I beg to differ !

Cool!

Let's discuss it then, OK?

We can use the Zooniverse Publications page, and start with the Galaxy Zoo (48), Solar Stormwatch (5), Galaxy Zoo Supernova (5), Planet Hunters (10), Milky Way Project (4), Ice Hunters (1), Andromeda Project (1), Space Warps (2), and Snapshot Supernova (2) papers^.

A couple of caveats to bear in mind:

• most, but not all, these paper have a para or so in their Acknowledgements sections, something like this (from the AP arXiv preprint; the paper itself is behind a paywall): "We owe a great debt of gratitude to the ~30,000 AP volunteers who made this work possible. Their contributions are acknowledged individually at
  http://www.andromedaproject.org/#!/authors." This is not an explicit mention of a specific discovery
• the two Snapshot Supernova ATELs are, um, equivocal; this from ATEL7254: "Identified as a Supernova Candidate through a project run by the Zooniverse as part of the BBC Stargazing Live show ( http://snapshotsupernova.org ); the candidate was correctly classified by five volunteers, and discussed by others including Julia Wilkinson" The discoverers are not named

^well, those we can access; despite the declared Zooniverse policy, several (many?) are behind paywalls.

I agree that this thread can be difficult to follow, in part due to its huge scope. However, I think it may be quite difficult to tease out three major themes, say, and so split the discussion.

On the topic of participation by children and teens, in online CS projects such as those under the Zooinverse brand, one important aspect has not yet been mentioned (though I may well have missed it): the laws in various different countries.

There are laws seeking to regulate, restrict, guide, etc the online activities of juveniles (I'll use that to cover everyone under age 18, or whatever is the 'threshold age'), likely in nearly all the countries in which most zooites live. Are these laws consistent? Do some of them mandate parental consent? Invest ultimate responsibility for online activity in the parents/guardians? Are there laws which mandate actions which the Zooniverse, or any of its individual projects, must take (re 'signing in', participating, access to personal data, etc), beyond those which apply to everyone? Must the Zooniverse's lawyers (and those associated with each project) be sufficiently cognizant of the relevant laws in all countries (or at least those with registered users) so they may be as certain as they can reasonably be expected to be that there are no violations of any relevant laws?

Beyond laws - which cannot be broken, knowingly or not, on pain of sanctions - there are ethical concerns.

For example, in the Acknowledgement sections of 'Zooinverse papers', one can read text like this (from Keel+ 2012):

This work would not have been possible without the contributions of citizen scientists as part of the Galaxy Zoo project. We particularly thank Hannah Hutchins, Elizabeth Baeten, Massimo Mezzoprete, Elizabeth Siegel, Aida Berges, and users voyager1682002 and Caro, who each examined all of the galaxies in the targeted AGN sample, and in addition Christian Manteuffel, for assistance in compiling the list of SDSS AGN candidates. We are grateful to the following additional Galaxy Zoo participants who contributed to the targeted AGN search: Michael Aarons, Mark Ackland, AdrianusV, Aerial, alexob6, Daniela Alice, Norvan Allen, Anderstp, AndrewM, angst, Anjinsan, ARCHEV, artemiit, aryamwojn, astrobrainiac, astronomicom1, Markku Autio, Michelle Ayers, Elisabeth Baeten, R. Balick, Michael Balzer, Michael Derek Barnett, Kirsten Barr, Barbara Ann Barrett, David Bartlett, Coral Benham, Aida Berges, Mark Bernaldo, Chiheb Boussema, Gwen Brogmus, Dave Browne, brunochi, buddyjesus, David Burt, cadou, caliz83, Capella, Alice Carlsen, Caro, Jiri Cejka, Theodore J. Celaya Sr., chairstar, citisue3, Nick Clarke, Ana Claudia, cloud9, clua, David N. Cook, coral, Gemma Coughlin, Rob Cowhey, Penny Cox, Laurence Cuffe, cyprien, DancesWithWords, Darren, DarthKeribo, Lloyd Daub, daveb, dave3, david_mbe, david_nw, Michael C. Davis Jr., distel, Dobador, Shane Dobkins, drawm, Juliette Dowle, Elizabeth Duff, Graham Dungworth, dxjerlubb, dzd, Michael Easterly, echo, Alan Eggleston, Thomas Erickson, ErroneousBee, Falconet, firejuggler, frisken, Gino, glyphon, GNB080, gordhaddow, Michael Gronceski, grrower1, Michael Hand, Thomas Hardy, Hans Heilman, Steph Hill, Thomas Hobbs, Rick Holtz, Rob Hounsell, hrutter, Mikko Huovinen, IC1101, ixzrtxp, Nina Jansen, Alain Jaureguiberry, jayton, jczoehdo, jhyatt, David E. Johnson, Steve Johnson, David James Jones, John Kelly, khwdfnwit, Pat Kieran, KillerSkaarj, kiske1, knuid, kokdeblade, Anuradha Koratkar, Michi Kovacs, kzhndepnd Marc Laidlaw, laihro01, landersonzych, Lily Lau WW, lawless, Bill Lawrence, Kathleen Littlefield, Liz, Marc Lluell, Michael Lopez, lpspieler, luigimx, Lzsp, Michael MacIsaac, Christine Macmillan, Katie Malik, Steve Malone, mardo, Lelah Marie, Mark, Michael Marling, Stephanie R. Marsala, Mauro Marussi, marxpmp, Mark McCormack, Rob Mellor, Massimo Mezzoprete, mgn, Michaelr1415, MichaelRoberts, MichaelSangerTx, milkncookies, miraculix250, Elspeth Mitchell, Graham Mitchell, mlvgofjedxv, mothic, Mukund, mykyij, NGC3372, Julian Nicol, Rick Nowell, nrbeuw, Richard Oram, orion, oswego9050, pbungaro, Alice Peachey, Thomas Perraudin, Amanda Peters, Erica Pinto, plum- merj, Jim Porter, Steven Porter, Richard Proctor, ptkypxdh, randa, RandyC, Kim Reece, Jessica Reeder, RelativisticDog2, Thomas Rickenbach, ripw, rjwarmv, rnjrchd, Michael Roberts, RobinMiller, Jim Robinson, roborali, Rona, Geoff Roynon, Paul Rutten, Rynnfox, S4CCG, Michael Salmon, salteV, Jeroen Sassen, second_try, Matt Sellick, sheba, Alice Sheppard, SianElderxyz, Nanne Sierkstra, Michael Simmons, SJPorter, skepticdetective, Stephen Sliva, Mark Smith, Sophie378, spat, Maria Steinrueck, stella13, stellar390, John H. Stewart, Doug Stork, sumoworm, superhouse, tadaemdg, Auralee Tamison, Chet Thomas, thom_2, Michael Thorpe, timchem, torres, Trixie64, Ramon van der Hilst, Marcel Veillette, Rob H.B. Velthuis, John Venables, Michael Viguet, vkhtmhfigou, Aileen Waite, David Walland, wbybjbpv, weezerd, Mark Westover, Julia Wilkinson, Nat T. Winston III, Windsmurf, wpubphx, xuhtjhc, xzxupfqjd, and Mairi Yates. We also thank the referee, who caught a mistake in calculating light-delay times and helped make the discussion more comprehensive. Jean Tate helped to untangle some issues of participant discovery order.

I'm fairly sure that to be included in this list, the zooites needed to give explicit permission to use either their real names or their handles (how well, and comprehensively, this is done for every such paper I do not know). If any of these zooites were juveniles at the time, is it OK that only they gave such permission? Should the Zooniverse, and the authors of such papers, go the extra mile to ensure that juveniles also have the permission of their parents/guardians? This may be important, legally, in some countries, but I think the more general ethical principle is more important.

