Face 4. Mule Bars
Technology brands
1. Google 2. Facebook / Instagram
Crowd funding
1. Experiment?
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Enabling the partnership to drive the initiative
• Decision-making structure - One that allows quick decisions to be made without laborious organisational sign-offs
• Enabling multiple ways to participate - some organisations might want to push harder and support more than others, we need to make it easy for everyone to contribute what they can to make this bigger effort work
• Shared data - Sharing existing data and opening up as much as possible to each other and the public
• Co-commissioning - Creating a simple framework for co-commissioning and individual projects that develop the initiative e.g. undertaking any prototyping and development work
• Agreeing common frameworks - Where possible, on data formats and sharing the citizen science data that comes out of projects
THANK YOU! LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN