We’re going to be using a platform for citizen science named the Zooniverse. The Zooniverse is, in their own
words, “…the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. … Our goal is to enable
research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries,
datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications.”
There are many projects housed on this platform, here’s some possible projects you can choose from for this
assignment:
Dark Energy Explorers (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/erinmc/dark-energy-explorers (Links to an external
site.))
Drones for Ducks (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/rowan-aspire/drones-for-ducks (Links to an external
site.))
Frogsong (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/sladeaa/frogsong (Links to an external site.) )
First, use the tutorial for the project to learn how to classify images. After doing the tutorial, which is typically
brief, you’ll be turned loose on classifying real data. Keep a record of your work by taking some screen shots of
yourself using the tool.
After you’ve classified three or four images, collect your screen shots into a Word document and add in your
answers to a few questions:

• What parts of building this new algorithm are you contributing to? How does this fit into O’Neil’s description of
  the different parts of an algorithmic decision making tool?
• What is potentially useful to the scientists about making this activity available to the public? What is potentially
  problematic about making this classification open? How are they controlling for potential problems?
• What’s your reaction to doing this kind of classification work? Did you find it interesting? Did you learn
  something about the field that you hadn’t expected?