In this research we highlight an important new shift in mobile phone usage – from communication tool to "networked mobile personal measurement instrument". We explore how these new “personal measurement instruments” enable an entirely novel and empowering genre of mobile computing usage called citizen science. Through the use of sensors paired with personal mobile phones, everyday people are invited to participate in collecting and sharing measurements of their everyday environment that matter to them.
Our research hypothesis is that this new usage model for mobile phones will:
- improve the science literacy of everyday citizens through active participation in basic scientific principles
- provide professional scientists with access to richer, finer-grain data sets for modeling and analysis
- create new experiences and usage models for the mobile phone as a tool for grassroots participation in government and policy making
- by choice of sensors and software create a deeper and more informed understanding and concern for our climate and environment - hopefully effecting positive societal change
Mobile phones are rapidly becoming the computer platform of choice in developed and developing nations. These mobile phones already shape our culture – collapsing space and time by enabling us to reach out to contact others at a distance, to perform just-in-time coordination of events, and to purchase, play, and game “on-the-go”. While there is a growing research space around sensor based activity inferencing and a wealth of existing location applications in the market, we claim that our mobile phones still fall short in their ability to enable us to measure and understand the real world around us.
To read more about this project
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