Social.Water - A crowdsourcing tool for environmental data acquisition
Computers & Geosciences
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Remote telemetry has a long history of use for collection of environmental measurements. With the rise of mobile phones and SMS text-messaging capacity, many members of the general pubic carry communications equipment in their pockets at all times. Enabling the general public to provide environmental data through text messages has the potential both to provide additional data to scientific projects and also to raise awareness of the projects through participation. Hydrologic measurements – some of which can be made without training, involve a single measurement, and are often made in rural areas – are well-suited to text-message conveyance. Many other environmental measurements are similarly well-suited for this technology. Social.Water is a software package, written in Python, that collects, parses, and categorizes text messages sent to a dedicated phone number, updates a simple database, and posts both graphical results and the database on the Web. Social.Water was designed as the backend to the Crowdhydrology project and is written in an object-oriented design that makes customization and modification straightforward.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Social.Water - A crowdsourcing tool for environmental data acquisition |
| Series title | Computers & Geosciences |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.cageo.2012.06.015 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Year Published | 2012 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Contributing office(s) | Wisconsin Water Science Center |
| Description | 6 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Computers and Geosciences |
| First page | 164 |
| Last page | 169 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |