The Crowd & The Cloud was a three-year project (2015–2018) developed by Passport To Knowledge with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The project used multimedia to engage audiences in citizen science and crowdsourcing. The team produced four episodes of a television series, an interactive website, and a strong social media presence to reach three main target audiences: the general public, scientists, and citizen scientists.

The first episode explored citizen science and crowdsourcing as ways of generating large-scale scientific data — from our smartphones to outer space. Featured projects included:

• Safecast: measuring radiation levels after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
• OpenStreetMap: a global mapping project based on public contributions.
• iNaturalist: an app for identifying and mapping plant and animal species.

The second episode focused on the power of data and the public’s contribution to collecting it. Featured projects included:

• Project FeederWatch: a Cornell Lab of Ornithology project where citizens report the birds they see in their yards.
• eBird: another global project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology where people report bird observations.
• The Globe at Night: an NSF project in which participants measure light pollution in the night sky.

The third episode highlighted people using citizen science to make changes in their communities. Featured projects included:

• Floating Forests: identifying kelp forests using satellite images.
• Stardust@home: identifying stardust particles in samples returned from space.
• CitSci.org: a platform enabling people to create and manage citizen science projects.

The fourth and final episode addressed finding solutions to environmental and social issues through citizen science and new technologies. Featured projects included:

• Eye on the Stream: a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency project for measuring water quality.
• AirCasting: a City University of New York project for measuring air pollution.
• Waterkeeper Alliance: monitoring water quality in rivers and lakes worldwide.

The interactive website provided users with additional information and ways to engage in citizen science projects. It included tools to find projects and choose to participate, as well as a citizen science calendar featuring events and activities to encourage involvement. Additional resources and tools helped users learn more about citizen science.

The project maintained a strong social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram) as tools for outreach, engagement, and connecting the public to the project.

Research on the Project

As part of the funding requirements, NSF requested a comprehensive evaluation of the project. The detailed report assessed the use and impact of the TV episodes, website, and social media on participants.

Key Findings

Impact of the TV series across all audiences: Viewing the episodes increased viewers’ awareness and understanding of citizen science and crowdsourcing. Viewers felt more confident in their ability to participate and were more likely to engage in related activities such as seeking information or posting on social media. They also developed more positive beliefs about who can collect data and the validity of such data.

Impact on specific audiences:

• General public: Compared to non-viewers, those who watched expressed greater familiarity and understanding of citizen science, more confidence in their ability to participate, and more positive beliefs about citizen-collected data. However, they still felt that scientific data collection can be challenging and that data analysis should remain with professional scientists.
• Scientists: Surveyed scientists already had greater familiarity with citizen science. Viewing the episodes still enhanced their understanding of specific aspects. Those who watched were more likely to see citizens as potential data collectors, but also more likely to believe that only professionals should analyze the data.
• Citizen scientists: Participants reported greater understanding of the connection between crowdsourcing and citizen science, and of how citizen science findings are used. They valued the focus on available technologies that support citizen science.

Impact of the website: The project website provided additional information on citizen science and crowdsourcing, along with ways to get more involved. Pages for finding projects and the citizen science calendar were especially popular, showing strong interest in active engagement. Website users demonstrated greater understanding of citizen science concepts than non-users, and stronger belief that anyone can be a citizen scientist, that citizen-collected data can be as valid as professional data, and that it can be published in scientific journals.

Impact of social media: Social media served as a direct channel to followers, enabling ongoing engagement. Posts with colorful images and short videos attracted the most engagement. Use of hashtags, tagging related people or groups, and posting around episode broadcast times boosted interactions. Posts emphasized positive, hopeful, and enthusiastic language. Social media mainly functioned as a bridge between the public and the TV/website content, helping move users from online engagement to participation in projects.

In conclusion, The evaluation shows that the series introduced viewers to citizen science and highlighted a range of projects. The website and social media, however, provided tools for deeper engagement. The website in particular proved more effective than the series in boosting confidence among users to contribute meaningfully to scientific research and analyze data. This supports the idea that digital platforms help turn passive viewers into active participants.

Main recommendations for future citizen science projects:

• Focus on websites: Invest in creating high-quality, interactive websites. These should allow users to shift from “passive viewers” to active participants, give them confidence to contribute, and encourage them to analyze data themselves.
• Use social media as a bridge: Leverage social media to boost project engagement, especially through posts with images, videos, and relevant hashtags. Use it to disseminate TV content and drive audiences to the website.
• Strengthen cross-platform connections: Future projects should more tightly link broadcast content with digital tools (websites, apps) to help audiences move easily from watching to action.