Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the EOS-

Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

2nd Reporting Period: Consolidated report

Period: January 2021 (M15) - January 2022 (M27)
February 02, 2022
V1.0

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant X

Agreement

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R0.1 07/11/2021 Creation of the draft structure and Cos4Cloud coordination team
model of inputs

R0.2 31/01/2022 First version technical report: Editors: Cos4Cloud coordination

Creation team. Authors: Cos4Cloud
Consortium

R1.0 01/02/2022 Preliminary version technical report Editors: Cos4Cloud coordination

for reviewers team. Authors: Cos4Cloud
Consortium

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Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Authors

Cos4Cloud Consortium

Citation
Cos4Cloud consortium (2022). Technical report V1.0. 2nd Reporting Period: Consolidated report.
Period: January 2021 - January 2022

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.

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Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Contents

1. Explanation of the work carried out by the beneficiaries and Overview of the
progress 7

1.1. Objectives 7

1.2. Explanation of the work carried out per WP 8

1.2.1. WP1 Project Management and Coordination (Lead: CSIC) 13

1.2.2. WP 2 - EOSC compliant service architecture (Lead: CREAF) 21

1.2.3. WP3 - Data collection, processing and quality control Services (Lead: INRIA) 30

1.2.4. WP4 - Interactive Services (Lead: BINEO) 42

1.2.5. WP5: Cos4Cloud services in practice (Lead: CSIC) 51

1.2.6. WP6 - Networking, Training and Capacity Building (Lead: OU) 70

1.2.7. WP 7 - Project Dissemination and Exploitation (Lead: Earthwatch) 103

1.2.8. WP8 - Communication, Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement (Lead: CSIC) 107

1.2.9. WP9 - Ethics Requirements (Lead: CSIC) 151

1.3. Impact 152

2. Update of the plan for exploitation and dissemination of result 152

3. Update of the data management plan 152

4. Follow-up of recommendations and comments from previous review(s) 153

5. Deviations from Annex 1 and Annex 2 (if applicable) 160

Annex I: Summary of the effort in PM per WP 165

Annex II: D2.4 Intermediate deliverable: Interoperability experiment report 166

Annex III: D5.1 Intermediate deliverable: Co-designed services for Cos4cloud report 167

Annex IV: D6.5 Intermediate deliverable: Design and evaluation of school-based citizen
science activities 168

Annex V: D3.7 Intermediate deliverable: MECODA data analysis package 169

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Annex VI: D4.5 Intermediate deliverable: Customizable Interface service for Cos4Cloud
Apps (MOBIS) 170

Annex VII: Task 5.4: Intermediate report: DIY progress and evaluation 171

Annex VIII: Task 2.3: Agile test plan 172

List of tables

Table 1 Description of collaborative working spaces in Cos4Cloud project ...................... 19

Table 2 Technology Integration Experiments (TIEs)............................................................. 27
Table 3 Co-Design digests structure and content definition .............................................. 54
Table 4 Overview of the Co-Design workshops......................................................................... 55
Table 5 Integrated overview of Co-Design activities ................................................................. 57
Table 6 Documentation and DIY guides ...............................................................................64
Table 7 KPIs of the CanAirIO app .......................................................................................... 69
Table 8 List of Cos4Cloud publications and related downloads and views .....................149

List of figures

Figure 1 Collaborative board of the Cos4Cloud data protection workshop held on 8th
June 2021. ................................................................................................................................15
Figure 2 Participants of the Cos4Cloud online 2nd general meeting on 7th – 8th June
2021 .........................................................................................................................................19
Figure 3 Participants of the Cos4Cloud online 2nd annual meeting on 4th and 5th
November 2021 ...................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 4 Different Granularity of Testing. ............................................................................. 24
Figure 5 INVEST Principle for Writing User Stories. ............................................................. 24
Figure 6 Proposal of the extension of the OGC SensorThings API Plus (STA+). ................28
Figure 7 Cos4Bio registered in the EOSC Portal. .................................................................. 30
Figure 8 Components of the camera trap ............................................................................ 38
Figure 9 Orange Data Analysis widget catalog .....................................................................39
Figure 10 Mecoda widget workflow in Orange Data Mining Platform ............................... 40
Figure 11 Examples of use of data analysis widgets ........................................................... 41
Figure 12 Example of image analysis widgets ...................................................................... 41
Figure 13 Screenshots of Mobis app.....................................................................................49
Figure 14 Screenshot of DUNS notification service ............................................................. 50
Figure 15 BioMARató participants. (1) Lloret de Mar. Photo: Xatrac; (2) Barcelona. Photo:
Anèl·lides – Serveis ambientals marins................................................................................. 58

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Figure 16 Biomarató key performance index (KPIs) ............................................................ 59

Figure 17 Hackathon model and participants ...................................................................... 62
Figure 18 Participants of the hackathon “Respiraton”......................................................... 64
Figure 19 Installation of CanAirIO fixed sensors .................................................................. 66
Figure 20 CanAirIO bike and CanAirIO CO2..........................................................................67
Figure 21 Statistics and KPIS of the CanAirIO app ............................................................... 68
Figure 22 Review of CanAirIO in hackaday ........................................................................... 69
Figure 23 Cos4Cloud website deliverables & publications ................................................. 71
Figure 24 Open science fair workshop ................................................................................. 73
Figure 25 EU citizens science plaform .................................................................................. 74
Figure 26 Connect group minutes......................................................................................... 77
Figure 27 Roadmap of co-design workshops .......................................................................77
Figure 28 Following-up of educational activities ..................................................................78
Figure 29 iSpot and Cos4Cloud engagement reports ......................................................... 79
Figure 30 iSpot quiz ................................................................................................................ 80
Figure 31 Plant game.............................................................................................................. 81
Figure 32 Presentation inputs for creating a science toolbox & evidence hub................. 82
Figure 33 Tweeter announcement of the Branching Out parnership................................ 83
Figure 34 Tweeter: Evidence hub & toolbox......................................................................... 88
Figure 35 Screenshots exploring nature with iSpot............................................................. 91
Figure 36 Example of the Cos4Cloud resources in evidence hub ...................................... 92
Figure 37 General design model ........................................................................................... 95
Figure 38 iSpot OpenLearn space ......................................................................................... 99
Figure 39 Home of the iSpot websit ....................................................................................100
Figure 40 On-site workshop: make your own PM2.5 sensor ............................................102
Figure 41 Example of the mapping per service of the exploitation plan .........................104
Figure 42 Screenshot interview with researcher at ICM-CSIC...........................................109
Figure 43 Examples of the use of templates for social media and website banners .....110
Figure 44 Biomarató banner ...............................................................................................111
Figure 45 Example of the invitations for the Biomarató workshops ...............................111
Figure 46 CosCloud video ....................................................................................................114
Figure 47 Highlights Cos4Cloud community ......................................................................117
Figure 48 Example of the website of the Cos4Cloud services (MOBIS)............................119
Figure 49 Website Tackling challenges together for citizen observatories......................120
Figure 50 Codesign highlights .............................................................................................121
Figure 51 Biomarató website...............................................................................................124
Figure 52 Infographic of the service Cos4Bio .....................................................................130
Figure 53 Cos4Cloud video: What are the achievements of the citizen observatories in
Cos4Cloud .............................................................................................................................131

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Figure 54 Codesigh highlights .............................................................................................134

Figure 55 NKUA training course ..........................................................................................135
Figure 56 iSpotnature activities: earth day 2021 ...............................................................138
Figure 57 iSpot images of the insect week 2021 ...............................................................139
Figure 58 Key Performance Index of the communication plan ........................................150
Figure 59 Summary of Cos4Cloud’ mentions, both in social media and non-social media
(press, radio, blogs, etc.) All the data has been collected with Brand24 from January
2021 to January 2022. ..........................................................................................................151

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1. Explanation of the work carried out by the

beneficiaries and Overview of the progress

1.1. Objectives
The objectives in the 2nd reporting period can be summarised as:

● Strength communication channels and collaborative work strategies between the

Consortium's working groups.
● Create and implement a new version of the Data Management Plan
● Implementation of the agile methodology for developing and for testing.
● Adoption of the standards for data exchange among services and citizen
observatories.
● Run multiple interoperability experiments among services and between services
and citizens observatories.
● Make available Cos4Cloud services in the EOSC market place (Pl@ntNet-API,
Authenix, MOBIS and Cos4Bio)
● Make considerable progress in the development of the services (AI-GeoSpecies,
FASTCAT-Edge, FASTCAT-Cloud, AI-Taxonomist, GBIF-DL, MECODA are at TRL 7-8
and are testable in operational environments)
● Consolidation of the co-design community and the implementation of the strategy
● Development of bioblitzes and hackathones
● Creation and implementation of the online training course on citizen science
“Citizen Science and Environmental Education for Sustainability”,
● Produce the dissemination and marketing strategy
● Keep updated the Cos4Cloud communications channels including new
information about the services, co-design activities, news, and events.
● Maintain multiples strategies for the stakeholders engagement.
● Develop a series of materials (infographics, videos, FAQs, etc.) to disseminate the
functionalities of the Cos4Cloud services.
● Engage with multiple audiences on project plans and results

The main objectives were all addressed and completed according to plan. This report
further details the project outcomes to date and notes any deviations from the originally
planned approach.

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1.2. Explanation of the work carried out per WP

In the following sub-sections, a brief description of progress made towards achieving

objectives of each task and any deviations from the ‘description of work’ for the work
packages, during the 2nd reporting period (M15-M27), is given.

This report follows the structure of the Grant Agreement and its nine Work Packages
(WPx) and associated tasks (Tx.y). Three additional Ethics deliverables (Dx.y) are discussed
within WP1 Management as the effort in producing the results lies within this WP.

Summary:

WP1 Summary

The coordination of the project has focused during this period on strengthening
communication channels and collaborative work strategies between the Consortium's
working groups. Periodic meetings have been held between the different groups and the
consortium in general, as a summary: a general meeting, an annual meeting, four
steering committees, weekly coordination follow-up meetings and the co-design team, as
well as meetings semimonthly or monthly by the Sci&Tech and Connect teams
respectively. The advisory board also conducted a strategic review and made
recommendations for the advancement of the project. A new version of the Data
Management Plan was submitted. Both technical and financial monitoring of the project
has been kept constant by the coordination team.

WP2 Summary

During this period progress was made in the implementation of the agile methodology
for developing and for testing. The agile test plan was generated where user stories are
following the INVEST principle ('T' stands for testable). In Cos4Cloud we have finally
adopted two standards for data exchange. Among the biodiversity community there is a
strong legacy of the Darwin Core and the OGC Sensor Things API has been suggested as
a thematic agnostic standard that can be used both for environmental observations and
biodiversity observations. The extension of STA to cover citizen description (party),
licensing and observation groups proposed STA4CS to STA+. Small group of hackathons
and demonstrations have been voluntarily arranged based on specific standards or
models used in common (e.g. SensorThings API, STA+, Darwin Core, GBIF API, Cos4Bio
API). As a result, several use cases were demonstrated by Cos4Cloud partners for their
services interoperability according to two main models, STA+ and Darwin Core. Multiple

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interoperability experiments where running during this period between services and
services with citizen observatories.

WP3 Summary

The second period was very intensive in terms of workload. All the tasks have been
advanced in a very significant way and the seven services developed are now available at
least in prototype form. The most advanced one (Pl@ntNet-API) is now at TRL 9. It is
available in the EOSC market-place and already accounts for thousands of users. Four
other services (AI-GeoSpecies, FASTCAT-Edge, FASTCAT-Cloud, AI-Taxonomist, GBIF-DL)
are at TRL 7-8 and are testable in operational environments. They will be developed
further in the next period and made available in the EOSC market-place when applicable.
The last service (MECODA) has also been pushed to more advanced TRL (i.e. 7) and is now
available as a validated prototype.

WP4 Summary

Cos4Bio has completed its first stage of development and is available on the EOSC
marketplace. For its part, Cos4Env advances in the integration of environmental variables,
for now of air quality with the CanAirIO citizen observatory. The multilingual support
service advanced in its development and currently translates seven languages. The
developments of the interactive pre-processing of large (images) datasets continue with
the development of the API, which we call FASTCAT-Cloud (Flexible Ai SysTem for CAmera
Traps, accessible on the cloud). The MOBIS service is also available in the EOSC
marketplace. For its part, DUNS advances in the development of its architecture.

WP5 Summary

During this period, progress was made in the consolidation of the co-design community
and the implementation of the strategy. Multiple workshops and activities were held to
collect requirements and user stories from end-users. A shared strategy was also
designed with the agile methodology to ensure the integration of the inputs collected in
the co-design workshops and the monitoring of requirements, as well as communication
with the community about the feasibility of implementing them. Regarding bioblitzes, the
biomarató was carried out, which allowed the involvement of 117 participants, with
10,136 observations of marine biodiversity of 1,061 species. The hackathon was also held
to test the connection between camera Camera trap software (DinAIkon), Authenix
(SecD), Cos4Bio service (Bineo), and the experience in the AI-Naturalits APIs (INRIA). And
Cos4Cloud was part of the "Respiraton" hackathon focused on developments to improve

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air quality in Colombia. New CanAirIO Do-It-Yourself (DIY) sensor guides are available and
multiple improvements were implemented in CanAirIO sensors. Several networking
activities were also carried out to expand the CanAirIO network.

WP6 Summary

WP6 has continued supporting the database informing D6.1 Identification of and
engagement with projects of interest, fostering Cos4Cloud relationships with other
European projects and organizations and the school education sector.

During year 2, NKUA has created and implemented the online training course on citizen
science “Citizen Science and Environmental Education for Sustainability”, which can be
adapted and redeveloped into training resources for different audiences / stakeholders
and made available via the Cos4Cloud Toolkit and Evidence Hub.

WP6 has kept working in specific activities and initiatives focused on sharing best practice,
across the project and with other European projects and initiatives. Also, in updating
earlier research into online learning and toolkits/toolboxes; identifying Key Performance
Indicators and exploring the dissemination and marketing potential for D6.3 Production
of a citizen science toolbox and Evidence Hub. OU’s Open Learn Create has been the
repository platform of choice.

Research continued into the evaluation of the learning potential from online activities in
citizen observatories to identify learning journeys. Regarding the evaluation of innovative
school-based citizen-science activities, new actions have been designed and
implemented during Year 2 in addition to the integrated action plan designed in Year 1.

The collaborative working CoNNect Group (WPs 5, 6, 7 & 8) continued establishing

synergies and links across Cos4Cloud communications, dissemination, education and
networking plans & activities. A SciTech report has been included as a mandatory agenda
point in the CoNNect meetings.

WP7 Summary

WP7 has and will continue to produce a number of documents designed to aid in the
dissemination and exploitation of the Cos4Cloud project outputs. Deliverable (D7.3)
Strategic plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results (PEDR) produced
in RP1 and updated in 2ND RP, outlines this strategy, whilst D7.1 Exploitation Plan – ex

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ante identification and evaluation of project opportunities, also produced in RP1,

outlines the identification and evaluation of Cos4Cloud opportunities within the EOSC.
In 2ND RP, WP7 produced D7.2 Dissemination and marketing strategy, building on the
two previous deliverables to utilise a bottom-up approach of market analysis to finalise a
marketing strategy for project outputs. WP7 also began tasks which will feed into a future
deliverable, D7.5 Exploitation roadmap; which will provide the final version of the
Cos4Cloud exploitation plan, drawing together the work conducted in previous
deliverables and including the contributions of each consortium member to detail a
roadmap for project exploitation beyond Cos4Cloud’s lifetime.

WP8 Summary

Communication and outreach activities have been ongoing since the commencement of
the Cos4Cloud project. The website has been updated according to the progress of the
project, including new information about the services, co-design activities, news, and
events. During the second period reporting Cos4Cloud has continous been very active
posting on social media and Cos4Cloud blog promoting the project to the wider
community. A combination of press releases, blogs, short videos and social media
campaigns have been used to share project developments and ongoing activities. A great
effort was undertaken to engage participants in the co-design workshops, both to ensure
sufficient participant numbers in the workshops and comprehension of the
functionalities and development of the services. All the communication material
produced is visible in the service page in the website. Stakeholders engagement has been
through the Cos4Cloud community page on the website, as well as through direct calls in
social media, newsletters. Direct contact with target institutions has been crucial to
engage participants into the co-design workshops and other Cos4Cloud activities.
Proactive engagement activities such as workshops, webinars and training sessions has
helped to develop a database of newsletter subscribers and also a database of
stakeholders. The communication and engagement strategy has been evaluated monthly
to adjust and adapt the methodologies and implementation of the strategy.

As the project progresses into the next period there will be more opportunities to
communicate, disseminate and exploit outputs.

WP9 Summary

CSIC has verified that all the consortium has followed the ‘ethics requirements’ of the
projects.

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Summary of the deliverables submitted

For the 2nd reporting period the following deliverables were submitted through the EU
platform:

Official Deliverable
No.
deadline
D1.4 30-Apr-21 Revised version of the Data Management Plan
D8.3 30-Jun-21 Project Video
D7.2 31-Oct-21 Dissemination and marketing strategy
D3.1 31-Jan-22 Pl@ntNet platform as a service
D3.2 31-Jan-22 New AI related components and services in CO-platforms
D3.5 28-Feb-22 Location-based species prediction service
D4.2 28-Feb-22 Experts portal for biodiversity data validation
Platform for interactive pre-processing camera trap images
D4.4 28-Feb-22
(FASTCat-Edge)

Summary of intermediate deliverables and reports

Following the recommendations of the 1st reporting period, intermediate deliverables

and reports were created, in addition to the description of the progress made in the
technical report of the 2nd reporting period. These intermediate deliverables and tasks’
reports must be generated until the end of the project or in some cases did not have an
associated deliverable. Therefore, the documents were attached as annex to the technical
report, since they will not be submitted through the EU platform.

Annex
No. Deadline Updated Document technical
report
Intermediate deliverable: Interoperability
D2.4 31-Oct-22 31-Jan-22 II
experiment report
Intermediate deliverable: Co-designed services
D5.1 31-Oct-22 31-Jan-22 III
for Cos4cloud report
Intermediate deliverable: Design and
D6.5 31-Oct-22 31-Jan-22 evaluation of school-based citizen science IV
activities
Intermediate deliverable: MECODA data
D3.7 31-Dec-22 31-Jan-22 V
analysis package
Intermediate deliverable: Customizable
D4.5 31-Dec-22 31-Jan-22 VI
Interface service for Cos4Cloud Apps (MOBIS)
No
Task 5.4 Intermediate report: DIY progress and
deliverable 31-Jan-22 VII
report evaluation
associated
No
Task 2.3
deliverable 31-Jan-22 Agile test plan VIII
report
associated

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Summary of the milestones

For the 2nd reporting period the following milestones were developed:

Deadline
No. Milestone Responsible WP
(Month)
M36 Established brand identity CREAF 8 14
M16 INTS services for Biodiv. monitoring validated Bineo 4 22
M10 DCPQC services for Biodiv. validated INRIA 3 23
M3 Progress meeting 2 CSIC 1 24
M22 Demonstrative Bioblitz event B2 CSIC 8 24
M27 Engagement activities with projects of interest OU 6 24
DCPQC services for Biodiv. monitoring achieve 3
M11 INRIA 26
TRL 9
INTS services for Biodiv. monitoring achieve 4
M17 Bineo 26
TRL 8-9

1.2.1. WP1 Project Management and Coordination (Lead: CSIC)

WP1 Objectives: Ensure the delivery of project outcomes within the time and the budget
limits through day-to-day project management, coordinate R&D activities, provide access
to shared project resources, manage, and monitor the evolution of the project with
transparent progress tracking, solicit advice from stakeholder groups, facilitate
communication with the partners and the commission, and ensure that ethical research
practise is upheld throughout the project.

Please note that Ethics deliverables, marked as a separate WP in the Continuous

reporting period (WP9), are included here as Management activities since the efforts
towards monitoring ethical research and development were foreseen as WP1 tasks and
WP9 has no associated work effort.

Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2nd reporting
period (RP):
● T1.1 Project coordination
● T1.2 Monitoring project progress and day-to-day management
● T1.3 Financial and management reporting
● T1.4 Dissemination and communications reporting
● T1.5 Internal communication and knowledge management
● T1.6 Administration of Advisory Boards and Panels

The following WP1 deliverables were submitted during 2nd RP:

● D1.4 Revised version of the Data Management Plan

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The following Milestones relevant to WP1 were completed during 2nd RP:
● MS3 Progress meeting 2 (M24)

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried
during the 2nd RP:

WP1 Progress per task

Task 1.1 Project coordination (CSIC, M1-40)

The coordination of the project has maintained a continuous support to the partners of
the project to guarantee the technical, financial and logistical evolution of the proposed
activities. For this purpose, the coordination team acts through different levels: 1)
Individual coordination: online meetings are frequently held between the coordination
team and the partner that has doubts or comments about the scope of the deliverables,
milestones or any other activities 2) Working groups: three working groups were formed
in Cos4cloud: Co-design, Connect and Sci&Tech. The scope of each of the groups is
described in subtask 1.5.1. A member of the coordination participates in each one of
them to keep track of the activities, generate the required guidelines and connect the
software development, engagement, and co-design approach in the most harmonious
way possible. 3) Steering committee: eight steering committees have been held over
the course of the project. During the 2nd RP, four steering committees were held
including leaders of work packages and tasks, leaders of services and observatories 4)
General assembly: in June 2021, the 2nd general assembly was held, it was a two-day
online meeting of the entire consortium to discuss data protection issues, progress of the
services and the citizen observatories toolbox. 5) Annual meeting: in November 2021,
the 2nd annual meeting was held, it was a space for presenting the prototypes of the
services and coordinate the agile test plan.

Data Management Plan

In April 2021 was submitted the second version of the D1.4. Revised version of the Data
Management Plan. The new version of the DMP describes the types of data that will be
generated or collected during the project, the standards that will be used, and the ways
in which the data may be exploited and shared including the data security and ethical
aspects. An online Data Management Planning tool (DMPonline:
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk ) has been used to elaborate this deliverable.

Additionally, the last version of the DMP will include the results of the privacy and data
protection issues that the Consortium have been working on. In this regard, the
coordination, together with the co-design team, organized a data protection regulation
(GDPR) workshop with all the partners. The workshop was held during the general

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meeting held on June 7 and 8, 2021. The main questions expected to be addressed with
the workshop were: What personal data is "collecting" directly or indirectly by the
services? What is the Cos4Cloud consortium doing to comply with the regulations of the
GDPR? In the workshop, progress was made in the construction of a data protection
impact for each of the services. Each of the groups discussed the type of data to collect if
it included vulnerable data, how to manage the associated infrastructure to ensure GDPR
compliance. This information will feed the last version of the DMP.

Figure 1 Collaborative board of the Cos4Cloud data protection workshop held on 8th June 2021.

Task 1.2. Monitoring project progress and day-to-day management (CSIC, WP

leaders M1-40)

The monitoring of the project is carried out through various instruments. The
coordination and the different working groups (Codesign, Connect, Sci&Tech) document
all work agreements and commitments in minutes within Confluence through which the
coordination follows up. The coordination and the steering committee monitor the
deliverables, the milestones, as well as the scope and strategy to develop them. The risk
register is reviewed at the beginning of each committee.

In monitoring the progress reported by the partners, an alert was identified with the SLU
partner. During the first report, it was the only partner that justified 6% of financial
execution compared to the average that justified around 30%. During this second period,
although there was an increase in activities per SLU, there is no evidence that the effort
dedicated especially to task 5.3 is significant. Therefore, a reallocation of PM with another
partner that can carry out these activities is planned.

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The deliverables are planned sufficiently in advance to comply with the proposed
workflow. Initially, coordination agrees with the leader of the deliverable on the scope
and expectations of the document. Then a group of internal reviewers of the consortium
is defined, who, weeks before the official submission on the EU platform, review the
content to validate the technical and presentation quality. All deliverables are also
reviewed by a member of the coordination team.

Additionally, the coordination established in the Living Guidelines document the set of
technical, logistical and administrative guidelines to facilitate the execution of the project.
This also includes the code of conduct adopted by the Consortium.

Task 1.3. Financial and management reporting (CSIC, M1-40)

The coordination team during the reporting periods verifies the financial progress of each
partner and its consistency with the reported technical progress. For this period, two
actions were taken in this matter. On the one hand, INRIA requested in the 1st reporting
period resources that exceeded the ceiling of 90% of its total budget, therefore the
coordination only allowed the transfer of the missing resources to reach the ceiling, given
that the partner has shown the progress according to the requested value. Another of
the actions that were detected was related to the partner SLU. SLU was the only one of
the 15 partners that justified only 6% of its budget in the first period. In the second period,
the progress was considerable only in one of the work packages, corresponding to
interoperability, however, in the WP5 activities corresponding to testing and engagement,
a timely execution was not carried out. Of the 15 person months planned to execute from
month 1 to 27 (for the period of this report it is in 24) SLU had only executed less than 1
PM. Therefore, SLU resources will be reallocated within the consortium to ensure that
these activities are carried out successfully.

The financial follow-up has also included the preparation of guidelines and support for
the partners -especially those who did not have previous experience in H2020 projects-
for the preparation of the reporting and especially for the implementation of budget
modifications. It is expected that several partners including ICM-CSIC, NKUA, SECD will
have to transfer funds planned for travel to the personnel category. This is because with
the pandemic, trips have been reduced and, in some cases, have almost been completely
canceled and, on the other hand, work fronts have been identified that can be
strengthened with greater dedication (more PMs). This will be explained in detail in the
deviations sections.

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Task 1.4. Dissemination and Communications reporting (CSIC, inputs from all
through WP7, WP8, M1-40)

This task includes the bottom-up collection of information and opportunities for
dissemination and communication from the beneficiaries and top-down (coordinator,
project manager and WP leads) prioritisation of WP7 and WP8 dissemination and
reporting actions.
The communication log produced in the first reporting period is still in use. The
communication log collects information about communication and dissemination
activities carried out by the consortium. The communication log is centralised by CSIC
and CREAF and is accessible through the Project Management Portal set up in Confluence
and, which also contains a communication guideline for partners with resources, rules
and guidance when promoting Cos4Cloud events, activities, news and outputs.

Task 1.5 Internal Communication and knowledge management (CSIC, M1-40)

During the present period, the consortium has managed to consolidate the proposed
communication channels, as well as the knowledge transfer spaces. In terms of digital
tools, collaborative work has been possible thanks to: Video calls and synchronous
meetings: Zoom, Skype and Google Meet. Documentation of meetings, follow-up and
monitoring of the project: Confluence and Google drive. Collaborative work: Miro and
Slack. Software development tools are detailed in WP2, 3 and 4, as well as those used for
communication and dissemination in WP 8.

The collaborative workspaces have remained active and have allowed the synergy of the
activities of the three main components of Cos4Cloud: codesign, technical developments
and social components. As described below, the work teams meet frequently, document
their strategies, and work agreements and maintain fluid communication between them.
For example, in the case of the Connect and Sci&Tech groups, the chair of each group
makes a report for their colleagues with the aim of keeping themselves periodically
informed. Additionally, both in the Steering committees and especially in the general
meeting and annual meetings, the coordination designs workshops that allow addressing
gaps or work on potential areas of joint development that have not been addressed in
the working groups meetings.

Subtask 1.5.1 Internal communication channels: The weekly, monthly and fortnightly
meetings are kept documented in Confluence and are the spaces that allow
communication to be as fluid as possible. During the 2nd reporting period, four steering
committees were held (February, April, May, September/ 2021) a general meeting on June

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7-8 2021, and an annual meeting on November 4-5 2021. Table No. 1 details the
participants and scope of each workspace.

Collaborative Meetings’ Participants Objective

spaces frequency
Coordination team Weekly Coordinator, WP8-9 Define guidelines, carry out
leader monitoring and follow-up,
(communication and support the development of
engagement) WP5 the project
leader, testing
services.
Codesign team Weekly SfC, CREAF and ICM- Design the co-design strategy,
CSIC participants coordinate, and implement the
dedicated to workshops, create, and
coordinate and maintain the co-design
implemented the community. Coordinate the
codesign strategy scope of the co-design with
service leaders and monitor
communication with end-users.
Connect working Monthly Consortium It is the team in charge of
group participants from the harmonizing the tasks of the
areas of: socio-technological component
Engagement, of Cos4Cloud. It is the space
communication, where communication,
dissemination, engagement, codesign,
codesign, training, networking and education
education, activities are coordinated.
networking
Sci&Tech working Semimonthly Consortium It is the team in charge of
group participants from the coordinating the
areas of web and interoperability tasks between
mobile development, the services and between the
artificial intelligence, citizen observatories. The team
interoperability, define the technical
privacy, do-it- agreements on standardization
yourself devices and development of software.
Steering Committee Four per year Work package It is the highest decision
and leaders, task and instance of the project. In these
additionally if subtask leaders, meetings, the technical and
needed citizen observatories financial follow-up of the
(2nd RP: leaders project is carried out and
February, (Guaranteeing a transversal strategies or
April, May, participant from guidelines are defined for the
September each partner) proper development of the
2021) project.
General meeting Two meetings All the Cos4Cloud Meeting spaces for connecting
during the consortium the two main areas of the
project life project (social and
technological). They are

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Collaborative Meetings’ Participants Objective

spaces frequency
(June 2020 – meetings where workshops are
June 2021) held or collaborative
workspaces are created, which
favour cross-pollination
between partners.
Annual meeting Annually All the Cos4Cloud Spaces mainly for the
(November consortium presentation of progress and
2020 – strategic discussions for the
November development of the project.
2021 –
November
2022)
Table 1 Description of collaborative working spaces in Cos4Cloud project

Figure 2 Participants of the Cos4Cloud online 2nd general meeting on 7th – 8th June 2021

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Figure 3 Participants of the Cos4Cloud online 2nd annual meeting on 4th and 5th November 2021

Task 1.6. Administration of Advisory Boards and Panels (CSIC, M1-40)

Cos4Cloud's advisory board during the second period was strengthened with the
inclusion of three new members, Carolina Botero, Paula Puy and Huma Shah. All of them
women with extensive experience and expertise that favors the thematic integrality of
AB. Currently the AB is made up of:

● Pierre Bonnet: Permanent researcher at CIRAD Institute.

● Carolina Botero: Executive Director at Karisma Foundation
● Paula Puy: Communication Technician and volunteer at Xarxa per la Conservació
de la Natura
● Ivan Rodero: Data Management Officer at EMSO ERIC.
● Sven Schade: scientific officer for JRC's Digital Earth and Reference Data Unit
(European Commission)
● Huma Shah: Research Scientist at Trust in AI (Coventry University)

The profile information of the AB participants is available at the Cos4Cloud website. They
are experts from umbrella organisations (JRC-Sven Schade), European Research
Infrastructures (EMSO- Ivan Rodero) and research institutes and institutions with
experience on citizen observatories (CIRAD-Pierre Bonnet, Coventry University-Huma
Shah, Karisma Foundation-Carolina Botero, Xarxa per la Conservació de la Natura - Paula
Puy). The steering committee approved the selection. Further members (or potentially
replacement members) would preferably include additional experts in international
capacity building and training, or further experts from industry or experts from EOSC.

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The guiding principles for inviting new members will be to establish a gender-diverse
board including recognised experts in their field as well as younger researchers.

The Advisory Board has been highly engaged with the project, e.g. contributing to
Cos4Cloud webinars and forging links to new and initiatives. A first dedicated meeting
with the Advisory Board was held in 25th of January 2022 and the main insights are
summarised in Subtask 8.3.4 of WP8 report.

In line with the strategy developed with the Advisory Board, the recruitment of the
Advisory Panels is being channelled through the Cos4Cloud website section “Be part of
our community” and the form “Join our community”. Since the Advisory Panels will be
used mainly for the co-design process of Cos4Cloud services, we decided to integrate the
recruitment of these panels with the recruitment and search for stakeholders for the co-
design.

Ethics

CSIC, OU, NKUA and ECSA have collected personal information for registration purposes
when organising events and training courses. CSIC has verified that the registration forms
had an informed consent process in accordance with the GDPR and that all partners are
implementing technical and organisational measures adequate to safeguard the rights
and freedoms of the data participants. In the case of the events organised by CSIC, all the
data collected is stored in CSIC repositories.

For now, no data has been transferred between Colombia and the EU.

Deviations
Project management has responded flexibly to the needs of the project. There are no
deviations of note.

1.2.2. WP 2 - EOSC compliant service architecture (Lead: CREAF)

WP2 Objectives: This WP compiles the strategies and testing types used to verify that the
services under test meet the users’ expectations and the EOSC hub requirements.

Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2nd RP:

● T2.2 Development of an agile development methodology and documentation

system (52N, CSIC, Bineo, M1-M34)

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● T2.3 Implementing testing methodologies (52N, CSIC, SfC, M1-M40)

● T2.5 Internal workshops about data and services interoperability (CREAF, ALL, M4-
M38)
● T2.6 Citizen Observatories Interoperability documentation and experimentation
(CREAF, ALL Technological partners, M1-M40)
● T2.7 Compatibility with other sources of data in the EOSC (CREAF, ALL
Technological partners, M1-M40)
● T2.8 Standards and best practices definition (CREAF, ALL Technological partners,
M1-M40)
● T2.9 User driven GDPR services federation (SECD, ALL Technological partners M1-
M40).
● T2.10 Service integration to EOSC hub (CREAF, CSIC, Others, M1-M40)

The following WP2 deliverables were submitted during 2nd RP:

● For this reporting period there were no deliverables to submit although

intermediate deliverables and task reports were created:
○ D2.4 Intermediate deliverable: Interoperability experiment report (Annex I)
○ Task 2.3 Agile test plan (Annex VIII)

The following Milestones relevant to WP2 were completed during 2nd RP:
● None

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried during
the 2ND RP:

WP2 Progress per task

Task 2.1 Selection of the standards used in Citizen Science for the EOSC (CREAF, ALL
M1-4)
Finished during the 1st reporting period.

