Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science

News and Events on Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science

41 posts

White House and GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts

White House & GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts—On July 20, GSA’s Open Innovation Program and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) co-hosted the Open Innovation Forum in partnership with Digital.gov. The event was themed around building equitable partnerships and it celebrated OSTP’s biennial report to Congress that covers the federal government’s prize competitions, crowdsourcing and citizen science initiatives in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. — via General Services Administration

Aug 03, 2022

New EPA Interactive Map on Community & Citizen Science

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development recently published an interactive StoryMap on community & citizen science highlighting the importance of citizen science and how EPA supports these efforts. The StoryMap serves as the Agency’s first-ever collection of EPA-led and EPA-funded citizen science activities organized by topic. Explore the map to learn about impactful citizen science work happening across the U.S. and how to get involved.

Jan 05, 2022

​Want to Expand Your Innovation Base? Dive In, Run a Challenge, and Listen to Your Customers

The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is a small agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whose mission is to increase the interoperability and use of electronic health records and health IT. We don’t have the funding and personnel of larger agencies, and, for the most part, this is fine. The

Posts by Adam Wong

May 24, 2017

The Data Briefing: It Takes an Online Community to Digitally Transform an Organization

The open source movement has changed how we develop software, create content, and even do science. Using a community to help complete projects and bring about change has become so ubiquitous in the last ten years that it has even earned a name — crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a powerful tool and is now being used to help

Posts by Bill Brantley

Nov 23, 2016

GAO to Congress: Federal Agencies Are Making a Difference Through Open Innovation

Federal agencies confront tough problems every day. In searching for solutions, agencies will want to attract different perspectives, test new products, build capacity and communities, and increase public awareness. How do they do it? The answer: open innovation. Federal agencies need to engage and collaborate with all sectors of society, a task made easier by

Posts by Eric Beidel

Oct 21, 2016

Join us for a Gender Equality Edit-a-thon on October 22, 2016

Come out and join us on Saturday, October 22, 2016 from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm for a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on Gender Equality in the Innovation Hub at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Register for this event today!

Posts by Meredith Stewart

Oct 12, 2016

Crowdsourcing at the Law Library of Congress

The Law Library acquired a large collection from William S. Hein & Co., Inc. to make all volumes of several collections (like the Federal Register) available in open access to researchers. Preparing these files by adding metadata for easy searching takes a lot of work, so this summer we asked law students and library students from

Posts by Jennifer González

Oct 07, 2016

NASA: Open Gov Plan 2016 Outline

Here is the outline for our 2016 Open Government Plan. Let us know what you think.

Posts by Beth Beck

Sep 29, 2016

Citizen Science is Sound Science Provided by You

Have you ever seen a cool bird in your backyard and wondered if there was some way to share what you saw with others? Better yet, have you thought about sharing your observations and having them used to help study and conserve those birds? These thoughts are an indicator that you might have the makings of a

Posts by Stephanie Dromerick

Aug 25, 2016

What is Citizen Science? A Recent Webinar Explores How the Federal Government Engages the Public via Crowdsourcing

From the National Park Service (NPS) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the use of citizen science has become a prominent factor in the science community and a critical tool for the federal government.

Posts by Zohaa Ahmad

Aug 23, 2016

Another Year, Another Leap Forward for Prize Competitions

If federal agencies need an incentive to be more open and innovative in addressing critical issues, they need look no further than news this week from the White House. On August 10, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued its Implementation of Federal Prize Authority Progress Report for fiscal year 2015, and

Posts by Eric Beidel

Aug 11, 2016

DARPA: A Case Study in Open Innovation

You may not know it, but the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has changed your life. There’s the Internet, for starters. And if that isn’t enough, the agency also has played a pivotal role in shaping GPS, stealth aircraft and drone technology. In fact, ever since its creation under President Eisenhower, DARPA has

Posts by Eric Beidel

Jul 25, 2016

White House: Challenges, Citizen Science Among Top Innovation Efforts of Past 8 Years

The White House this week released a report detailing the impact of 100 initiatives that have expanded U.S. capacity in science, technology and innovation over the past eight years. Evident throughout the report is the influence of Challenge.gov and CitizenScience.gov, two open innovation programs managed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). In fact, among

Posts by Eric Beidel

Jun 24, 2016

Open Data Democratizes Innovation

Americans Use Public Data to Improve the Lives of Fellow Citizens Data is one of our most important national assets. It informs our policy and our national priorities. But as we have seen time and time again, the most effective way to govern is to engage with the public directly. Thanks to the President’s Executive Order requiring

Posts by Robin A. Thottungal Posts by Kris Rowley

Jun 02, 2016

GSA Unveils New Hub for Federal Citizen Science & Crowdsourcing

Do you have a scientific issue to address? Wish you had dozens, hundreds, even thousands more people helping you out? There’s help out there, and now that help is easier than ever to find.

Posts by Kelly Olson

Apr 14, 2016

How FEMA Delivers Anytime, Anywhere Information During Disasters

No one wants to feel helpless in an emergency situation. To provide tips and assistance anytime, anywhere, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stepped up their mobile game. FEMA developed an SMS service and an app to engage with users while they’re on the go. The app is available on Android, Apple and Blackberry.

Posts by Jennifer Johnson

Jan 28, 2016

A New Team Strives to Coordinate Citizen Science, Crowdsourcing Across Government

A government can accomplish nothing without the ingenuity of its people. This is why the federal government is committed to using online tools to make its problem-solving more open and collaborative. A growing number of agencies are testing the applications of crowdsourcing and citizen science to accomplish more, and in many cases, do things faster

Posts by Eric Beidel

Jan 20, 2016

A Sense of Purpose: Strong Communities Can Overcome Big Challenges

Cook-offs, bike rides, parades and dance parties—these are not the traditional public hearing-style events for which government agencies are known. But these events helped to fuel the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Rebuild by Design Challenge (PDF, 484 KB, 1 page, January 2016), boosting the collective morale among a complex, multidisciplinary network of engaged

Posts by Eric Beidel

Jan 04, 2016

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