Lessons in Citizen Science from the Evolution of whaleshark.org

The past decade has seen increasing recognition of the need for regional and global conservation efforts for migratory marine species, such as the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which must be informed by rigorous scientific... [ view full abstract ]

The past decade has seen increasing recognition of the need for regional and global conservation efforts for migratory marine species, such as the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which must be informed by rigorous scientific assessment of their abundance, migration, and other behavioral patterns. However, for rare species, achieving sufficient levels of data collection for analysis often necessitates recruiting citizen scientists and tourists to increase available effort. We present 12 years of experience developing and growing a tightly focused, online portal for collaborative wildlife research fueled by citizen science contribution of data. “Wildbook for Whale Sharks” (http://www.whaleshark.org) is a flagship project for marine citizen science, supporting 100+ volunteers and researchers distributed globally and collecting usable data from 4200+ submitters. Independently validated as a viable mark-recapture tool and spanning multiple disciplines, it tracks 5600+ individual whale sharks across the globe and has facilitated the publication of peer-reviewed papers, proceedings and reports, and graduate theses. We present our lessons learned, such as the use of structured information models and feedback loops, from over a decade of growth and successful project management. We also demonstrate how our open source “Wildbook” platform (http://www.wildme.org/wildbook) and our “Wild Me” social media outreach project (http://apps.facebook.com/wildmeapp) make our scientific and collaborative successes reproducible, inexpensive, mass consumable and informative.