With the new year approaching, we at SPOTTERON have started planning and creating concepts for the IPM Popillia Citizen Science App for public participation. In this early stage, options are present for either having a focussed App for discovering the Popillia japonica beetle in already infested regions or to think on a broader scale for having a Citizen Science App with a wider range of participatory options.
The App's scope matters
The main question we have identified at this stage is if the project wants to aim for broader participation or if the App should be a toolkit for existing situations. The first - if done right - offers great potential for being a layer of early warnings besides monitoring existing infestations. The challenge is how to reach out to the public and reach a creitical mass of users in the App. This question will follow us in the next months to identify potentials and to define the scope.
An ICT infrastucture for international digital Citizen Science
To be ready and prepared for the development stage of the IPM Popillia App, we have built up a new ICT infrastructure, allowing smooth participation, performance and applied data ethics. With the underlying technology, we will be able to scale resources as needed by the App's participation levels and build on a reliable system. Furthermore, this has been a good opportunity to start the development of modern App technologies, which reflect up to date approaches for data collection, performance and visual quality. As a basis, the SPOTTERON ICT upgrade within the project provides a reliable foundation for what will become a core component for public engagement and inclusion not only for IPM Popillia but also through project synergies for strengthening other Citizen Science projects on the platform.