Task 2.2 Development of an agile development methodology and documentation

system (52N, CSIC, Bineo, M1-M34)
Within the second period of the project the agile methodology has been evolved and fine-
tuned. Especially, based on the feedback from the reviewers of the first version of
deliverable D2.2, we decided to create a survey on cross-cutting practices already applied
by all Cos4Cloud partners. This led us to find out the broadest base-line on (already
established) agile concepts and those concepts described in the deliverable.

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Furthermore, the actual organisation of how agile methods will be applied in the project
(team/component level and architecture/project level) has been described more clearly.

The agile methodology has been documented, presented and discussed in the SciTech
telcos and the Confluence wiki. Within that context, 52°North gave support for all
partners and managed to put further improvements into practice, to mention a common
cadence for regular synchronisation of the different groups within the project, forming
Co-Design Digests as a pavement for the outcome of Co-Design sessions to concrete user
stories, organising hackathons and workshops, etc. In addition, 52°North supported SfC
to prepare the methodology of the 2nd Co-Design session wherein users were asked to
define user stories.

52°North initiated the technical documentation on Cos4Cloud services including a

technical fact sheet, (planned and already established) technical integrations, and
scheduled TRL readiness. It serves as a central point for discussion about status quo and
further integration work.

According to the "eat-your-own-dog-food" style, we have tracked our own work on the
STA+ extension in a Story Map in Jira, just to live and prove (relevant) parts described in
D2.2. It serves as an example project and gives us a kind of a sandbox for explanations
and discussions. Related to this, we connected our standardisation efforts with the
participation at OGC members meetings to discuss status quo of the extension,
incorporating feedback, and to push forward the outcome as an official contribution to
the OGC.

Task 2.3 Implementing testing methodologies (52N, CSIC, SfC, M1-M40)

As mentioned in the D2.2, Working Software is one important part of the described Agile
Baseline. This was complemented by guidance (via the project’s Confluence wiki) on
implementing test methodologies within Cos4Cloud to ensure working software over
time. It focuses on testing the relevant parts of a service, recaps different approaches and
granularity levels (Figure 1), and ties everything into the context of the project. In addition,
the wiki lists different aspects of testing, provides links to external tools and
documentation, and serves as a melting point for all discussions related to testing.

As recommended by D2.2, user stories are following the INVEST principle ('T' stands for
testable) shown in Figure 2. A user story describes a focused business requirement and
has to be (re-)tested once it is completed or a new release of a service is about to be
published. Those user stories identified to be relevant for Cos4Cloud will be collected in
a testing report table for each service. A template has been prepared in the wiki. The table

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reflects all relevant test aspects including TRL, acceptance criteria, test granularity (Figure
1), application of functional/non-functional or integration tests, etc. Seven questions have
been developed which shall help to fill out the table for a given user story.

Figure 4 Different Granularity of Testing.

Figure 5 INVEST Principle for Writing User Stories.

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The agile test plan includes tests on a component or service integrations level only. More
fine-grained tests (as Unit tests in Figure 1) are not covered at this documentation level
but are highly recommended as functional and regression tests.

Furthermore, this guidance on testing was complemented by an approach to determine

the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the developed Cos4Cloud services. For this
purpose, other existing guidance documents on TRL estimation were analysed. Based on
this overview, specific recommendations were derived, that especially consider the
development of services to be deployed in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

The agile test plan was not formally included in the deliverables lists, however, to advance
the documentation and facilitate the review by the EU experts, a report was created. The
document is found in Annex VIII: Agile test plan.

Task 2.4 Definition the common architecture services and the rules of participation
for COs in the EOSC (CSIC, ALL Technological partners, M1-M4)
Finished during the 1st reporting period.

Task 2.5 Internal workshops about data and services interoperability (CREAF, ALL,
M4-M38)
The second period of the project has continued to advance with biweekly regular
meetings focusing on standardisation and integration among all components. The
regular meeting notes were documented and made internally available in the online
forum to all partners, which is traceable to review how the project has evolved over time
from the first period.

In addition, small group hackathons and demonstrations have been voluntarily arranged
based on specific standards or models used in common (e.g. SensorThings API, STA+,
Darwin Core, GBIF API, Cos4Bio API). As a result, several use cases were demonstrated by
Cos4Cloud partners for their services interoperability according to two main models,
STA+ and Darwin Core, respectively:
● STA+: Natusfera, Pl@ntNet, FASTCAT, MOBIS
● Darwin Core: Cos4Bio, Natusfera, Pl@ntNet, iSpot, Artportalen

In the next reporting period workshops will be organised focusing on implementing FAIR
principles, corresponding to requirements for the development of EOSC services and
recommendations on FAIR metrics for EOSC, in alignment with the EOSC FAIR Working
Group.

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Task 2.6 Citizen Observatories Interoperability documentation and

experimentation (CREAF, ALL Technological partners, M1-M40)
Cos4Cloud is now leading the Community of Practice (CoP) on Interoperability originally
created by WeObserve after the finalisation of the WeObserve project extension in March
2021. The transition forced an interlude that ended after the summer period. This is the
list of virtual meetings that were organised.

Community of Practice (CoP) on

27/10/2021 CREAF WP2/Task 2.6 Conference Interoperability

Community of Practice (CoP) on

1/12/2021 CREAF WP2/Task 2.6 Conference Interoperability

Since the activity is organised in collaboration with the OGC, we continue using the OGC
public twiki to store the meeting minutes
https://external.ogc.org/twiki_public/CitSciIE/WebHome. The objective of the activity was
to create a second interoperability report on the STA+ and its advantages for Citizen
Science. However the lack of participation prevented the finalisation of the effort. Instead,
there was a proposal on creating a STA+ best practice document in coordination with task
2.8. One of the aspects recently discussed is the capacity of the different citizen scientists
to modify or remove their contributions and their consequences.

Cos4Cloud will continue leading the Community of Practice (CoP) on Interoperability in

the next reporting period.

Furthermore, Table 1 summarises the interoperability experimentation among citizen

observatories and partners participating in the Cos4Cloud project, reflecting the
integration tests among service components carried out to date. The status will continue
to be updated as the tests advance, and more tests will be explored for various
combinations of integration.

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.
Table 2 Technology Integration Experiments (TIEs)

The deliverable 2.4 associated with this task was scheduled to be generated until Oct 31st
2022, however, in order to advance the documentation and facilitate the review by the
EU experts, an Intermediate deliverable was created. The document is found in Annex II:
Intermediate report Interoperability experiment report.

Task 2.7 Compatibility with other sources of data in the EOSC (CREAF, ALL
Technological partners, M1-M40)
This task focuses on vocabularies and essential variables for the observatories data in a
way that the data is compatible with other data source parts of EOSC. The biodiversity
taxonomies that the 4 observatories use are very similar to the taxonomy used by GBIF
backbone that is also connected to EOSC. This ensures the compatibility with GBIF. In the
next reporting period, Cos4Cloud will address environmental variables and their
compatibility with other EOSC data sources.

In order to facilitate the integration of Cos4Cloud data in EOSC, a common data repository
based on the FROST development was installed in the EGI cloud and was offered to all
members of the consortium for storing the citizen science data created by the different
observatories.

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Task 2.8 Standards and best practices definition (CREAF, ALL Technological partners,
M1-M40)
In Cos4Cloud we have finally adopted two standards for data exchange. Among the
biodiversity community there is a strong legacy of the Darwin Core implementations that
has the advantage of offering an approach tailored to the Biodiversity domain. The
Cos4Bio service has suggested this standard and has suggested to the four biodiversity
citizen observatories to support it and ensure the connection to Cos4Bio. The intention
is to also adopt this standard in the Cos4Env application, but it is still soon to see if the
environmental observatories will support this approach. Darwin Core allows for
environmental observations that complement the biodiversity ones but might not be
suitable for exchanging long time series coming from environmental automatic sensors
or camera traps.

The OGC Sensor Things API has been suggested as a thematic agnostic standard that can
be used both for environmental observations and biodiversity observations. The
extension of STA to cover citizen description (party), licensing and observation groups
proposed (Figure 3) in the first period reporting has been implemented and
demonstrated in practical applications. During this period, a best practices document has
been started with the intention to complete it in the next reporting period. We believe
the approach is useful beyond citizen science so we changed the name from STA4CS to
STA+.

Figure 6 Proposal of the extension of the OGC SensorThings API Plus (STA+).

Also, during this reporting period, we recognized that presentations to the OGC
community (Citizen Science DWG and SWE.IoT SWG) were well received and that OGC

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members are in favour of the extension. A demonstration endpoint was set up that is
deployed in the EGI cloud: https://Cos4Cloud.secd.eu/staplus/v1.1.

Task 2.9 User driven GDPR services federation (SECD, ALL Technological partners M1-
M40).
Since the last reporting period, one of the main objectives was to integrate AUTHENIX
into Cos4Cloud applications and services. The integration of Cos4Cloud applications and
services is progressing: Currently, the following APIs offer AUTHENIX based
authentications:
• Pl@ntNet DaaS (https://my-api.plantnet.org/) has implemented a Cos4Cloud API
that requires a Bearer Access token from AUTHENIX
• FASTCAT-Cloud (https://service.fastcat-cloud.org/api) has integrated AUTHENIX
• Cos4Bio (https://cos4bio.eu/) has integrated AUTHENIX
• STA+ (https://Cos4Cloud.secd.eu/staplus/v1.1) has integrated AUTHENIX
• MOBIS application is currently being evaluated how to use AUTHENIX

To ensure a seamless login experience for users of EOSC, we made progress with the
activity to establish AUTHENIX as a Community AAI in EOSC. The Cos4Cloud project –
represented by Andreas Matheus from Secure Dimensions – has joined the EOSC AAI
taskforce (https://www.eosc.eu/advisory-groups/aai-architecture). Within the current
work of the task force, we are striving to get AUTHENIX accepted as a Cos4Cloud AAI
component.

Task 2.10 Service integration to EOSC hub (CREAF, CSIC, Others, M1-M40)
After the first period report identified some requirements in terms of interoperability and
architecture, and the prerequisites to the EOSC registration, four of the Cos4Cloud system
components have been registered in the EOSC Portal to facilitate discovery and usage
outside the Cos4Cloud project. In addition to being part of the EOSC hub, some of these
registered components are compatible with each other, resulting from technical synergy
formed within the project. As of January 2022, the four components are available in the
EOSC Marketplace:
● Cos4Bio by Bineo: Expert Portal with co-designed, interoperable and open source
service, compatible with Pl@ntNet and AUTHENIX
○ Figure 4 (https://marketplace.eosc-portal.eu/services/cos4bio) shows the
webpage of Cos4Bio in the EOSC Marketplace including a link to ‘Manual’
which directs to terms of use and privacy policies on the Open science
policy platform
● Pl@ntNet Identification Service by INRIA: AI-based plant identification API,
compatible with Cos4Bio and AUTHENIX

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● MOBIS by DDQ: mobile observation integration service, compatible with

AUTHENIX
● AUTHENIX by SECD: authorization service, compatible with all above

Figure 7 Cos4Bio registered in the EOSC Portal.

In line with the Cos4Cloud services integration to the EOSC, EOSC Association,
incorporated by CREAF as its member, has recently become in full operation with 13 Task
Forces (TFs) established. It highlights contributions to the following TFs within Technical
Challenges on EOSC Advisory Group by two of the Cos4Cloud partners: Authentication
and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI) Architecture TF member by Andreas Matheus
(SECD), and Technical Interoperability of Data and Services TF member by Joan Maso
(CREAF). Being TF members will have the opportunity of being updated on the latest
developments as well as play a critical role in implementation towards the future
direction of EOSC.

Deviations
No deviations from the DoA are detected.

1.2.3. WP3 - Data collection, processing and quality control Services (Lead:
INRIA)

WP3 Objectives: is to develop services and methods that facilitate data collection,
processing and quality control (DCPQC onward) in citizen science observatories using
advanced technologies (machine learning, computer vision, data management). In
particular, WP3 develops seven of the Cos4Cloud services: Pl@ntNet-API, FASTCAT-Edge,
FASTCAT-Cloud, AI-GeoSpecies, AI-Taxonomist, GBIF-DL and MECODA.

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Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2nd RP:
● T3.1. Pl@ntNet platform as a service
● T3.2. Cross-platform aggregation of labelled training data
● T3.3 Similarity-search based identification
● T3.4. Location-based Species Prediction
● T3.5. Automatic video stream processing service
● T3.6 Framework for customizable data analysis services

The following WP3 deliverables were submitted during 2nd RP:

● D3.1 - Pl@ntNet platform as a service
● D3.2 - New AI related components and services in CO-platforms
● D3.5 - Location-based species prediction service

Additionally, to the official deliverables, the following intermediate reports were

attached to the technical report:
● D3.7 Intermediate deliverable: MECODA data analysis package

The following Milestones relevant to WP3 were completed during 2nd RP:
● M3.1 - DCPQC services for Biodiversity validated (M23)
● M11 - DCPQC services for Biodiv. monitoring achieves TRL 9 8 (M26)

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried during
the 2nd RP:

WP3 Progress per task

Task 3.1. Pl@ntNet platform as a service (INRIA, M1-M27)

The goal of this task is to develop interoperable web services allowing other applications
to (i) access Pl@ntNet data, (ii) run Pl@ntNet identification engine and (iii), contribute to
the platform by uploading new content. A detailed description of the outcomes of the
task is provided in deliverable D3.1 - Pl@ntNet platform as a service. The deliverable
synthesises the technical achievements, provides pointers to the developed resources &
documentation as well as information about the usage. We list hereafter the
achievements conducted since the last reporting period:

1. Pl@ntNet Identification API (https://my.plantnet.org/): Pl@ntNet API provides

computational access to the visual identification engine used in Pl@ntNet apps in the
form of a RESTful Web service. In 2021, the service was accessed by 4434 different
user accounts who submitted a total of 1.4M queries. See details in deliverable D3.1

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- Pl@ntNet platform as a service. The following achievements were made since the last
reporting period:

2. Integration of the service in EOSC market place (here)

- New developments and maintenance of the API
- Automatic detection of plant organs (specifying the organ is now optional)
- Improvement of the automatic rejection of unappropriated content
- Addition of a priority queue to better manage load peaks
- Improvement of the service monitoring through the Munin utility
- Enrichment of the returned metadata (e.g. species common names, GBIF
species ID, etc.)
- Addition of Authenix authentication capability
- Consistent improvement of the documentation page:
https://my.plantnet.org/account/doc
- Addition of usage logs and versioning of the used model for identification
- Code maintenance, library updates, bugs correction, etc.
- Integration of Pl@ntNet Identification API in Cos4Bio (by Bineo)
- Integration of Pl@ntNet Identification API in iSpot (by iSPot)
- Preparations for integrating Pl@ntNet Identification API into the CO Artportalen
(by SLU)

3. Pl@ntNet data access API: Two different endpoints to access Pl@ntNet data have
been developed, one based on the DarwinCore standard (DwC) and one based on
the OGC Sensor Things API standard (STA). Each of them responds to different needs
of different communities (see details in deliverable D3.1 - Pl@ntNet platform as a
service). The DwC Pl@ntNet API was not existing at the time of the first reporting
period, so it was developed entirely during the second period. The development of
the Sensor Things Pl@ntNet API was initiated before the first reporting period and
continued during the second period. New achievements include:
- The upgrade of the scripts and data models allowing to load Pl@ntNet data into
FROST server
- The development of tests of the service (including time response measurements)
- The improvement of the response times via PostgreSQL indices
- The addition of Authenix authentication capability
- The improvement of the documentation of the service
- The addition of license-based filtering capabilities to make the service PEDR
compliant
- The improvement of the service stability (protection against too heavy queries in
particular)

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- Code maintenance, library updates, bugs correction, etc.

-
Task 3.2. Cross-platform aggregation of labeled training data (INRIA, All data
provider platforms, M1-M32)
The development of the GBIF-DL software has been continued during the second period.
GBIF-DL (standing for GBIF Data Loader) is a python package freely available on github
(MIT license), making it simpler to obtain media data from the GBIF database to be used
for training machine learning classification models (typically for species identification). It
wraps the GBIF API and supports directly querying the api to obtain and download a list
of urls. Existing saved queries can also be obtained using the download api of GBIF simply
by providing GBIF DOI key. The package provides an efficient downloader that uses
python asyncio modules to speed up downloading of many small files as typically occur
in downloads. Ultimately gbif-dl can also directly return pytorch or tensorflow data
loaders. The data loader is configurable in many ways (e.g. max number of pictures per
species, filter by location, taxonomic groups, etc.) and it includes a smart balancing item
allowing to balance the number of downloaded samples according to any GBIF key such
data providers or taxonomic group. The following achievements were made since the last
reporting period (detailed GitHub actions are available online):
- Improved downloading performance (via multi-threading fall-back)
- Return download statistics on the flight
- Improved logging of downloading errors and improved procedure to restart the
download of missed images
- Log image licensing information to make the service more PEDR compliant
- Development of new tests
- Enriched documentation
- Code maintenance, library updates, bugs correction, etc.