Some years ago there was an excellent series of GZ blog posts under the heading "She's an Astronomer" (link). If anything similar were to be kicked off, for any Zooinverse project (or the Zooniverse in general), should the coordinator/editor include juveniles? exclude them? On the one hand, offering encouragement in such a high-profile way would surely be good, right? On the other hand, what ethical aspects should be considered? An example: here in the US there are a great many high schools where students are subjected to intense peer-pressure to not 'act white' or 'act Asian', and one such behavior is to excel academically. Suppose a student at such a high school - in South Side Chicago say, or Baltimore - were to become deeply involved in a Zooinverse project, and be considered for write-up in something like a "She's an Astronomer" blog post. The student herself may be strongly motivated to agree to being written-up, but should the editor first engage with her parents? The school's teachers and principal?

What do you think?

In the Zooinverse blog, there are quite a few posts about "jobs with the Zooniverse"; for example:

• (2010) Filling in the background
• (2011) We’re hiring again
• (2013) We’re hiring – come help us build citizen history
  
• (2013) Want to work with the Zooniverse?
• (2014) New Zooniverse digital humanities job
• (2014) The most important job in the Zooniverse
• (2014) Do you have what it takes to be a Zoomanities Developer?

This thread, I hope, will be about something quite different; namely, what volunteer roles (and hence "career") you could have, within the Zooniverse.

The first role, and arguably the most important, is one all ~1.5 million of us have, citizen scientist' ... I click, I classify, I transcribe; ergo I am a citizen scientist.

Perhaps a role that is just as 'old' is moderator; it goes back to the earliest days of the Galaxy Zoo forum (now archived), and is pretty much the same as what it is in any internet (discussion) forum (yes, there are aspects of the v2 (Ouroboros) and v3 (Panoptes) Talks which make it somewhat different). There may be a hierarchy of moderators; this source mentions "head moderator" and "the lead moderator".

Next, chronologically, may be Science Team member; the first examples are (as far as I know) the Space Warps team (see the SW blog post, A Postcard from Zurich).

Also, starting several years' ago, there's co-author (of a paper published in a relevant, peer-reviewed, journal). Citizen scientists who are active members of a Z Project's Science Team are always (?) co-authors of that project's main papers. But you can be a co-author without being on a Science Team. The PH blog post A Newly Confirmed Planet and 42 Additional Planet Candidates Part 2 gives some idea of this role.

There's also workshop participant, a role in which you represent (perhaps a subset of) volunteers at an official Zooniverse workshop. Some examples are outlined in these Z blog posts: Zooniverse Teacher Ambassadors Workshop, Project Workshop Winners, Voyage to Teaching in the Zooniverse – A Teacher Workshop in Chicago.

Some volunteers have also been blog post writers, mostly second-hand (a blog editor copy/pastes their material into the blog). Example, Budgieye's NGC7252: The Atoms-For-Peace Galaxy.

Perhaps the rarest role, and one that's a bit outside the Zooniverse, is CSA Advisory Board member (CSA: Citizen Science Alliance; "Our projects live within the ‘Zooniverse’, the home of Citizen Science on the web"). It seems that there are only two volunteers in this role, Alice Sheppard and Julia Wilkinson (source).

Other roles? There are surely some; for example "beta testers", volunteers who "beta test" new Z projects (you can become one by first selecting "Get beta project email updates" in the Email part of your Settings, then joining a beta test when you're notified).

Are there other roles? In your Zooniverse career, could you realistically aspire to all/any of the roles?

What do you think?

A very useful list indeed, although the problem of paywalls and closed sources becomes immediately apparent. This article below is a worthwhile short read and includes Zooniverse. It argues for the creation of CS Centres.
Next Steps for Citizen Science
Rick Bonney, Jennifer L. Shirk, Tina B. Phillips, Andrea Wiggins, Heidi L. Ballard, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Julia K. Parrish

https://ccrec.ucsc.edu/sites/default/files/Bonney et al 2014 Science v.343-p.1436-7.pdf

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6178/1436
American Association for the Advancement of Science 2014

Worth noting the 124 hits WoS has for GZ, compared to the 391 [correction] abstracts the ADS/NASA database has when 'Galaxy Zoo' is searched for:

Query Results from the ADS Database
Selected and retrieved 391 abstracts. Total citations: 3454

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/basic_connect?qsearch=galaxy+zoo&version=1

new guy here, exciting

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