Dataset Information

Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.

ABSTRACT: The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution.

SUBMITTER: Sirbu A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4551740 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.

Sîrbu Alina A Becker Martin M Caminiti Saverio S De Baets Bernard B Elen Bart B Francis Louise L Gravino Pietro P Hotho Andreas A Ingarra Stefano S Loreto Vittorio V Molino Andrea A Mueller Juergen J Peters Jan J Ricchiuti Ferdinando F Saracino Fabio F Servedio Vito D P VD Stumme Gerd G Theunis Jan J Tria Francesca F Van den Bossche Joris J

PloS one 20150827 8

The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen scie ...[more]

PMID: 26313263

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Dataset Information

Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.

Publications

Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.

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