Task 3.3 Similarity-search based identification (INRIA, CSIC M1-M36)

The main goal of this task was to refactor, evolve and contenerize Pl@ntNet’s species
identification engine so as to make it more evolutive, adaptable to other contexts than
Pl@ntNet and easily deployable to any other infrastructures. The main outcome of the
task is a service called AI-Taxonomist that allows deploying a REST full image-based
identification web service on any group of species. It aims at facilitating the integration of
AI-based species identification in citizen observatories having general skills in web
development but no specific skills in AI and data science technologies. AI-Taxonomist is
based on the same technological foundation as the Pl@ntNet identification engine (see
details in deliverable D3.1 - Pl@ntNet platform as a service) but encapsulated in a container
that is totally independent of the Pl@ntNet infrastructure and deployable as a web service
on any server. In particular, it can be easily deployed on other data than Pl@ntNet and

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other taxonomic groups than plants. To this end, it is interfaced with GBIF-DL (see above)
to automatically collect training images from the GBIF database. But it can also be
deployed on data provided by the users themselves (through a simple structure of image
directories, one directory per species). Once deployed, the AI-Taxonomist service allows
users to submit one or several pictures of an organism (to be identified) and it returns
two types of information (in json format): (i) the most probable species with confidence
scores, and (ii) the most similar pictures to the query image(s) in the entire image
database. In the last quarter of 2021, once AI-Taxonomist was ready for tests, it was
deployed on a use-case related to frogs, in collaboration with FrogID, an Australian citizen
science project that is helping to learn more about what is happening to Australia’s frogs.
The image database was automatically built with GBIF-DL from a GBIF query gathering all
observations of living specimens of order Anura illustrated by still images (DOI
10.15468/dl.epcnam). It includes 652,541 images of 3,176 frog species. A ResNet-50
convolutional network has been trained on these images and is used both as a feature
extraction and a classification tool by Biodiv-Snoop. An example of query that can be
submitted to this instance of AI-Taxonomist is the following (username: demo, passwd:
c4c):
https://c4c.inria.fr/ai-
naturalist/identify?image=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Quasi
paa_spinosa.jpg

Other instances of AI-Taxonomist will be deployed in 2022. In particular, it is planned to

deploy an instance on the species covered by the Cos4Bio application developed in the
context of Cos4Cloud.

Details of the tasks performed during the second Cos4Cloud period for the development
and deployment of AI-Taxonomist are as follows:
● Database construction:
○ A set of python scripts were written (https://gitlab.inria.fr/snoop/c4c-
identify) to:
■ Create a dataset either from a list of species names, a list of GBIF
species ids and optionally a list of gbif dataset ids, or a doi from a
DWCA GBIF query. Database creation includes crawling GBIF to
retrieve images and associated metadata, splitting them in a
training and a validation set using GBIF-DL, generating configuration
and ground truth files for the next steps.
■ Train a neural network model on this database, based on pytorch
lts, currently supported model architectures are MobileNets,
ResNets, DenseNets and Inception V3. Each model has been altered

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to produce both features and logits and to be scriptable. Using a

multiple GPU high performance computer is strongly
recommended to train the model.
■ Convert the trained model to a TorchScript representation suitable
for a C++ usage
○ Bash scripts were written to easily use the dockerized Biodiv-Snoop feature
extractor and database index builder.
● The AI-Taxonomist REST full API dedicated server was written in C++ upon Biodiv-
Snoop and made available through Docker containers
(https://gitlab.inria.fr/snoop/c4c-identify/container_registry).
● Documentation describing the full process to build, deploy and launch a AI-
Taxonomist service (https://gitlab.inria.fr/snoop/c4c-identify/-/wikis/home)
● Beta test and validation by a set of selected users.
● The AI-Taxonomist demonstration on frogs is available through https://my-
api.plantnet.org/ for authorised accounts.

Task 3.4. Location-based Species Prediction (INRIA M1-M28)

AI-GeoSpecies is a RESTful JSON based web service allowing the automatic prediction of
the list of species most likely to be observed at a given location. It relies on deep species
distribution models (deep-SDM) developed by Inria (see details in deliverable D3.5 -
Location-based species prediction service). Deep-SDMs typically take as input various data
characterising the local environment (satellite image, climatic data, altitude, etc.) and
predict the list of species that are likely to live in this environment. The RESTful JSON
based web service we developed on top of such a model only requires the user to give a
geo-location coordinate and the service returns the list of species most likely to be
observed at that location with some probability scores. A first beta version of this service
was developed during the first reporting period, and we continued its development
during the second period in order to (i) considerably improve the quality of the service,
(ii) enrich it with new features and (iii), make it reach a higher degree of technological
maturity (from TRL5-6 to TRL7-8). The web service is now accessible through Pl@ntNet
API my.plantnet.org and will be integrated in the EOSC market place very soon. It has also
been integrated in Pl@ntNet’s citizen observatory as a user-friendly web application
publicly accessible at https://identify.plantnet.org/prediction. More details about this
integration can be found in deliverable D3.2 - New AI related components and services in
CO-platforms, related to the integration of AI-based components in citizen observatories.
In more details, the following achievements were made since the last reporting period:
- Training of a new Deep-SDM taking as input very high resolution (1m) remote
sensing images (from IGN BD-Ortho). Evaluation of the model and publication of
the results [2].

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- Training of a new hybrid Deep-SDM taking as input very high resolution (1m)
remote sensing images (from IGN BD-Ortho) and bio-climatic data (from
WordClim). Evaluation of the model.
- Integration of the new Deep-SDMs in AI-Geospecies:
- Development of a module for querying the IGN API to retrieve high-
resolution remote sensing images at any location on the fly
- Development of a hybrid data loader concatenating the high-resolution
remote sensing images with WorldClim bio-climatic rasters
- Development of a module for managing several models in AI-Geospecies
- Development of a new route allowing to get the best model to be used at
a given location
- Enrichment of the output of the service with additional information including (i)
the probability of presence of each species, (ii) an adaptability score of each
species to the local environment, (iii) several biodiversity indices including Shanon
index, beta-diversity compared to most common species, etc.
- Development of a debugging/testing front-end of AI-Geospecies including the
possibility to select manually a model and display all information returned by the
service (including biodiversity indices, etc.).
- Deployment of AI-Geospecies in a production environment (production server
maintained in CIRAD infrastructure, automatic restart).
- Integration of AI-Geospecies in Pl@ntNet CO portal:
- Development of new routes in my.plantnet.org
- Development of a module for querying the GBIF API to retrieve occurrences
of species in a given rectangle area.
- Development of a web application (GUI) allowing users to select a rectangle
area and display the list of Pl@ntNet’s species likely to be present in that
area.

Task 3.5. Automatic video stream processing service (DynAIkon, CSIC, M1-M39)
In the previous reporting period we researched and developed a novel smart video
camera trap, called DynAIkonTrap. This contained the following innovations that we
submitted as a scientific paper1 to Ecological Informatics during the current reporting
period:
- New movement triggering mechanism based solely on a standard camera sensor
- Real-time video frame filter as the first stage of movement and image processing
- Deep learning model on selected frames to detect animals in video clips

1
Miklas Riechmann, Ross Gardiner, Kai Waddington, Ryan Rueger, Frederic Fol Leymarie and Stefan Rueger: Motion
Vectors and Deep Neural Networks for Video Camera Traps, 2022, submitted to Ecological Informatics, under review; the
paper is a collaboration between the Cos4Cloud partners DynAIkon and the OU and Goldsmiths College.

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- Running the entire pipeline on an inexpensive, low-power Raspberry Pi 4B

This technology targets citizen scientist end-users, who wish to carry out and/or automate
biodiversity studies. We subsequently made our software open source and provided a
complete online documentation on https://www.dynaikon.com/trap/.

During this reporting period we researched in Task 3.5 whether the most compute
intensive part of the DynAIkonTrap pipeline, running AI models for animal detection, can
be accelerated for edge devices by architecture change or by making use of network
compression techniques. At the same time we wanted to reduce the memory footprint
of the deployed model, so we can port our smart video camera trap firmware to the least-
power (and least powerful) model of Raspberry Pi computers, the RPi Zero W. The goal
here was to reduce both the idle, peak and average power consumption. These
determine the parameters and thereby the cost of a battery and solar charger in off-grid
deployment.

Our research concluded that, at this time, AI models cannot reasonably go much beyond
coarse animal/non-animal detection on the RPi Zero W or comparable low-power
computers. As a consequence, we decided to defer our ambition to identify species on
the smart video camera itself, and instead went for research to classify
- whether or not movement-triggered video sequences contain animals and
- whether or not they contain humans
so, the smart video camera trap can remove empty video sequences or sequences that
contain humans for privacy reasons.

Overall, we achieved the following in the reporting period:

Reduced power consumption. This was done by rewriting the video processing pipeline
on the device to utilise buffers on the micro-SD card as opposed to main RAM memory.
This, together with new and suitable AI models, allowed us to deploy our technology on
a Raspberry Pi Zero W computer with around a third of the power consumption of the
RPi 4B.

Improved recorded image resolution. The format of the recorded video could be
changed from VGA (640×480) to HD (1920x1080) with the new video processing pipeline
despite being deployed on a device with slower processor and fewer cores.

Detect Humans in the video. We trained a new AI model for human detection in nature
environments; for this purpose, we generated a new data set to be used in transfer

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learning. In line with camera trapping ethics, this new model allows us to remove clips
from the storage that contain humans.

Prototyped an urSense HAT for the RPi Zero W. As the smart video camera trap is
expected to be run in the wild without internet, we offloaded time and location detection
to a dedicated sensor board that also contains environmental sensors. This urSense
board https://gitlab.dynaikon.com/dynaikontrap/urSense used to connect to the
compute-unit of the smart video camera trap via USB. Given the similarly small footprint
of the RPi Zero W to the urSense board, we prototyped a new board that can be put
straight on top of the RPi Zero W as HAT (hardware attached on top) with the same
footprint creating a compact design and rendering it unnecessary to connect the urSense
board through a cable. The figure below shows on the left the main components of the
previous smart video camera trap with a RPi 4B, an urSense board and a small camera
module. On the right the new, lower-power smart video camera trap components are
shown with a RPi Zero W under the urSense HAT together with a large camera module.

Figure 8 Components of the camera trap

Future work includes 1) the connection of the smart video camera trap to a cloud service
that can 2) recognise species IDs from the videos and 3) upload observations to Citizen
Observatories such as iSpot; 4) enabling the urSense HAT board to manage the power of
the RPi Zero W (eg, to completely switch it off during times that are not interesting for
observation, eg, during daylight or night, and to manage the power for attached infrared
LEDs), and to 5) create a small quantity of devices suitable for field studies.

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Task 3.6 Framework for customizable data analysis services (CSIC, Earthwatch,
CREAF, SLU, Trébola, SfC, M1-M39)

The framework for customizable data analysis was conceived around the development
of a package named MECODA (ModulE for Citizen Observatory Data Analysis) to be used
for scientists and students developing research and training activities linked to citizen
science.

As part of MECODA, Mecoda-Nat is a Python Library to extract information collected in

the Citizen Observatory Natusfera. The library allows users to query observations from
this platform applying filters to get tidy data and reduce the time invested processing
data from this observatory. Mecoda-Nat is available for installation through PyPI and
contributions of other developers.

With the aim of creating user interfaces to make the execution of analytic experiments
citizen science datasets straightforward and user-friendly, we have developed a widget
in Orange Data Mining, a powerful platform to perform data analysis and
visualisations without coding.

The Mecoda widget integrates the Python library into a visual interface that allows you to
make any query and get two outputs, a dataframe with one observation per row and a
dataframe with one photo per row. With these two outputs we can use different analytic
tools to get knowledge from the observations.

Figure 9 Orange Data Analysis widget catalog

This is an example of workflow created with the Mecoda widget in Orange:

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Figure 10 Mecoda widget workflow in Orange Data Mining Platform

In this example, the Observations table allows statistical analysis:

- create filters by the different fields
- make useful pivot tables, crossing two variables
- draw different visualisations and download them as images
- plot our data on a map and make geospatial analysis

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Figure 11 Examples of use of data analysis widgets

Every one of these widgets can also be used to filter data. Making a selection we can
output the selected data and analyse it. We can get the images of every observation of
this selection. And we can download data as CSV, XLSX or TAB format.

On the other hand, the Photos table allows analysis of images from the complete dataset.
We can view all the photos, download them and perform image analysis using different
image models.

Figure 12 Example of image analysis widgets

All without coding, making it simple for everyone to do their own analysis and
explorations.

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Deviations
There are no deviations of note.

1.2.4. WP4 - Interactive Services (Lead: BINEO)

WP4 Objectives: To develop services and methods in citizen science observatories with
direct interaction with users.

Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2ND RP:
● T4.1 Interactive Platforms for data integration
○ ST4.1.1. Expert Portal for Biodiversity data validation
● T4.2 Multilingual support
● T4.3 Platform for interactive pre-processing of large (image) datasets
● T4.4 Customizable Interface service for mobile Apps (MOBIS)
● T4.5 Reporting and notification services
○ ST4.5.1 Data use notification service

The following WP4 deliverables were submitted during 2ND RP:

● D4.2 Experts portal for biodiversity data validation
● D4.4 Platform for interactive pre-processing camera trap images (FASTCat-Edge)

Additionally, to the official deliverables, the following intermediate reports were

attached to the technical report:
● D4.5 Intermediate deliverable: Customizable Interface service for Cos4Cloud
Apps (MOBIS) (Annex VI)

The following Milestones relevant to WP1 were completed during 2ND RP:
● No. M16 INTS services for Biodiv. monitoring achieve TRL 8-9 (M22)
● No. M17 INTS services for Biodiv. monitoring validated (M26)

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried during
the R21:

WP4 Progress per task

Task 4.1 Interactive Platforms for data integration (Bineo, all Biodiversity COs, M1-
40).

The main objective of this task is to develop a set of platforms that allows users to interact
simultaneously with different sources of data to create derived services. The base of the

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development will be a generic purpose platform that can be customised according to

specific needs. The expert platform will be able to exchange information with different
modules using standard protocols. These specific purpose platforms will be adapted in
two contexts: Biodiversity represented for the Subtask 4.1.1 and Environmental variables
represented by the Subtask 4.1.2, both with their related Deliverables.

Subtask 4.1.1. Expert Portal for Biodiversity data validation (M1-28)

The summary of the actions implemented during the present period for the expert portal
rebranded as Cos4Bio are described below. The detail explanation of the service’
progress is included in the deliverable D4.2 Experts portal for biodiversity data
validation submitted during the 2nd RP.

- Conceptualisation of the Cos4Bio brand.

- Logo design.
- Design of the platform.
- 2 additional Co-Design Meetings.
- Meetings every 15 technical days.
- Development of new functionalities:
- Statistics Service, for each user and at a general level.
- Implementation of the user profile.
- New download history service.
- Improved search service.
- Lookup cache implementation.
- Create a new database model.
- Implementation of new filters: By dates, Licenses.
- i18n service integration.
- integration of the feedback service.
- Improved the observation detail page.
- Integration of data from Cos4Bio in the Citizen Observatories.
- Development of a new Interoperability layer based on dwc with the international
GBIF format supported by the TDWG.
- Integration of the following citizen observatories through the new interoperability
layer: Natusfera, Pl@ntNet and GBIF.
-
Implementation of a new interoperability layer based on dwc, in Natusfera and
Pl@antNet.
- Definition of About us, Terms of Service, FAQ, Help, API doc and Contact pages.
Creation of video tutorials:

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- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChTa2o0e_uFey6WnilS-BOw
- Integration into the EOSC ecosystem:
https://marketplace.eosc-portal.eu/services/cos4bio?fromc=applications
- Application of a planning test.
- Development of the deliverable.
- Cos4Bio in production env: https://cos4bio.eu/

● During 2021 SLU started preparations for receiving comments and identifications
from the Expert Portal.
● SLU also started working on integration of the Pl@ntNet Species Identification Service
in 2021.

Subtask 4.1.2. Expert Portal for Environmental data validation (M24-37)

At the beginning of this period, we have carried out the first Co-Design Workshop during
M24, with the managers of four environmental variable platforms with the aim of being
able to obtain feedback from the experts, learn about the structure of their data, and
adapt the standard of interoperability based on DwC to represent environmental
information.

During the meeting, the coordinators of COs explained the entire process and the value
of Cos4Env, relying on the already implemented development of Cos4Bio, so that they
could see the possible flows that could occur in the context of environmental variables.

We are currently working with CanAir.io to work on this phase of integrating 2 types of
environmental variables.

During this third period, we will carry out 2 more co-design workshops, with experts, and
we will implement Cos4Env, based on the decision Backlog generated from the feedback
obtained.

