Mobile Application Design That Supports Motivations for Crowdsourced Species Identification

Abstract

One way in which scientists strive to conserve and learn about biodiversity of the Earth is by mobilizing crowds to collect and share species sighting data. This thesis explores the design space and user goals for one biodiversity data collecting application. The studied application aims to at the same time be a photo sharing social media. It aims to not only produce value for science, but also for its users. The main user segments of the application are biology experts and nature novices. This thesis focuses on the nature novice group while going from web-based to mobile. The design exploration in this thesis is grounded in a motivational framework from previous research. User motivation is critical in order to attract large crowds and build a sustainable business around a crowdsourcing application. In iterations, user research was performed, then goals, requirements and prototypes were interpreted and constructed. These design artifacts were then mapped against the motivations in the motivational framework.