This article needs to be updated.(January 2024) |
Type of site | Citizen science web portal |
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Available in | English, German, Polish |
Owner | Citizen Science Alliance[1] |
Created by | Fingerprint Digital Media |
URL | www |
Commercial | No |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | 12 December 2009[2] |
Current status | Online |
Zooniverse is a citizen science web portal owned and operated by the Citizen Science Alliance. It is home to some of the Internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects.[3] The organization grew from the original Galaxy Zoo project and now hosts dozens of projects which allow volunteers to participate in crowdsourced scientific research. It has headquarters at Oxford University and the Adler Planetarium.[4] Unlike many early internet-based citizen science projects (such as SETI@home) which used spare computer processing power to analyse data, known as volunteer computing, Zooniverse projects require the active participation of human volunteers to complete research tasks. Projects have been drawn from disciplines including astronomy, ecology, cell biology, humanities, and climate science.[5]
As of 14 February 2014[update], the Zooniverse community consisted of more than 1 million registered volunteers.[6] By March 2019, that number had reportedly risen to 1.6 million.[7] The volunteers are often collectively referred to as "Zooites".[8][9] The data collected from the various projects has led to the publication of more than 100 scientific papers.[10] A daily news website called 'The Daily Zooniverse' provides information on the different projects under the Zooniverse umbrella, and has a presence on social media.
The founder and former principal investigator (P.I.) of the project, Chris Lintott, published a book called The Crowd & the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse in 2019.[11] In September 2023 the role of P.I. was taken over by Laura Trouille, VP of Science Engagement at the Adler Planetarium, who was co-P.I. for Zooniverse from 2015-2023.[12]