Task 4.2 Multilingual support (Bineo, all COs)

During this second period we have carried out the implementation of the
internationalisation system in the Cos4Bio service. This system has allowed us to quickly
translate the service into several languages. Currently Cos4Bio is converted into 7
languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek and Swedish, which can be
accessed from the application header:

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The system is based on an international file architecture, with a set of keys: value, where
the key is the name of the variable that identifies each string to be translated and the
value is the text that is translated for each file corresponding to each of the languages.

Once we have defined all the internationalisation variables and they have been included
in the front of Cos4Bio, and therefore in the front of the general purpose platform, we
have had to use a collaborative translation system to be able to count on the support of
people native ones that will help us translate the 181 phrases contained in all the code of
the service that are displayed in each of the views.

This has been possible thanks to the collaboration of several contributors, which we
quote below: Dimitris Gkotzos, Henning Bredel, Joan Masó, Joep van der Heiden, Johan
Liljeblad, Luca Aprile, Maria Daskolia and Mathias Chouet, and the use of a collaborative

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tool called Crowdin. This is the Cos4Bio space in Crowdin:

https://crowdin.com/project/cos4bio

This system has not only allowed us to carry out the translation of the entire system more
easily, but it will also allow us in the future to quickly maintain the translation of new texts
that are going to be included in Cos4Bio.

Task 4.3 Platform for interactive pre-processing of large (image) datasets

(DynAIkon, all Biodiversity COs)

We have created a training pipeline using the MMDetection framework which is a PyTorch
based deep convolutional neural network framework tailored toward object detection
tasks. There is an active community surrounding this framework and as such there are
numerous state of the art architectures already implemented available for public use, as
well as baseline models produced by these architectures training on the generic object
detection dataset MS COCO. We have prepared a dataset previously identified as suitable
for use within this framework: we chose to use the Caltech Camera Traps (CCT) dataset,
a dataset that consists of images collected from camera traps, for this round of
experimentation which can be found hosted at the Lila BC website.

We have performed some experimentation comparing the quality of predictions

produced by several architectures when trained on the MS COCO dataset versus the CCT
dataset. We then considered the quality of predictions when evaluating the model
performances on only the animals included in the MS COCO dataset. We evaluated
models from 7 different architectures on the MS COCO dataset and the animals-only
subset of the MS COCO dataset and compared these results to the respective models that
we trained ourselves using these architectures on the CCT dataset. In general, we find
that predicting the species id from real camera trap images is more difficult than from
those in the MS-COCO dataset. The best performing architecture that we found is a
ResNeXt variant of a Cascade R-CNN architecture. We have deployed this trained model
to our internet-available service accessible via an API as well as a web interface. We have
also written tooling to generate training datasets leveraging the large database of images
accessible via GBIF to be able to create training datasets for bespoke sets of species; we
are actively working on being able to automate the model generation process where
models are trained to detect bespoke sets of species.

We have continued work on our API, which we call FASTCAT-Cloud (Flexible Ai SysTem for
CAmera Traps, accessible on the cloud), which provides users access to our deep learning
models. The API allows users to upload images, videos, and sensor data, referred to as
“observations”, and process this data using a selection of deep learning models. We are

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actively expanding the selection of models available. These models return data about
which species are present in the observations and also the relative location of the animals
within the observation. In addition, users can choose to filter the observations that they
upload should they only be interested in particular species.

We have worked with the CO iSpotnature.org to provide an integration wherein users can
select some of their uploaded observations and submit these to their iSpot account via
our API including the suggested species classifications that our deep learning models
produce. The submission format of this data to iSpot dictates that we must provide a URL
to the media files, not the media files themselves, and so we have also developed a
mechanism to host these media files at a publicly available location and generate URLs
for these items when they are needed to be submitted to iSpot. The API has been
improved with a more robust queueing method so that if there are a lot of requests to
process data the system does not crash: https://service-dev.fastcat-cloud.org/

As well as further developing the API we have also improved the frontend web
application; this application allows people to make use of our API without having to write
code to do so, the website offers a GUI method of interacting with our deep learning
models. Using a browser users can navigate to our website and upload the same types
of files (images, videos, sensor data) and select models to process their data with. We
present the returned data from the deep learning models back to the user visually with a
list of species as well as drawing the bounding box onto the observation for the user to
see. Within this visualisation of the response from the deep learning models we allow an
interactive way for users to filter the results that they are seeing, and download them,
with a series of checkboxes next to species names so that users can choose to see only
observations containing selected species. On top of this we have added a user
authentication mechanism so that users can register and login to accounts with this
service using an existing Google or Authenix account. We also offer the same ability to
submit observations to a corresponding iSpot account through our web interface as we
do with our API.

Task 4.4 Customizable Interface service for mobile Apps (DDQ)

The ‘Customizable Interface service for mobile Apps (DDQ)’ is now rebranded as the
Mobile Observation Integration Service (MOBIS).

In this 2ND RP reporting period we managed to set up a framework based on

IONIC/Capacitor together with a back end service (MOBIS) that facilitates the user data
retrieval and communications (like push notifications). The MOBIS back end service is
now officially an EOSC service. The MOBIS service not only offers interfaces to mobile
devices, but also uses the Sensor Things API (1.1 for now) for interoperability.

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The MOBIS back-end service is hosted on the EGI / Cloud Computing platform.

The front end consists of a generic framework (written in IONIC with native Capacitor
elements) that connects to these devices:
- Canair.io (PM2.5) via Bluetooth LE
- Mini Secchi
- Pl@ntnet (work in progress)
- iSPEX 2 (work in progress)

The app authorisation is established using Parse server and OAUth2+ (pkce). We are
working on Authenix tokenisation.

Although not a deliverable (we will provide the framework), there is a demand for a mobis
app. We provide some screenshots here of our working prototype. The Mobis app (along
with the Mobis back end) provides real integration of different multidisciplinary
observations.

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Figure 13 Screenshots of Mobis app

The detailed explanation of the service is available in the intermediate report of the
deliverable D4.5 available in the Annex VI.

Task 4.5 Reporting and notification services (BINEO, SECD, DDQ, CSIC)
The main focus of this task is focused on the development of the data usage notification
and reporting services, complying at all times with the GDPR and privacy policies.

Subtask 4.5.1 Data use notification service (BINEO, CSIC, M1-M40)

During the second period we have established the architecture that we are going to
implement during this third period, which with the completion of the Cos4Bio service we
will be able to integrate and will allow us to demonstrate the value of DUNS as a usage
notification service.

However, we have already taken a first step, with the implementation of a controlled
vocabulary that allows us to establish the reasons why an expert downloads a set of
Cos4Bio records, being able to identify these events will allow us later to link this service

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with DUNS, at the dataset level. The list of defined reasons are: biosecurity
management/planning, citizen science, collection management, conservation
management/planning, ecological research, education, environmental assessment,
restoration/remediation, scientific research, systematic research/taxonomy, species
modelling, testing and others.

Figure 14 Screenshot of DUNS notification service

This has also allowed us to generate statistics to know what the most common reasons
are why experts download data sets.

The main architecture is based on the implementation of a centralised service, which

generates identifiers for each dataset and occurrence downloaded from both Cos4Bio
and Cos4Env. These identifiers will be LSIDs, unique and resolvable identifiers, in such a
way that when a person refers to these identifiers as a citation when using a registry or a
dataset, a request will be made to the central server that will display a page with the meta
information, then we could register each request from each domain and in this way we
could identify where the people on internet are using each cited occurrence.

Deviations
There are no deviations of note

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1.2.5. WP5: Cos4Cloud services in practice (Lead: CSIC)

WP5 Objectives: Deploy all the services in an operational environment and prove that
they would be successfully used in real-world scenarios by end-users and verify that all
its components achieved the expected performance level within the scope, reaching the
TRL 8-9. Understand and document the necessities of end users in their real environment
through the co-design process.

Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2nd RP:
● Task 5.1 Co-design services
● Task 5.2 Co-design as a service
● Task 5.3 Service performance evaluation
● Subtask 5.3.1 Bioblitzes
● Subtask 5.3.2 Educational networks
● Subtask 5.3.3 Research network processes
● Subtask 5.3.4 Hackathon
● Task 5.4 Evaluation DIY devices

The following WP5 deliverables were submitted during 2nd RP:

● For this reporting period there were no deliverables to submit although
intermediate deliverables and reports were created:
○ D5.1 Intermediate deliverable: Co-designed services for Cos4cloud report
(Annex III)
○ Task 5.4 Intermediate report: DIY progress and evaluation (Annex VII)

The following Milestones relevant to WP1 were completed during 2nd RP:
● No milestones developed

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried during
the 2nd RP:

WP5 Progress per task

Task 5.1 Co-design services (SfC, CSIC, Inria, M1-M40)

Co-design is an approach to creative practice that enables a wide range of people

to make a creative contribution in the formulation and solution of a problem. In a
Co-design process, the users are considered “experts” of their own experience and their

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needs and concerns become central to the design process. In Cos4cloud, Science for
Change has assumed the necessary role of facilitator and developer of the
methodology that supports the Co-design process for each of the services that compose
the project.

SfC and CSIC have been setting the methodological and operational basis for the
application of the Co-design process to the different services that are included in the
COS4CLOUD ecosystem. Such Co-design process includes briefing, planning,
documenting, disseminating, and recruiting participants for Co-design activities prior to
their execution, as well as the execution itself, then reporting and monitoring after the
execution. Technological platforms like Confluence, Slack and Miro act as foundations for
the different parts of the process. It’s not repeated for brevity. A more detailed
presentation about the methodology, as well as the Design Thinking basis on which it
stands, can be found in the intermediate report of the deliverable 5.1.

In the current report we can show how the methodology has been developed and applied
in practice with a first subset of the existing services, and what are the preliminary results
and conclusions.

Codesign planning and implementation

A wide range of tools and techniques are available to support the Co-Design processes.
Research in this regard has been made. As a result, a compilation of feasible Co-Design
activity formats has been documented in the project's Confluence platform and it’s
constantly updated if needed. The format choice for a given Co-Design activity is made
on a case-by-case basis, after identifying the needs of the service leader and the specific
service. However, the two interactive online workshop methodologies that have been
developed specifically for COS4CLOUD (see “Methodological Development”) have proven
to be the most suitable choice among others, hence its prevalence so far.

Depending on the needs discovered after the service leader’s briefing, a decision is also
jointly made regarding the number or Co-Design sessions needed (one or two) as well as
other complementary Co-Design activities or user feedback channels that do not
necessarily take place on a discretionary date (for example, setting up an online forum
for constant feedback exchange with users).

After the amount, format and date of Co-Design activities for a given service is agreed,
SfC develops and documents the specific contents that will be used in the activity: general
concept and goals, preliminary activity planning, agenda for the activity itself, interactive
digital materials like customized Miro boards and any other supplementary materials
needed. This process takes a variable amount of time depending on factors like the type
of activity, the complexity of the goals and the type of audience for that activity.

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Among the tools that will be part of the methodological toolkit for Co-Design, we have
designed:

 A template comprising a chronological schedule of tasks involving the preparation

of a Co-Design activity.
 A template comprising all the information that needs to be gathered during the
preparation stage of workshops.
 Two methodological developments for Co-Design workshops based on the needs
and challenges faced by the service leaders: “Wheels” and “User Stories”.

More detail about the templates and methodological developments for Co-Design
workshops is provided in the intermediate report of the deliverable 5.1.

Codesign report and feedback

After the execution of the Co-Design workshop, a report with the insights, qualitative and
quantitative feedback extracted from participants is generated and delivered to the
service developer. One of the outputs that the Co-Design activity report tries to deliver is
a list of features and use cases extracted from participants’ feedback and converted into
“user stories”. User stories are standardized, well defined and actionable building blocks
used in agile software development methodologies. Processing the information and
delivering it in such an actionable format ensures good integration between Agile
Methodology (that will be discussed further). Subsequently, it maximizes the odds of
being useful by helping in driving action, in performing development follow up, in
measuring the impact of Co-Design activities and in demonstrating how relevant
stakeholders in Co-Design have influenced the final design of services to suit their needs.

The part of the discussed Agile methodology that Co-Design methodology needs to fit
into and interact with is the information structure of what to do and how to formulate
things, that is, the definition of the WHAT, the HOW and the WHEN for each service. Hence
the methodological development of the Co-Design workshops evolved from the more
generalistic approach in “Wheels Workshop Methodology” to a more Agile-fitting “User
Story Workshop Methodology”, and the concept of Co-Design digest was introduced.

The aim of Co-Design digests is to build a bridge from the (rather raw) outputs of a Co-
Design workshop to the concrete tasks and user stories of a development team. A digest
shall provide some basic information about the workshop and provide the processed and
analyzed outcome of the workshop, e.g. enlightenments, highlights, good/bad findings,
and reasoned user stories. The digest ideally shows how feedback from Co-Design
sessions is going to be incorporated into the development process of each service.

The following table reflects the structure of the Co-Design digests to be delivered and
updated jointly between Agile team, Co-Design team and service developers.

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Workshop details

Link to Preferably, a link to the recorded video session, if available.

workshop

Link to PDF Internal link to uploaded PDF in Confluence, if available.

Report

Link to Links to the different online interactive boards, typically from the Miro
online platform.
interactive
boards

Output

User’s input Description Category Status Relevance Decision Comment

Short description of the More detailed Freely defined Development Determined To be In case it’s not going to
user's feedback description (max. categories. Status. priority (high, implemented? be implemented, a
3 sentences) Developers can Developers have medium, low). Can (yes, no) rationale. In case it will
modify this. to fill this based be determined by be implemented,
on their progress. developers. preferably a link to the
user story in the dev
team's backlog.

… … … … … … …

Table 3 Co-Design digests structure and content definition

After the execution of the Co-Design workshop, a report with the insights, qualitative and
quantitative feedback extracted from participants is generated and delivered to the
service developer. One of the outputs that the Co-Design activity report tries to deliver is
a list of features and use cases extracted from participants’ feedback and converted into
“user stories”. User stories are standardized, well defined and actionable building blocks
used in agile software development methodologies. Processing the information and
delivering it in such an actionable format ensures good integration between Agile
Methodology (that will be discussed further). Subsequently, it maximizes the odds of
being useful by helping in driving action, in performing development follow up, in
measuring the impact of Co-Design activities and in demonstrating how relevant
stakeholders in Co-Design have influenced the final design of services to suit their needs.

Codesign communication and engagement

Science for Change and the communication team (CSIC and CREAF) have worked closely
to establish a joint strategy to achieve maximum results from the co-design sessions. In
particular, the Cos4Cloud communication team has played a vital role in (1) engaging
participants to join the co-design sessions and (2) developing audiovisual materials to

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explain the services to be co-designed and ensuring that the participants understood
their usefulness and functionalities. The communication team has made a significant
effort to engage, create, and maintain Cos4Cloud's community throughout the project.
The detailed description of strategy, actions, and produced materials is available in the
D5.1.

Overall progress of Co-design activities performed

Following table shows an overview of the Co-Design workshops.

Date 2021/03/10 2021/03/11 2021/04/22 2021/05/18 2021/06/30 2021/10/20

Type Wheels Wheels User Stories User Stories User Stories Wheels

Service MOBIS Cos4Bio MOBIS Cos4Bio FASTCAT Cos4Env

(Cloud & EDGE)

TOTAL 6

Table 4 Overview of the Co-Design workshops

Following table shows an integrated overview of Co-Design activities along with other
activities related to user feedback gathering and design democratization.

Service Type of Co- Date Notes

Design Activity
or Feedback
Channel

Cos4Bio Expert round 29/09/2020 Helped define the current Co-Design roadmap.
table

Co-Design 2021/03/11
workshop
(Wheels)

Co-Design 2021/05/18
workshop
(User Stories)

MOBIS Co-Design 2021/03/10

workshop
(Wheels)

Co-Design 2021/04/22
workshop
(User Stories)

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Service Type of Co- Date Notes

Design Activity
or Feedback
Channel

FASTCAT- Co-Design 2021/06/30 Same workshop for both variants of the service.
Cloud workshop
(User Stories)
FASTCAT-
Edge

Cos4Env Co-Design 2021/10/20 Session became more like a round table.

workshop
(Wheels)

Pl@ntNet Interactions with N/A Emails and videoconferences.

users About 2000 users
About 20 emails per day.
Understand the different uses.
Understand the needs in terms of ergonomics, performance,
new functionality, etc.

Interactions with N/A Email + app store.

beta-testers About 1000 beta-testers

Interactions with N/A Stakeholders making or wishing to make wide use of Pl@ntNet
stakeholders in their activity: Natural area managers, people in charge of
regulatory missions of biodiversity inventory, educational
program managers, tourism activities animators.
Allows us to identify adaptation needs specific to their business
as well as various constraints e.g. related to GDPR, data access
or adoption problems

On-the-field tests N/A Testing with professional users on the field: forest rangers,
farmers, teachers, botanists, researchers. Includes interview
with them

Participation in N/A Workshop organized by Telabotanica (French network of

external events amateur and professional botanists).
Provided a broader view and ideas on how Pl@ntNet
tools and services could be useful in local policies,
schools, natural area management activities, etc.

