Blended Engagement with Natural History: Building iSpot's Citizen Science Community

www.iSpotnature.org is an Open University (OU) award-winning citizen science initiative. Since its launch in 2009 millions of people have been engaged through their interest in wildlife, helping them identify species using a... [ view full abstract ]

www.iSpotnature.org is an Open University (OU) award-winning citizen science initiative. Since its launch in 2009 millions of people have been engaged through their interest in wildlife, helping them identify species using a system that connects novices to experts. Co-created, iSpot enables the public to participate in scientific research through crowdsourcing species names and uses a combination of communication, engagement and learning opportunities, both formal and informal, to reach a wide and diverse audience taking them on a unique learning journey around biodiversity.

Up to end of 2013, iSpot Biodiversity Mentors helped the public, many considered ‘hard to reach’, to engage with the natural world through events and activities across the UK reaching over 80,000 people leading hands-on activities such as bug hunts, bat walks, pond dipping, rock pooling etc. creating links with community groups and organisations many who now use iSpot to facilitate their own engagement activities. iSpot also contributes to learning opportunities and the OU’s Futurelearn Introduction to Ecosystem MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) uses the website as part of the students learning activities and in the first presentation over a fifth of those on the course were also registered and using the site. OU / BBC radio and TV co-productions also take iSpot into millions of households; while media stories about interesting finds such as the story of 6 year old Katie finding a rare moth not seen in Europe before, reached an estimated audience of over 3.5 million resulting in 7,000 visits to iSpot during October 2009 alone.

This presentation will share the blended engagement model that has been used in the development of iSpot to date, and the contribution this has made to its success.