by Jesse Yoder
The potential for the application of crowdsourcing to the health and science fields is still developing and we it is called citizen science. It advances fields such as ecology, astronomy, medicine, computer science, statistics, psychology, genetics, and engineering but is capable of making a significant impact in nearly every scientific field (Scistarter, 2016).
What exactly is Citizen Science?
The definition of citizen science is difficult to capture and it is defined with slight variations across different sources. Definitions that are too specific tend to eliminate scenarios that should fit the term. The Oxford University Press defines citizen science in their Oxford Dictionaries as:
"The collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists (Oxford University Press, 2016)"
The concept of collective intelligence is employed in citizen science to create a human computation engine that is powerful and expedites scientific development. Here are just a few examples:
Dr. Pietro Michelucci explains the concept further in the video below:
- Diagnosing and reporting Malaria within 1.25% the accuracy of a trained pathologist (Gillam, 2015)
- Studying the genomes of dogs in order to further understand genetics (Scientific American, 2016)
- Designing enzymes to combat diseases (Gillam, 2015)
Dr. Pietro Michelucci explains the concept further in the video below:
How does all this relate to Information Technology (IT) and Web Applications?
IT is the tool that creates the platform for crowdsourcing to flourish. Advocates for citizen science and human computation use the internet to bring in critical users. There are countless projects that currently attempting to use crowdsourcing to advance science. There are many listed in the web sites linked in the sources below so please explore those links if this catches your interest. Both Scientific American and the Human Computation Institute advertise multiple pages of publication listings and projects. There is website called "Science 2.0" that I have listed in my sources below. The website plays off the term "Web 2.0" and advertises registration to write your own column. There are different ways that IT can support the process though.
There are "games of purpose" that allow humans to analyze data. There is a crowdsourcing computer game called "Fold.it" that is allows gamers to fold proteins, creating different structures of amino acids that can be used to cure diseases. As early as 2011, Fold.it users were able to configure the structure of a retroviral protease in 10 days that scientists had been working 15 years to solve. Fold.it also produced an improved enzyme in 2012 that increased its effectiveness by 18 times (Gillam, 2015). The video game, "Eterna," allows users to build RNA sequences and rate desired structures for difficulty. Dr. Rhiju Das, associate professor of biochemistry at Stanford University, and Dr. Adrien Treuille, an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University, launched the game together in 2011. The game now has more than 100,000 users. The users will publish a crowdsourced research paper in the March 2016 edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Molecular Biology. The ideas for the paper were crowdsourced from the game's users. The authors were crowdsourced by nominating three of the most successful users. Those three users authored the paper collectively using Google Docs. The game and crowdsources research are shaping how RNA sequencing is rated in difficulty and the users do not even need a basic understand of RNA or what it does. Some users are as young as 13-years-old (Science Codex, 2016).
The impressive nature of these games are not the comprehensive scope for applications in the advancement of crowdsourcing science. The combination of the rapid expansion of information technology and the power of collective human intelligence is still in its infancy. Albert Einstein said, "All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have." How many scientific breakthroughs can we expect through crowdsourcing and technology?
There are "games of purpose" that allow humans to analyze data. There is a crowdsourcing computer game called "Fold.it" that is allows gamers to fold proteins, creating different structures of amino acids that can be used to cure diseases. As early as 2011, Fold.it users were able to configure the structure of a retroviral protease in 10 days that scientists had been working 15 years to solve. Fold.it also produced an improved enzyme in 2012 that increased its effectiveness by 18 times (Gillam, 2015). The video game, "Eterna," allows users to build RNA sequences and rate desired structures for difficulty. Dr. Rhiju Das, associate professor of biochemistry at Stanford University, and Dr. Adrien Treuille, an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University, launched the game together in 2011. The game now has more than 100,000 users. The users will publish a crowdsourced research paper in the March 2016 edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Molecular Biology. The ideas for the paper were crowdsourced from the game's users. The authors were crowdsourced by nominating three of the most successful users. Those three users authored the paper collectively using Google Docs. The game and crowdsources research are shaping how RNA sequencing is rated in difficulty and the users do not even need a basic understand of RNA or what it does. Some users are as young as 13-years-old (Science Codex, 2016).
The impressive nature of these games are not the comprehensive scope for applications in the advancement of crowdsourcing science. The combination of the rapid expansion of information technology and the power of collective human intelligence is still in its infancy. Albert Einstein said, "All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have." How many scientific breakthroughs can we expect through crowdsourcing and technology?
Sources:
Gillam, Mike (2015). How is Crowdsourcing Changing Healthcare. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://mi2.org/think-differently/how-is-crowdsourcing-changing-healthcare
Human Computation Institute (2016). Collective Solutions to Societal Problems. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://humancomputation.org/
Oxford University Press (2016). Citizen Science. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/citizen-science
Plummer, Quinten (2016, 05 January). Human Computation May Be Key to Solving World's Wicked Problems. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.technewsworld.com/story/82928.html
Scientific American (2016). Citizen Science. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/
Science 2.0 (2016). Join the Revolution. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.science20.com/
Science Codex (2016, 16 February). Citizen science: Video-gamers play online RNA game for research. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.sciencecodex.com/journal_to_publish_paper_by_videogamers_based_on_stanford_online_rna_game-175774
Scistarter (2016). Citizen Science. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://scistarter.com/page/Citizen%20Science.html
Human Computation Institute (2016). Collective Solutions to Societal Problems. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://humancomputation.org/
Oxford University Press (2016). Citizen Science. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/citizen-science
Plummer, Quinten (2016, 05 January). Human Computation May Be Key to Solving World's Wicked Problems. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.technewsworld.com/story/82928.html
Scientific American (2016). Citizen Science. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/
Science 2.0 (2016). Join the Revolution. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.science20.com/
Science Codex (2016, 16 February). Citizen science: Video-gamers play online RNA game for research. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://www.sciencecodex.com/journal_to_publish_paper_by_videogamers_based_on_stanford_online_rna_game-175774
Scistarter (2016). Citizen Science. Retrieved on 19 February 2016 from http://scistarter.com/page/Citizen%20Science.html
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ReplyDeleteInteresting post!! Wisdom of crowds play a vital role in healthcare. Crowdsourcing in healthcare field provides the possibility for innovation. In crowdsourcing platforms like PatientsLikeMe individuals with certain health conditions share and compare their symptoms and responses to different treatments.
ReplyDeleteTo crowdsource your health is obviously one of the most critical and crucial types of crowdsourcing. It is extremely very beneficial to take advantage of crowdsourcing in health field, so people can get their data analyzed by professional scientists, which leads to gain very accurate and beneficial results. For instance, we can use blood pressure meter connected to a phone, then people take their blood pressure, send it to the doctor and eventually share it with other people who can utilize it. That means patients are helping to face many challenges.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. We have yet to explore the possibilities in medicinal areas. Crowdsourcing will definitely bring together all the researchers, scientist to work together for the greater cause.
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