AI- Interactions with N/A Through two audiences:

GeoSpecies beta-testers 1) Tela Botanica network (network of botanists in France as well
as one of the largest citizen observatories). In order to mobilize
the largest possible number of members of Tela Botanica in
the testing of AI-GeoSpecies, a message was sent via the
newsletter of the network.

2) AMAP research lab: interdisciplinary laboratory that

conducts research on plants and plant communities with the
aim of predicting ecosystems responses to environmental
forcing, A message was sent via the general mailing list.

Currently receiving the first feedback from Telabotanica

network.

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Service Type of Co- Date Notes

Design Activity
or Feedback
Channel

Feedback from AMAP is being collected by email and through

the organization of a workshop (to be announced).

Table 5 Integrated overview of Co-Design activities

Task 5.2 Co-design as a service (CSIC, SfC, BINEO, M6-M39)

The Co-design service is being built from the experience and lessons learned in the Co-
Design implementation of the Cos4Cloud services (Task 5.1). The service will consist of a
structured body of contents (mainly templates and guides) serving as a methodological
toolbox and a set of technological tools that support the interaction of stakeholders, the
collaborative building of ideas, feedback and traceability, and the management of content
(data and information) to define the Co-design process. As mentioned in task 5.1 to date,
some Cos4Cloud services are serving as a test field for the first iteration of the
aforementioned body of contents, which is being iteratively documented and enhanced
as the co-design activities are being performed, more insight is being gained, and more
feedback is being gathered from service developers, Co-design facilitators, activity
participants and relevant stakeholders. The body of contents will be finally delivered to
the community under the form of a wiki. This format enables all stakeholders in the
community to drive conversations and add contributions according to their needs.

Subtask 5.3.1 [SC1] Bioblitzes (CSIC, OU, SLU, NKUA, M3-M29)

BioMARató (Marine Biomarathon)

From April to September 2021, CSIC organised a BioBlitz called ‘BioMARató’. It was
organised together with local Catalan entities: the SME Anèl·lides – Serveis ambientals
marins, the environmental association Xatrac, and two diving centers: Oceánicos, and
Plàncton Diving and the Calonge and Sant Antoni city council.

It was located in Catalonia (Spain), where the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, and
Tarragonal participated. The region getting the most underwater observations, detecting
more invasive and rare species or getting the most participants was crowned winner.

Participants of the BioMARAtó photographed species from all over the Catalan coast,
whether they were terrestrial such as birds or plants, or underwater species seen while
snorkelling or scuba diving. Participants shared their observations in the Citizen
Observatory Natusfera where they could identify the living organism photographed or
ask for help from the Natusfera community if they don't know what species it was.

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The aim of organising the BioMARató was to set a KPI baseline and be able to better
evaluate the impact of the Cos4Cloud services in the future.

To engage participants, several scuba diving and snorkelling free activities were
organised along the Catalan coast. Participants were encouraged to participate both by
themselves or in one of the organised activities. Specific information about the
communication strategy, website, webinars, banners and other materials used to engage
participants are described in WP8 reporting. Specific information regarding the Natusfera
training sessions linked to the BioMARató are described in WP6 reporting.

Figure 15 BioMARató participants. (1) Lloret de Mar.

Photo: Xatrac; (2) Barcelona. Photo: Anèl·lides – Serveis ambientals marins.

Main results:
Project in Natusfera: https://natusfera.gbif.es/projects/biomarato-2021-catalunya

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Figure 16 Biomarató key performance index (KPIs)

The observations have already been validated and are available to the entire scientific
community on the citizen science platform Natusfera. Participants were mainly families,
snorkelling, scuba diving or freediving enthusiasts, nature lovers and life sciences
students mainly located in Catalonia (Spain).

A total of 117 people reported species in Natusfera and collected 10,000

observations of 1061 different species. The region that collected more photographs
was Girona, with 4639 observations, followed by Barcelona, 3562, and Tarragona, 1822.
The area that reported more different species was Girona (534), followed by the 496
species identified in Barcelona and the 312 reported in Tarragona.

Within the identified species, 24 were alien species, including the red seaweed
Asparagopsis armata and the green seaweed Caulerpa cylindracea, both of them were
introduced into the Mediterranean from Australia and are considered invasive. Both put
at risk to native species, as they compete with them for space and resources. In particular,
Caulerpa cylindracea is a threat to Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa meadows,
two protected species. In addition, the crab Percnon gibbesi, which has an Atlantic origin,

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has been detected and is also considered an invasive species. This organism is spreading
rapidly along the coast and is a carrier of new parasites that can affect native crabs.

During the BioMARAtó participants have also reported two observations of organisms
that until now had not been located in Catalonia: Hypleurochilus bananensis, a blenny
of which only a few populations are known in Spain, and the mollusc Laona ventricosa, a
native species from North Atlantic Ocean, so far in the Mediterranean has only been
detected in Andalusia.

The analysis of the results are published in an infographics developed in WP8 by CREAF
and CSIC. You can see the infographics here.

UrbamarBIO
UrbamarBIO is a citizen science project to explore the marine biodiversity of coastal
urban areas in Barcelona, Sant Adrià del Besós and Badalona (Catalonia, Spain). Similar
to the BioMARató, participants photographed coastal species, terrestrial or marine, to
upload the images to the Citizen Observatory Natusfera.

CSIC reached an agreement with the organisers of URBAMARBio, Anèl·lides- Serveis

Mediambientals, to add the data obtained during April to September 2021 to the dataset
of the BioMARató in Natusfera.

Main results:
Project in Natusfera:
https://natusfera.gbif.es/projects/biodiversitat-marina-de-les-platges-de-
barcelona.mobile

During April to September 2021, a total of 49 people reported species in Natusfera and
collected 3,866 observations. This observation has been used to create the “Guia
Participativa Marina del Barcelonès” , a participatory guide of the biodiversity that the
volunteers have observed in the beaches of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Further
information about this guide can be found in WP8 reporting.

Subtask 5.3.2: Educational networks (NKUA)

The setting up of the first Educational Network on "Environmental Education for
Sustainability and Citizen Science" was initiated with the call for expression of interest
from teachers and other educational stakeholders to attend the online training course.
With the launch and particularly with the completion of the online training course, the
first educational network was initiated. Members of this Network have already

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participated in the Bineo co-design workshop (11 March 2021) which was coordinated by
Science for Change.

However, the teachers' growing interest expressed during the NKUA’s dissemination
actions supported the idea to go beyond the online course’s small community of
practitioners to create a nationwide Educational Network under the coordination of the
NKUA’s Environmental Education Lab (EEL). The network's main mission as connected to
Task 6.5 is partnership and mutual benefit for citizen science and EE/ESD in school and
local community contexts, with the aim to nurture motivation as well as foster learning
and empowerment through science and social participation in students as young citizens
in the face of current sustainability challenges. Within the context of WP5 (task 5.3.2) the
expansion of the network with the participation of more Greek primary and secondary
schools, teachers and other educational stakeholders on a nationwide scale, will feed and
strengthen the participation of a greater number of members of the school community
in the co-design and documentation processes of the new services.

Subtask 5.3.4 Hackathon from Sci&Tech group

Hackathons are working meetings where technical members meet to test ideas or
integrate components in Cos4Cloud. They are collaborative and inclusive events driven
by innovative and rapid programming with minimal process and organisational
constraints to support the development of new applications or candidates for best
practice. Therefore, they enable software developers to focus on projects that implement
Cos4Cloud objectives for a period of a few days. In this reporting period we conducted 2
hackathons and a mini-hackathon.

The first Cos4Clous Virtual Hackathon was held on April 15th, 2021. Participant
contributions were: Camera trap software (DinAIkon), Authenix (SecD), Cos4Bio service
(Bineo), and the experience in the AI-Naturalits APIs (INRIA). The selected scenario to
inspire de work was: “A Camera Trap from Dynaikon sees a moving target and identifies
it as a fox. It sends the observation to a common repository (STA compliant) using
authenix for access control. The observations become available as STA web API and
visible in Cos4Bio”.

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Figure 17 Hackathon model and participants

The main conclusion of the activity was that we needed to establish a Common Data
Repository for Cos4Cloud, to store observations based on the Sensor Things API +. This
way we will be better able to demonstrate interoperability of the STA+ for the project
The experiment continued on April 26th with a test and demonstration that Dynaikon
cameras are able to send data to an STA repository.

A second Cos4Cloud Virtual Hackathon was held on Hackathon April 26th, 2021. In this
one a list of STA requests were prepared in advance to guide participants to interact with
the newly established Common Data Repository. We compared the Common Data
Repository deployed as an instance of the FROST modified implementation and the
52North STA server.

The summary of my findings using the POSTMAN software to test the request was:
● Frost server works fine and when an error occurs it is relatively clear on what is
happening and what to do. Some other times it returns a "Server error" that is
opaque. and I needed to improvise.
● needed to remove all the proposed id's to allow the frost server to "invent" its
own ids.
● In a success, the body contains only a number "1" (I assume it is the number of
elements created). It is necessary to look at the "Location" header of the response
to get the id of the created object
● Sometimes the server requests extra elements that are not in the Henning Bredel
examples. I complied by adding them and I was able to create the elements.
● In particular, in some requests, the server asks to add a "created" property. I did
that by adding "created": 0 (I had no idea what it means, and it only works with a
number)
● Composite creation of e.g. a Thing that contains Datastreams "inside" (that are
also supposed to be created) failed and I needed to divide them into atomic

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element creations. Then, I used the returned ids in the creation of other elements
to relate everything together.
● I had problems with the Phenomenon Time format in DataStream. I do not see the
usefulness of and I acted convinced that it was a Henning Bredelmistake to have
it in the first place. Now I see it is part of the model. I do not know what happened.

In addition, a Mini-Hackathon with participation of DDQ, 52n, SecD and CREAF was held
on June 29th, 2021. The objective was to solve some questions that DDQ developers had
on how to use the FROST implementation of the STA+ as a storage facility. The questions
were related to how to avoid duplicate data in all the entities, how many data streams
should be created and database consistency in deleting or modifying elements etc.

The experience was satisfactory so we would like to continue doing hackathons in 2022.

Task 5.4 Evaluation DIY devices (CanAirIO, CSIC, Trébola, Others, M8-M38)
CanAir.io initiative has improved the DIY guides, trying every day to make the sensor
assembly easier and increase its reliability. Also, the CanAir.io team has been working on
the improvement of the mobile application, the sensor programmation (firmware upload)
and the design and implementation of new versions like CanAirIO Bike with colour screen,
new functionalities, and an improved box design. New variables like PAX counter
(passenger counter via Wi-Fi) and many new PM2.5, CO2 and temperature and humidity
sensors have been incorporated in the monitoring network. Pedagogical content (videos,
guidelines) as well as webinars and workshops have been deployed for expanding the
network.

The detailed description of the activities carried out in the task 5.4 were consolidated in
the intermediate report available in the Annex VII.

Documentation and DIY Guides

In the last year we worked on improving the DIY guides and documentation around a new
portal of documentation (https://canair.io/docs), using standards around team working
with tools like version control (Github), plain text and easy standard format, Markdown,
tools to working in group in real time like CODI, and others tools for co-creation around
the documentation. Most guides have a demo video to ease the process of building the
sensor or using the app. The result was the next guides:

Title Target - Description Video

CanAirIO Bike DIY guide users and makers Guide1, Guide2

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Title Target - Description Video

CanAirIO CO2 DIY guide for users and makers Guide1, Guide2

Firmware Upload Guide Debugging Guide Web installer

Mobile App General documentation

Home Assistant integration DIY guide for users and makers

Anaire integration DIY guide for users and makers Demo

API Mobile API Fixed stations API GATT API

Table 6 Documentation and DIY guides

Training activities
Six online and two face to face activities for communities in Spain, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia
and Colombia were developed during 2021. These spaces helped to expand the network
of CanAir.io users. Also, it was a channel to improve the guides and obtain more feedback
on the construction and use of the DIY devices.

Three virtual dissemination activities increase the number of people connected to the
project and generally increase the number of sensors reporting to the platform. One of
those was from and the others from Bogotá from open-source events and geeks
communities.

Figure 18 Participants of the hackathon “Respiraton”

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The hackathon called “Respiraton” was an intense event of 20 days with diverse public
and organisers, such as local government, academic groups, activist groups, ONGs expert
in transport and Cos4Cloud. And the public was very diverse too: academics, activists,
experts and developers in general. This was a great experience for all organisers and for
us an opportunity to learn the complex and demanding logistics for the realisation of a
hackathon.

The virtual course called “Nuevos Aires 2021” was another opportunity to train 100
citizens from 4 countries: Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia on the subject of air
quality, low-cost sensors and activism. The course, at the end, received proposals from
the assistants and people interested in the award of 35 CanAirIOs sensors and citizen kits
that are delivered at the end of 2021 and start of 2022.

The two face to face workshops, one in an international congress and the other with an
activist ONG in Cali, brought opportunities to cultivate successful ways to engage new
people with the CanAirIO network demonstrating the importance of the in-person
activities, especially in the pandemic times.

Activities with academics, government and general people.

Research was undertaken and is still in progress, with the permission of the local
government of Bogota in one of their official air quality stations (Ferias), using 5 CanAirIOs
with different sensor brands to make a comparison and calculate correlations and errors.
The results in the first months were promising.

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Figure 19 Installation of CanAirIO fixed sensors

Other academic research was made with the Universidad Distrital of Bogota with a
methodology similar to the last exposed with the use of 5 CanAirIO sensors with different
brands of manufacturers compared with an official sensor property of the university, with
good results published in an academic thesis that was published in a public repository of
the university.

Other research and collaboration was initiated in 2020 and continues to the present with
an investigation group called Ingetcar of the Public University La Molina from Lima Peru.
They compared CanAirIO sensors with one official station of Lima and are studying the
air quality of two sectors of the city, one very polluted, with the installation of a network
of 12 sensors. They publish important advances that demonstrate the big problems in
this polluted sector of the city, helping the inhabitants to recognize the problem and start
taking actions to change this bad situation.

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CanAirIO Development
In the last year on CanAirIO development we had achieved outreach to provide
community support and also to have interoperability and integration with Cos4Cloud in
the next areas:
Software development and community engagement
At the start of the last year we looked for new technical and hobbyist communities close
to the CanAirIO technologies. The result of this search was to find some communities in
Europe that did give us feedback, new users and new solutions to different problems.

CODOS Community engagement February - March

Working together with the community CODOS, a group of people working to improve
ventilation indoors using CO2 sensors for reducing the COVID risk, we had feedback and
collaboration around these sensors, and we released the first versions of the CanAirIO
Sensorlib with support of some CO2 sensors.

CanAirIO OTA Updates and CanAirIO Loader March - May

In the search to give better support and improve the development flow, a new service
was released. OTA updates, this service sends firmware updates to our users in two
channels, stable and testing channel. Also, thanks to this development, we released
CanAirIO Loader, it is a tool for improving the installation of CanAirIO firmware.

CanAirIO Bike and CanAirIO CO2 May - June

Two new devices were released in the the communities HackaDay, Tindie store,
search to improve the standardisation of and other communities portals.
the CanAirIO devices and also the DIY
guides and support of it. These versions
were a big challenge because it was the
result of the research on the best
components to try to preserve easy ways
to make these devices. Also we had
improvements in usability and
portability. The release was done in our Figure 20 CanAirIO bike and CanAirIO CO2
new CanAirIO Documentation Portal and

CanAirIO World Map and Developers Engagement June-August

We reached a new goal that we were waiting for, an automatic worldmap of our fixed
stations. In development but working, the users only will enable it in the CanAirIO App,
they will have some visualisations like time series, widgets, and their station in the
CanAirIO World Map. Also around it, we changed the database schema and wrote some

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services and APIs to improve it and also to have the connectors to the services of the
Cos4Cloud project.

CanAirIO PAX Counter August - September

This new development seeks to give a context to the user when sensing CO2 or PM values
in conditions indoors, for example on public transportation or in buildings.

CanAirIO Mobile Map and Anaire integration September - November

Thanks to the contribution of external developers, in this period we had new sensors
supported for developer communities, a new CanAirIO Mobile Map web and the
integration of Anaire cloud for CO2 sensor.

CanAirIO Home Assistant and CanAirIO Installer November - December

This new integration seeks to join with this huge community. Home Assistant is an open
source project with thousands of developers, hobbyists and people around the iOT
devices. CanAirIO is fully integrated with this environment in this first version, also we are
using a new development version to try to improve on this and find an easier way to
install our firmware, using CanAirIO Web Installer.

Statistics and KPIs

Together with the usual software development we have some developments that will try
to give us information about the growth of the initiative, not only in the web services or
web pages, if not in the firmware and the Android app, statistics around the use and
possible issues with the users:

Documentation portal Android app and

firmware
Figure 21 Statistics and KPIS of the CanAirIO app

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Portal or application Users Engagement rate

Documentation portal 2900 45.99%

Android app + Firmware 850 86.68%

Table 7 KPIs of the CanAirIO app

Social Media Achievements and Prizes

We had some recognition to the initiative
in mainstream places around DIY
communities the past year, the more
important place in the world of hacker
communities, Hackaday, did a review and
post our initiative and also an important
manufacturer of air quality sensors,
Figure 22 Review of CanAirIO in hackaday
Sensirion, post our DIY guide of CanAirIO
Bike in their developers communities.

