A1 Journal article (refereed)
A Mobile Application–Based Citizen Science Product to Compile Bird Observations (2024)


Nokelainen, O., Lauha, P., Andrejeff, S., Hänninen, J., Inkinen, J., Kallio, A., Lehto, H. J., Mutanen, M., Paavola, R., Schiestl-Aalto, P., Somervuo, P., Sundell, J., Talaskivi, J., Vallinmäki, M., Vancraeyenest, A., Lehtiö, A., & Ovaskainen, O. (2024). A Mobile Application–Based Citizen Science Product to Compile Bird Observations. Citizen Science : Theory and Practice, 9(1), Article 24. https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.710


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editorsNokelainen, Ossi; Lauha, Patrik; Andrejeff, Sebastian; Hänninen, Jari; Inkinen, Jasmin; Kallio, Aleksi; Lehto, Harry J.; Mutanen, Marko; Paavola, Riku; Schiestl-Aalto, Pauliina; et al.

Journal or seriesCitizen Science : Theory and Practice

eISSN2057-4991

Publication year2024

Publication date10/09/2024

Volume9

Issue number1

Article number24

PublisherUbiquity Press

Publication countryUnited Kingdom

Publication languageEnglish

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.710

Research data linkhttps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13326225

Publication open accessOpenly available

Publication channel open accessOpen Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX)https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/98941


Abstract

Citizen science covers initiatives from crowdsourcing, distributed intelligence, and participatory science, to extreme citizen science. Terminological overlap, varied project aims, and cultural differences in the fields of research have, however, led to discord regarding how impactful citizen science projects can be. Here, we showcase a mobile application–based citizen science campaign (in Finnish: Muuttolintujen kevät), an automated bird sound classifier of Finnish birds. Over a single season (2023), the method attracted 140,000 participants who uploaded close to three million recordings containing six million bird observations. We report the spatial and temporal distribution of the observations collected, characterize the user behaviour, and discuss reliability of the user-based validations of the AI-powered species identifications. To circumvent data quality problems that characterize many citizen science projects, our approach stores the raw audio in a centralized repository, enabling rigorous validation and re-analysis. Mobile application-based citizen science initiatives can be harnessed to probe the state of our environment almost in real time and potentially guide conservation acts in the future.


Keywordsbirdsornithologyanimal soundsdetermination of speciesmobile appsartificial intelligencecitizen sciencecrowdsourcingnature conservationvalidation

Free keywordsbiomonitoring; birds; bird sound recognition; Finland; mobile app; validation


Contributing organizations


Related projects


Ministry reportingYes

VIRTA submission year2024

Preliminary JUFO rating2


Last updated on 2025-05-03 at 20:46