02544nas a2200373 4500008004100000022001400041245008200055210006900137260000900206300001300215490000700228520142000235100001701655700001901672700002201691700002201713700001501735700002001750700002001770700001901790700002101809700002101830700001901851700002101870700001601891700002601907700002001933700002401953700001701977700001701994700002002011700002702031856011202058 2015 eng d a1932-620300aParticipatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.0 aParticipatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitorin c2015 ae01367630 v103 a
The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution.
1 aSirbu, Alina1 aBecker, Martin1 aCaminiti, Saverio1 aDe Baets, Bernard1 aElen, Bart1 aFrancis, Louise1 aGravino, Pietro1 aHotho, Andreas1 aIngarra, Stefano1 aLoreto, Vittorio1 aMolino, Andrea1 aMueller, Juergen1 aPeters, Jan1 aRicchiuti, Ferdinando1 aSaracino, Fabio1 aServedio, Vito, D P1 aStumme, Gerd1 aTheunis, Jan1 aTria, Francesca1 aVan den Bossche, Joris uhttps://kdd.isti.cnr.it/publications/participatory-patterns-international-air-quality-monitoring-initiative