Deviations

Task 5.3
SLU did not report activities for task 5.3 despite the planned dedication of 15 PM.
Although, there have been follow-ups by the coordination and the connect group as a
collaborative work space in this component, there were no significant progress.
Therefore, a reallocation of PM is planned with the NKUA partner, which has
demonstrated the ability to execute this component.

Milestone 25
The milestone of the Datathon was scheduled for month 27 (January 2022), however it
was decided to postpone it to the second quarter of 2022 to connect them with the
research networks activities.

The ICM CSIC and NKUA are consolidating connections with universities and educational
centers to integrate multiple services in the Datathon.

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1.2.6. WP6 - Networking, Training and Capacity Building (Lead: OU)

WP6 Objectives: The main objective of WP6 is to demonstrate and facilitate knowledge
exchange, capacity building, training, education and engagement with and for citizen
science observatories and in doing so promote Cos4Cloud best practice within the EOSC
Hub and across Europe. The fifth objective of the Cos4Cloud project is to facilitate
networking and citizen science knowledge management processes across organisations,
people and initiatives and this objective is implemented through WP6.

WP6 integrates a range of integrated tasks and subtasks and for the 2nd Year the OU
team supported and coordinated delivery strategically focussed on continuing work
started in Year 1 collaborating in some instances with other partners. WP6 also
coordinates the Cos4Cloud CoNNect Group supporting coordinated delivery across WPs
5,6,7 & 8.

Activity in 2ND RP contributed to the delivery of WP6 tasks and subtasks, including:
● Task 6.1 Networking with other projects, initiatives and platforms
● Task 6.2 Sharing best practice
● Task 6.3 Production of a citizen science toolbox and Evidence Hub
○ Subtask 6.3.1 Design, infrastructure planning and development within co-
designed and co-created processes
○ Subtask 6.3.2 Addition and creation of training resources, case studies etc
○ Subtask 6.3.3 Implementation of case studies
○ Subtask 6.3.4 Integration of an Evidence Hub
● Task 6.4 Evaluation of citizen engagement, educational learning methodologies
and citizen-science impact
○ Subtask 6.4.1 Evaluation of the science learning potential of citizen science
observatories: defining ‘learning journeys’
○ Subtask 6.4.2 Set-up and evaluation of innovative school-based citizen
science activities
● Task 6.5 Training and capacity building services

WP6 Deliverables submitted in 2ND RP:

Additionally, to the official deliverables, the following intermediate reports were
attached to the technical report:
● D6.5 erable: Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science
activities

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WP6 Milestones: Implementation of the following Milestone(s) was underway

during 2ND RP:
● MS26 Training resources (M20)
● MS27 Engagement activities with projects of interest (M24)

A summary of status of progress and / or beneficiary activity in delivery of tasks and

subtasks during the 2st reporting period is detailed below. The following work was carried
out during RP Year 2, to achieve the objectives of this work package over the reporting
timeframe.

WP6 Progress per task

T 6.1 Networking with other projects, initiatives and platforms (OU, ALL,
M1-M40)

In RP Year 2 work continued supporting the database informing D6.1 Identification of

and engagement with projects of interest. Protocols for the use and storage were
agreed and engagement with stakeholders from identified projects of interest conducted
(see WP8 report). Work continues identifying and engaging new ones, in collaboration
with WP8, and this will continue into Year 3 of the project, as the project and citizen
science landscape continues to evolve.

D6.1 was the first Cos4Cloud deliverable published on the Cos4Cloud website making it
accessible to all (Deliverables & Publications – Cos4cloud). The report summarised
research conducted around the scale of citizen observatories (COs), citizen science (CS)
projects and other initiatives and outlined a criteria for identification and stakeholder
engagement with projects of interest. The initial inventory database included 8 Citizen
Science (CS) projects, 14 Citizen Observatory projects, 35 Citizen Observatory (CO) portals
and 21 other initiatives of direct relevance to Cos4Cloud.

Figure 23 Cos4Cloud website deliverables & publications

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T6.1 delivery also continued to support WP7 and in Year 2 informed discussions with
Earthwatch and contributions to D7.2 Dissemination and Marketing Strategy, D7.2
builds on two previous deliverables (D7.3 PEDR and D7.1 Exploitation Plan) and was
developed as a “living document” to facilitate collaboration between service leaders, WP7,
WP8 and work carried out in WP6. As part of D7.2 it was suggested that when referring
to their potential for market expansion, service leads should refer to these WPs as
reference points, particularly D6.1 Identification of and engagement with projects of
interest and D8.2 Communications Plan.

Cos4Cloud partners have also been involved in a range of activities supporting delivery
of WP6.1. Below are some summary highlights:

Open University (OU)

The OU’s focus of T6.1 in Year 2 was building relationships with targeted projects,
initiatives and platforms of interest (identified via D6.1), while fostering new ones,
towards informing and engaging more and new target audiences of citizen scientists and
users of the EOSC hub to ensure the greatest possible exploitation of the services and
products being developed by Cos4Cloud. Efforts also included communications,
dissemination, stakeholder engagement (in collaboration with WP8); support for WP7 in
the development of dissemination and marketing strategies and networking activities to
support Cos4Cloud collaborations. Some of the achievements in Year 2 included:
● Fostering Cos4Cloud relationships with European projects / representatives with
interests in training, networking and sharing experiences through membership in
the Community of Practice (CoP) for Training Coordinators
(https://www.openaire.eu/cop-training ). With a membership of over 100 projects
/ organisations / representatives, the group aims to map training activities of
various pan-European, EOSC-related initiatives, strengthening training capacity by
aligning, sharing experiences and best practice. WP6 Lead Janice Ansine is a
member and participates in monthly meetings contributing to networking
discussions, and sharing with a range of projects including EOSC Synergy,
OpenAire, TIME4CS etc.
● Networking collaborations with European projects REINFORCE, ESCAPE and the
Citizen Science Lab led to Cos4Cloud participating in the development of an Open
Science Fair workshop Citizen Science - open science challenges and
opportunities for collaboration OSFair - citizen-science-open-science-
challenges-and-opportunities-for-collaboration with WP6 lead Janice Ansine
presenting on the project and iSpot as a CO involved in the development of
services. The workshop explored best practice from different approaches /

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disciplines, common challenges and lessons learned. Our focus will be on

practicalities and live demonstrations. The session included presentations from
projects / organisations involved in citizen science across different disciplines.
Online tools for audience engagement included Zooniverse classifications; ESCAPE
Science Analysis Platform demonstrations; learning to record nature with the
citizen observatory iSpotnature.org and examples of Cos4Cloud citizen science
technological services for biodiversity observations. Recording available on
Youtube: Citizen Science - open science challenges and opportunities for
collaboration

Figure 24 Open science fair workshop

ECSA
Cos4Cloud has established a formal connection with the EU-Citizen.Science platform,
which has been inherited by ECSA in January 2022. Discussions in 2ND RP focused on
Cos4Cloud’s use of the EU-Citizen.Science platform (i.e. profiles, forums) and how the
platform can help Cos4Cloud reach the wider citizen science community. This formal
connection is strengthened through key personnel, including Jaume Piera (who is on the
EU-Citizen.Science advisory board) and Tim Woods (ECSA) and Claudia Fabó Cartas (ECSA
and formerly EU-Citizen.Science project), who are involved with both projects. Cos4Cloud
added a forum topic in EU-Citizen.Science project website to disseminate the Cos4Bio
service prototype, network with others on this topic and get the community’s feedback.

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The forum post has been viewed 150+ times as of mid-January 2021. During 2ND RP, ECSA
started to create (training) resource profiles for Cos4Cloud online events and training (e.g.
“Introducing Cos4Cloud” resource profile) and will continue this activity during RP3 as the
tools and services developed within the project are ready. This will increase the presence
of Cos4Cloud on the EU-Citizen.Science platform and make the tools and services known
to the wider citizen science community.

Figure 25 EU citizens science plaform

CSIC
Cos4Cloud continued connections with several related projects and organisations as well
as established new ones. Since March 2021 these have been made available in a new
‘Network’ section of the Cos4Cloud website called https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/networking-
and-synergies/ . Apart from collaborations in terms of communications (see ‘Subtask
8.3.3 Citizen Scientists’ in WP8 report), collaborations include:

● EU-Citizen.Science: collaboration, see web forum mentioned above.

● SciStarter: the biggest citizen science organisation in the United States: strategic
partner to promote Cos4Cloud in UE and Latin America. During RP1 CSIC
organised two online workshops together and we remain in direct contact to find
new ways to promote Cos4Cloud during 2022. In addition to this, the OU WP6
team updated and maintained the iSpot project on SciStarter (iSpot - your place to
share nature - SciStarter) as a Cos4Cloud CO example. Also, as part of the UK
based Engaging Communities project (NC4EE) the OU team are working on the
integration of iSpot, as an exemplar, in the development of a bespoke UK area on
Scistarter. The area will be available in RP3 and will be further integrated as a
platform / initiative of interest within T6.1.
● REINFORCE: The OU is a project partner and Janice Ansine (OU) sits on the Advisory
Board (see report on collaboration for OSFair event above).
● Blue-Cloud: Jaume Piera (CSIC) sits on the Advisory Board.

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● WeObserve: Sonia Liñán (CSIC) and Rachel Redford (OU) are part of the Engage
CoP community
● ECSA: Jaume Piera (CSIC) and Rosa Arias (SfC) are part of the ECSA's board of
directors.
● RICAP: Jaume Piera (CSIC) is part of 3 of the 4 work groups of the association, and
Karen Soacha (CSIC) is part of 3 of the 4 work groups.
● EOSC Skills and Training WG: EOSC Working Groups form an official part of the
EOSC Governance structure that will ensure a community-sourced approach to
the current challenges of the EOSC. The “Skills and Training” Work Group, is
working on building competence (skills) and capabilities (training) for EOSC. The
goal is to provide a framework for a sustainable training infrastructure to support
EOSC in all its phases and ensure its uptake. Jaume Piera (CSIC) is one of the
members of this Work Group.
● United Nations Decade of Ocean for Sustainable Development: CSIC was invited
to participate in a satellite event of the Ocean Laboratories “A Predicted Ocean”.
● Anèl·lides - Serveis ambientals marins, Xatrac, Plàncton diving and OCEANICOS:
co-organizers of the Cos4Cloud Bioblitz “BioMARató”. They had a key role in terms
of organisation, providing an extensive database of contact to disseminate the
BioMARató, as well as logistic resources such as scuba diving and snorkelling
equipment.

NKUA

In 2021, the NKUA continued to seek new partnerships and networking with key
stakeholders, organisations and initiatives from the school education sector. More
specifically, in the context of the online training programme organised and run by the
NKUA, partnerships were developed with all the Education Directorate agencies and
many of the Environmental Education Centers operating in and serving the wider
Athens region. Starting from the educational stakeholders who participated in the online
course, networking has been established with the following Education Directorate
agencies:

● Εast Attica and Athens B Directorates of Primary Education

● Athens B and C Directorates of Secondary Education

and the following Centres for Environmental Education (CEE) of Attica (Greater Athens
Area):

● the CEEs of Argyroupoli, Drapetsona, Elefsina and Lavrion

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Following the completion of the online training course networking was pursued with
more Directorates and CEEs as part of the NKUA’s efforts to expand the educational
network initially established through the NKUA’s participation in relevant dissemination
events that were organised by the Directorates and CEEs mentioned above. The NKUA’s
decision to set up a nationwide educational network of school environmental educators
and other educational stakeholders was based on the expressed need from the Greek
school educational community to have more opportunities to interact and collaborate
with other practitioners along the line of Cos4Cloud project’s objectives.

Delivery of T6.1 was ongoing across RP Year 2 and will continue to the end of the project
(M1 - M40). Next steps include continuing an engagement review and for Year 3 planning
activities with projects of interests supporting the next stage of codesign and facilitating
Cos4Cloud services testing (WP5).

T6.2 Sharing best practice (OU, NKUA, CSIC, ECSA, SLU, SfC, Earthwatch, M1-
M40)

The development and sharing of best practises to support and build citizen observatories
is important to Cos4Cloud both internally i.e. between project partners, and externally
through collaborations with core stakeholders.

The Cos4Cloud CoNNect Group

During Year 2 the sharing of best practice and collaboration across WPs 5, 6, 7 & 8,
continued successfully through the project CoNNect Group which is coordinated by the
OU and facilitated through WP6. This group includes Cos4Cloud partner representatives
working across WPs 5,6,7 & 8 and is open to any other partners with an interest in
attending. Meetings continued throughout Year 2 held once per month, chaired by WP6
Lead Janice Ansine. The Agenda and meeting notes are documented and meetings
include reporting and discussions on key developments on activity by each partner
working across the WP tasks supporting collaborative working and joint communication,
engagement, dissemination, networking, training, education and co-design across the
Cos4Cloud project.

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Figure 26 Connect group minutes

This includes sharing best practice from work implemented such as the approaches by
Trebola. For example, in the May 2021 meeting highlights from a Trebola workshop
"Sensores Solidarios - Solidary sensors" focused on building CO2 sensors called
"LibreCO2" using Arduinos and low cost CO2 sensors from a brand called SenseAir, to
have one more layer of protection against covid for the return to face-to-face classes.
During the workshop 8 sensors were built with volunteers, Mechanical Engineering
students from Universidad Nacional - National University.

The CoNNect Group also collaborated to discuss key project matters such as an update,
review and discussion led by Science for Change in October 2021 focused on the co-
design strategy and workshops plan:

Figure 27 Roadmap of co-design workshops

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Monthly updates on educational activity to date from NKUA and discussions on the
framework for the evaluation of school-based citizen science activities:

Figure 28 Following-up of educational activities

Highlights and lesson learned from key communications and dissemination activities are
also shared and discussed, such as this report from the OU:

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Figure 29 iSpot and Cos4Cloud engagement reports

An update from the Sci Tech Group (WPs 1,2,3 & 4)) was included as a recurring agenda
item, carrying forward any key matters for discussion from that group. A CoNNect Group
update was also provided at SciTech Meetings throughout 2ND RP.

Cos4Cloud Citizen Observatory best practice: CO Survey

In Year 1 a Cos4Cloud CO Survey was conducted to help us understand the shared needs
and differences among the nine citizen observatories within the Cos4Cloud consortium

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(i.e. Artportalen, CanAirIO, Eye on Water, Freshwater Watch, iSPEX, iSpotnature, Natusfera
and Pl@ntnet). In Year 2 work continued utilising the findings collected in the survey to
inform project delivery around the development of knowledge transfer processes
towards developing case studies of CO practice. Data under use in this phase of the
project included:
● Engagement: i.e. types and no. of users, testimonials, success stories,
documentation, activities etc
● Training and educational tools and resources
● Use and impact
● Lessons learned
Examples of CO best practice were used for demonstration purposes to facilitate
discussions on content etc with the wider consortium and the CoNNect Group.
Information gathered i.e training and educational tools and resources, engagement
activities, development of guidelines and the demonstration of specific activities collated
in Year 1 continues to inform plans for dissemination and the development of T6.3 the
Citizen Science Toolbox and Evidence Hub in Year 3. Collation of CO engagement /
training and educational resources etc. for integration was underway as part of the
creation / repurposing of training tools etc. for the Evidence Hub.

Exemplars of Cos4Cloud CO educational / training content selected for use include:

● the iSpot Quiz :

Figure 30 iSpot quiz

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● and Pl@ntne’s the Plant Game:

Figure 31 Plant game

Open University
The OU continued involvement in specific activities and initiatives focused on sharing best
practice, some continuing from Year 1 and others developed in Year 2, which have
contributed to delivery of T6.2, these included:
● Janice Ansine continued as Chair of the ECSA Sharing Best Practice and Building
Capacity Working Group and participated in ECSA associated activity.
● Janice Ansine continued as a member of the REINFORCE Project Advisory Board
(https://www.reinforceeu.eu/pab), Activity in 2ND RP included participating in
Advisory Board Meeting and collaborating to design a workshop around citizen
science best practice across a range of areas for the Open Science Fair OSFair -
citizen-science-open-science-challenges-and-opportunities-for-collaboration (see
6.1 above).
● Janice Ansine continued contributing as a member of the OpenAIRE project
Training Coordinators Community of Practice (www.openaire.eu/cop-training
actively participating in monthly meetings and discussions around sharing training
resources via the EOSC, Activity in 2ND RP included participating in group
discussions around the development of themes for group workshops and
presentations i.e. the Open Science Fair: Sharing Best Practices in OpenScience
Training: from online to hybrid and beyond.
● At the November 2021 monthly meeting, Janice Ansine presented and led The
Training CoP discussion introducing Cos4Cloud and sharing ideas for training
including the ToolBox and Evidence Hub. A lot of interest was generated from the
community and the Group are also interested in providing further feedback on
the space as it develops.

