Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments
Advanced sensing technologies, combined with wireless sensor networks, have already demonstrated their value in monitoring urban water systems, where management is rather centralized within water utility organizations. Environmental water resources, characterized by more diverse stakeholders and ove...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IEEE
2019-01-01
|
| Series: | IEEE Access |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8825797/ |
| _version_ | 1818562781084909568 |
|---|---|
| author | Thaine H. Assumpcao Andreja Jonoski Iouliani Theona Chrysovalantis Tsiakos Maria Krommyda Stefano Tamascelli Andreas Kallioras Marian Mierla Harris V. Georgiou Maria Miska Christos Pouliaris Cristian Trifanov Kinga Timea Cimpan Athanasia Tsertou Eugenia Marin Michalis Diakakis Iulian Nichersu Angelos J. Amditis Ioana Popescu |
| author_facet | Thaine H. Assumpcao Andreja Jonoski Iouliani Theona Chrysovalantis Tsiakos Maria Krommyda Stefano Tamascelli Andreas Kallioras Marian Mierla Harris V. Georgiou Maria Miska Christos Pouliaris Cristian Trifanov Kinga Timea Cimpan Athanasia Tsertou Eugenia Marin Michalis Diakakis Iulian Nichersu Angelos J. Amditis Ioana Popescu |
| author_sort | Thaine H. Assumpcao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Advanced sensing technologies, combined with wireless sensor networks, have already demonstrated their value in monitoring urban water systems, where management is rather centralized within water utility organizations. Environmental water resources, characterized by more diverse stakeholders and overlapping management responsibilities of different agencies, present more challenging contexts for implementing novel sensing technologies. Crowdsourcing by citizens has been proposed as an alternative approach for adaptive data collection that can augment the amount of data collected, as well as bring together the diverse stakeholders and citizens in more participatory water resources management processes. This article first introduces the challenges of designing citizens' campaigns for collecting data on environmental waters. A set of developed mobile phone and web applications is then introduced, integrated within a specific platform, as it was used in the execution of citizens' campaigns for data needed in flood analysis and management. Experiences and lessons learned are presented from the field execution of citizens' campaigns in two pilot areas located in Europe - the Danube Delta in Romania, and the Kifissos catchment in Greece. Two of the campaigns are on river data collection - water levels and water velocities, and two on collecting land use/land cover data. Surveys carried out with campaign participants indicate their appreciation of the initiative, but challenges remain regarding user-friendliness of the applications. Logistic issues such as timing, duration, and pathways for data collection impacted the motivation of participants. Overall, a unique and large dataset was obtained in terms of quantitative water measurements, despite data losses due to low raw data quality. Further work lies in evaluating the usability of this dataset for local authorities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T01:08:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8be8cd77c7fa493ca0d3f14eb71c849b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T01:08:15Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj.art-8be8cd77c7fa493ca0d3f14eb71c849b2022-12-21T23:22:52ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362019-01-01713460113462010.1109/ACCESS.2019.29394718825797Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field ExperimentsThaine H. Assumpcao0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3334-3352Andreja Jonoski1Iouliani Theona2Chrysovalantis Tsiakos3Maria Krommyda4Stefano Tamascelli5Andreas Kallioras6Marian Mierla7Harris V. Georgiou8Maria Miska9Christos Pouliaris10Cristian Trifanov11Kinga Timea Cimpan12Athanasia Tsertou13Eugenia Marin14Michalis Diakakis15Iulian Nichersu16Angelos J. Amditis17Ioana Popescu18Department of Integrated Water Systems and Governance, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Integrated Water Systems and Governance, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Implementation of Programs and Projects, Region of Attica, Athens, GreeceInstitute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GreeceInstitute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GreeceXTeam Software Solutions, Rovigo, ItalyInstitute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GreeceDanube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, RomaniaHellenic Rescue Team of Attica, Athens, GreeceDepartment of Implementation of Programs and Projects, Region of Attica, Athens, GreeceLaboratory of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GreeceDanube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, RomaniaSocietatea Ornitologica Romana, Bucharest, RomaniaInstitute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GreeceDanube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, RomaniaFaculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GreeceDanube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, RomaniaInstitute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GreeceDepartment of Integrated Water Systems and Governance, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, The NetherlandsAdvanced sensing technologies, combined with wireless sensor networks, have already demonstrated their value in monitoring urban water systems, where management is rather centralized within water utility organizations. Environmental water resources, characterized by more diverse stakeholders and overlapping management responsibilities of different agencies, present more challenging contexts for implementing novel sensing technologies. Crowdsourcing by citizens has been proposed as an alternative approach for adaptive data collection that can augment the amount of data collected, as well as bring together the diverse stakeholders and citizens in more participatory water resources management processes. This article first introduces the challenges of designing citizens' campaigns for collecting data on environmental waters. A set of developed mobile phone and web applications is then introduced, integrated within a specific platform, as it was used in the execution of citizens' campaigns for data needed in flood analysis and management. Experiences and lessons learned are presented from the field execution of citizens' campaigns in two pilot areas located in Europe - the Danube Delta in Romania, and the Kifissos catchment in Greece. Two of the campaigns are on river data collection - water levels and water velocities, and two on collecting land use/land cover data. Surveys carried out with campaign participants indicate their appreciation of the initiative, but challenges remain regarding user-friendliness of the applications. Logistic issues such as timing, duration, and pathways for data collection impacted the motivation of participants. Overall, a unique and large dataset was obtained in terms of quantitative water measurements, despite data losses due to low raw data quality. Further work lies in evaluating the usability of this dataset for local authorities.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8825797/Citizen sciencecitizen observatoriescampaignswater resourcesgamificationdata collection |
| spellingShingle | Thaine H. Assumpcao Andreja Jonoski Iouliani Theona Chrysovalantis Tsiakos Maria Krommyda Stefano Tamascelli Andreas Kallioras Marian Mierla Harris V. Georgiou Maria Miska Christos Pouliaris Cristian Trifanov Kinga Timea Cimpan Athanasia Tsertou Eugenia Marin Michalis Diakakis Iulian Nichersu Angelos J. Amditis Ioana Popescu Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments IEEE Access Citizen science citizen observatories campaigns water resources gamification data collection |
| title | Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments |
| title_full | Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments |
| title_fullStr | Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments |
| title_short | Citizens’ Campaigns for Environmental Water Monitoring: Lessons From Field Experiments |
| title_sort | citizens x2019 campaigns for environmental water monitoring lessons from field experiments |
| topic | Citizen science citizen observatories campaigns water resources gamification data collection |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8825797/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thainehassumpcao citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT andrejajonoski citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT ioulianitheona citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT chrysovalantistsiakos citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT mariakrommyda citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT stefanotamascelli citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT andreaskallioras citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT marianmierla citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT harrisvgeorgiou citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT mariamiska citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT christospouliaris citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT cristiantrifanov citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT kingatimeacimpan citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT athanasiatsertou citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT eugeniamarin citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT michalisdiakakis citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT iuliannichersu citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT angelosjamditis citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments AT ioanapopescu citizensx2019campaignsforenvironmentalwatermonitoringlessonsfromfieldexperiments |