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Figure 32 Presentation inputs for creating a science toolbox & evidence hub

● Janice Ansine is a founding member and actively involved in the UK Tree Health
Citizen Science Network contributions include the development of a new Tree
health citizen science ‘learning pathway, which will be mapped into the Cos4Cloud
Toolbox. Tasks associated with managing the OU’s CO Treezilla - the monster map
of trees (www.Treezilla.org) continued including liaison with key stakeholders
across this area, Activity in Year 2 included the announcement of the success of a
new project collaboration which has been included as a Cos4Cloud project of
interest (https://www.uktreescapes.org/projects/branching-out/ )

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Figure 33 Tweeter announcement of the Branching Out parnership

● Janice Ansine continued as a ‘Critical Friend’ supporting citizen science

engagement within the NERC Community for Engaging Environments. As part of
this role in June 2021 Janice was a speaker at the EE Science Camp, hosted by
Earthwatch and shared citizen science best practice including the Cos4Cloud
project.

ECSA
For 2021, ECSA, CSIC and CREAF planned a series of online events, including a series of
workshops on diversity and inclusiveness in citizen science which is co-organised by four
partners: ECSA, Cos4Cloud, the ECSA & Living Knowledge Network Working Group on
Empowerment, Inclusiveness and Equity, and D-NOSES. The first workshop (27 January)
was called “Diversity and inclusiveness workshop #1: How dominant white culture
manifests in citizen science”. The second online event of the series (30 May) was titled
“Inclusivity in Citizen Science Workshop”. Both recordings are available at the ECSA
YouTube channel, here and here. The blog post “Inclusiveness in citizen science: how can
projects help vulnerable groups to participate?” on the Cos4Cloud website followed these
events. This series of events, which will continue during RP3, contributes to both T8.3
“Stakeholder Engagement” and T6.2 “Sharing best practice” as its aims to engage with the

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wider community, offer the opportunity to share experiences in citizen science projects
or activities and in COs, and share best practises on making participation inclusive and
open.

CSIC and CREAF

In September 2021, CSIC and CREAF organised the webinar “Engaging the society beyond
data collection”. It was a Satellite Activity of the Event “A Predicted Ocean”, an Ocean
Decade Laboratory organised in the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean
for Sustainable Development. The workshop analysed different challenges in volunteer
participation in ocean monitoring projects: from potential barriers for volunteer
participation up to how to improve the management of the cost and oceans developing
evidence-based policies using in some cases the information generated in these
participative processes. The video of the first part of the workshop can be viewed here in
the Cos4cloud Youtube channel.

During the first part of the workshops, ongoing projects share their lessons learned
experiences. The second part of the workshop consisted in a moderated discussion (both
in English and Spanish) with all the involved actors, including academia, industry,
policymakers and civil society. After the workshop, several participants expressed their
desire to continue the conversation and exchange of good practises. CSIC opened a
shared Google Document to collect all the information and plans to work on this
document during 2022 and publish on the Cos4Cloud website a wrap-up of the key
lessons learned regarding engagement in ocean monitoring projects.

NKUA

During the 2nd Reporting period the NKUA continued to respond to invitations and/or
seek opportunities to share best practice and success stories with the school community.
The following events are representative of this activity:

Participation in:

● The teacher training webinar titled "Greening my school, greening my city.

Pedagogical [1] approach and digital tools" organised by CEE Elefsina on
28.1.2021 in collaboration with the primary and secondary environmental
education project coordinators in B and C Athens and Western Attica Education
Districts, where the NKUA team gave a talk on "CS meets EE/ESD in schools:
pedagogical use of Pl@ntnet in school garden and urban greening projects". The
webinar was attended by 122 teachers.

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● The teacher training webinar "Medicinal and aromatic plants in our lives",
organised by CEE Lavrion on 30.3.2021 in collaboration with the primary and
secondary environmental education project coordinators in B Athens and Eastern
Attica Education Districts. The NKUA team participated in it to talk about
"Recording aromatic plants and herbs and their stories. Interdisciplinary ideas for
EE practice based on citizen science approaches and tools". The webinar was
attended by more than 120 teachers.
● The teacher training webinar on: "Cultivating new skills and environmental
awareness in the school garden", organised by the primary and secondary
environmental education project coordinators in B and C Athens Education
Districts on 30.11.2021. The NKUA team participated with a presentation on the
topic: "Citizen Science in the school garden. Ideas and suggestions for educational
activities with Cos4Cloud Citizen Observatories". The webinar was attended by 80
teachers.
● The teacher training webinar on: "Connect with nature!", organised by CEE
Eleftherios Kordelios & Vertiskos and CEE Kilkis on 16.12.2021, in collaboration
with the primary and secondary environmental education project coordinators in
B and C Athens Education Districts of Eastern and Western Thessaloniki. The
webinar was attended by 420 teachers. In this the NKUA team officially announced
the establishment of a new thematic school network on “Environmental Education
for Sustainability and Citizen Science” and presented its under-development
website. All interested teachers were invited to register and join the network after
the formal call to be launched in early 2022.

Delivery of T6.2 is ongoing and continues from M1 - M40.

T6.3 Production of a citizen science toolbox and Evidence Hub (OU, NKUA,
ECSA, CSIC, M4-M40)

A key output of WP6 is facilitating training, engagement, networking, capacity building

and knowledge management processes across organisations, people and initiatives
working on citizen observatories. Work supporting the delivery of D6.3 Production of a
citizen science toolbox and Evidence Hub underway across Year 2 work included
updating earlier research into online learning and toolkits / tool boxes; identifying Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs - contributing to D7.3 PEDR) and D7.2 Dissemination and
Marketing Strategy, exploring the dissemination and marketing potential; while
facilitating discussions with the Consortium and other stakeholders regarding the design

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by the OU and the development of a framework and preliminary educational and training
resources as well as case studies to be integrated.

A review of external online learning platforms and online course platforms conducted in
Year 1 provided useful background helping us to better understand the landscape, and
gather best practice in this area. This included a review of toolkits / toolboxes relevant
to citizen science also conducted to understand the landscape and find best practice etc
to help guide our design framework. Online searches and results indicated key areas
across citizen science including synergies with the EU-Citizen.Science: https://eu-
citizen.science training area which launched during Year 2.

Our research supported our selection of the OU’s Open Learn Create as our repository
platform of choice. Research was conducted exploring popular online learning platforms
as well as online course platforms and a key distinction noted was the difference between
‘online learning platforms’ and ‘online course platforms’: an online learning platform
emphasises and presents the learner’s perspective whereas an online course platform
takes the perspective of the online instructor/ teacher. However, both are used
interchangeably, and key to our design framework has been how we contextualise this in
the delivery of T6.3 to meet Cos4Cloud project and stakeholder needs, i.e. those providing
content and those using it.

Delivery of T6.3 (M4 - M40) continued into Year 2 setting the groundwork for the months
ahead. Next steps include the final design of the space and development of resources, as
well as the continued review updating our database of existing toolkits etc, as well as
collaboration / integration possibilities for content.

T6.3.1 Design, infrastructure planning & development (co-designed / co-created)

(OU, CSIC M4 - M40 )

D6.3 The Cos4Cloud Toolbox & Evidence Hub is an online repository of best practice,
training, education and capacity building resources on citizen science (observatories)
which is aimed at becoming a source / resource of guidelines and materials for existing
and future citizen observatory leaders, and other interested stakeholders. It is under
development as an output of WP6 and will be promoted via the Communications Plan
(WP8) and established / supported as one of the project’s exploitable outputs to be
disseminated (WP7).

Design and development:

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The OU is utilising its knowledge and experience in online / distance learning and
incorporating existing models and platforms for free online shared educational resources
using OpenLearn Create which facilitates co-creation and co-design of resources. The aim
is to ensure a legacy of the evidence hub and training resources beyond the project
timeline through OU ongoing support of this platform.

The design integrates features within a free, open educational platform which facilitates
collaborative community development of learning materials & addition of content by
partners and stakeholders:
● Resource styles: Courses, materials, handbook, guides, blogs, competitions etc.
Can integrate all media images, videos etc
● Articles: a written piece can be a standalone training resource or published
supporting other content
● Online assessment tools: quizzes, questionnaires, workshops (peer assessment),
activities, tracking learner progress
● Forums: to facilitate discussion between participants around resources. Forum
spaces will be created shaping the Evidence Hub
● A collection: groups all resources together accessible in one space, i.e. The
Cos4Cloud Toolbox & Evidence Hub
● Features: supports multiple languages. Moodle based tools for collaboration,
reuse and remixing i.e. codesign and co-creation
● Digital badges: rewards when participant completes all criteria i.e. all content,
quizzes and associated activities
● Statement of participation: to demonstrate course participation and can display
any associated digital badges.

Co-creation / consultation:

As part of the co-created / consultative process of conceptualising the design, an

introductory presentation was made to the CoNNect Group in October 2020 and further
updated August 2021. In Year 2 plans for the ToolBox and Evidence Hub were further
defined and these were presented for further discussion with partners as part of a
CoNNect Group Workshop at the Cos4Cloud Annual Meeting on November 5, 2021.

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Figure 34 Tweeter: Evidence hub & toolbox

CoNNect Group Workshop Outline, Cos4Cloud Annual Meeting, November 2021:

WP6 includes the development of the Cos4Cloud Toolbox and Evidence Hub (T6.3), the
production of an online repository of best practice, training, education and capacity
building resources around citizen science [observatories]. A ‘one-stop-shop’ of guidelines
and materials for existing and future citizen observatory leaders, it will be a facility to
share with a range of stakeholders (T6.1 and T6.2). It includes case studies and best
practice as well as training resources, handbooks and user guides etc to support
Cos4Cloud services (T6.3). It will be the space where we share educational resources
developed from innovative school-based citizen science activities and the evaluation of
the learning potential of citizen science observatories (T6.4). Training and capacity
building services to be implemented (T6.5) will also be shared and examples will also be
integrated into the EOSC.

Aim: to discuss and brainstorm to help shape the development of the ToolBox and
Evidence Hub.

Workshop leaders: Janice Ansine and Rachel Redford (OU) Maria Daskolia (NKUA)
Breakout rooms: (partner representation across the themes)

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Cos4Cloud services - training resources, handbooks & user guidelines ( Janice).

Citizen observatories, training & educational resources (Rachel & María D).

Notes from the discussion and Q&A have been collated and these are feeding into the
ongoing / current phase of development.

T6.3.2 Creation of training resources, case studies etc (OU, ALL M4 - M38)

Work done contributing to this sub task from January 2021 - 22 included:
○ Decision to focus delivery of training content on citizen observatory
themes,
○ Gathering content of CO best practice and ideas for case studies,
○ Collation of possible sources for crowdsourced / existing content, and
○ A rudimentary framework for the integration of training resources and case
studies within the design and development of the Evidence Hub (to be
finalised),
○ Development of exemplar resources designed using the OpenLearn Create
framework.

Exploring the support structure needed for the Cos4Cloud services and COs outputs /
key performance indicators for the Toolbox and Evidence Hub were defined in Year 2 and
these have been part of the consultation / co-creation discussions:
● Evidence Hub: Spaces for discussion and sharing of best practice, lessons etc
between participants,
● Services training resources, i.e. introducing Cos4Cloud services to the citizen
science CO / community stakeholders etc.: Create at least 1 per service, a
minimum of 10, by the end of the project,
● CO training resources, i.e. Cos4Cloud CO’s as exemplars of citizen science
observatories activity: Create at least 1 per CO, a minimum of 10, by the end of the
project.

T6.3.3 Implementation of case studies (OU, CSIC, NKUA, CREAF M4 - M40)

The outline of plans for the implementation of case studies was developed in Year 1 and
included in D8.2 Communication Plan as well as a case study template aimed at covering
a diverse range of countries, target groups, approaches and disciplines / sectors etc. In
Year 2 this was delivered around work in T6.4 and T6.5 (below) and reviewed in the
context of the ToolBox and Evidence Hub OpenLearn Create design framework and will
be further developed in Year 3.

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T6.3.4 Integration of a Evidence Hub (OU, CSIC, ECSA M4 - M40)

Last year preliminary ideas contributing to the plan for the integration of the Evidence
Hub content alongside the framework for the citizen science toolbox were included in
D8.2 The Communication Plan:

“The citizen science toolbox will be the Cos4Cloud repository highlighting best
practice, training, education and capacity building resources for existing and
future citizen observatories. Alongside this will be the Evidence Hub implemented
as a live online space and facilitated as knowledge exchange sharing of best
practice collated from associated social media, communications, dissemination
and engagement activities.”2

In Year 2, as noted in T6.3.2 and T6.3.3 above, these plans were further developed
incorporating plans for the addition and creation of training resources and case studies.
The CO Survey conducted in Year 1 provided useful insight into the potential content COs
already have and the collation of these resources for further development continued into
Year 2. This contributed to the development of the following CO example training and
case study resource: Exploring Nature with iSpot:

2D8.2 Communication Plan, pp 69. (Cos4Cloud Consortium (2020). Ansine, J., Daskolia M., Grillia N., Gkotzos
D., Justamante A., Liñán S., Nolland K., Piera J., Ramón, A., Rodríguez-Arias M.A., Soacha K., Woods S., Woods
T., Kakaroucha E. Communications plan- Report (D8.2). Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the
EOS-Cloud (Cos4Cloud).

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Figure 35 Screenshots exploring nature with iSpot

Ideas for the development of training resources to introduce the Cos4Cloud COs and the
services were also under development and this is one example of a resource created:
Cos4Cloud: a European project boosting citizen science technologies:

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Figure 36 Example of the Cos4Cloud resources in the evidence hub

This work contributed to the implementation of M6.1 Training resources (M20) in Year
2. T6.3 is ongoing and continues from M4 - M40.

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T6.4 Evaluation of citizen engagement, educational learning methodologies

and citizen-science impact (OU, NKUA, CSIC, M4-M400

Further progress was achieved in delivering T6.4 and associated sub tasks contributing
to frameworks for monitoring and evaluating citizen and stakeholder engagement in
citizen science [observatory] activities. A key part of this is exploring the impact on citizens
and communities engaged in activities, as well as learning through citizen science, in
formal and informal contexts.

The NKUA continued to develop evidence-based knowledge around approaches to

citizen science education incorporating work around associated task (T6.5, T5.3.1 and
T5.3.2) in Year 2 and discussions continued around the NKUA educational toolkit for
the online teacher training course Citizen Science and Environmental Education for
Sustainability and how it can be adapted and redeveloped into training resources for
different audiences / stakeholders and made available via the Cos4Cloud Toolkit and
Evidence Hub. The thematic content which was included:
1. Introduction to basic concepts, approaches and best practice of Citizen Science;
2. From Citizen Science to Citizen Observatories: Strengthening environmental
protection in practice;
3. The Cos4Cloud European Project: Approaching the challenge of Open Science
from the perspective of Citizen Science;
4. Citizen Science and Environmental Education/Education for Sustainability, and
5. Design of educational activities and material for the integration of citizen science
into EE/EfS)

T6.4.1 Evaluation of the science learning potential of citizen science observatories:

defining ‘learning journeys’ (OU, NKUA, CSIC, INRIA, SLU, All COs, M24-M40)
Research continued into the evaluation of the learning potential from online activities in
citizen observatories to identify learning journeys with work on the case study of
iSpotnature as an exemplar. Year 1 focused on exploring how participatory learning may
be identified through the use of the platform. Preliminary research using iSpot user data,
by WP Lead Janice Ansine, demonstrated a range of user experiences within the context
of learning from this online community of practice; significant here are the hundreds of
thousands of iSpot participant comments on posted observations.

In Year 2 the concept of citizen science learning journeys was further explored supporting
earlier suggestions these can occur individually or as part of a group but importantly each
is unique in its own way based on levels of expertise / pre-existing knowledge, the amount
of time they spend involved and can be on single or multiple topics which stop, start,

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continue based on the motivational factor or interest influencing engagement with the
experience. In Year 2 progress was made contributing to the development of an
evaluation framework (to help understand how to develop engaging citizen science
activity in COs), demonstrated in a poster presentation / publication at the CitSciVirtual
Conference in May 2021. This was one of the Cos4Cloud project related contributions at
the conference.

Poster Title: Citizen science learning journeys through iSpotnature.org: an online

community of nature lovers (http://oro.open.ac.uk/78396/ )
Poster Theme / CSA Connect: Volunteer Learning and Engagement
Summary:
The scale and range of citizen
science has grown alongside
this in recognition of its role
enabling one to learn about
nature. iSpot
(www.iSpotnature.org)
encourages anyone to learn
about and record wildlife;
while at the same time build
their species identification
skills. This poster uses
experiences from this online
community of practice.
Significant here are the
hundreds of thousands of
iSpot participant comments
around posted observations.
A concept of citizen science
learning journeys is
presented; these can occur
individually or as part of a
group but importantly each is unique in its own way based on levels of expertise / pre-
existing knowledge, the amount of time they spend involved and can be on single or
multiple topics which stop, start, continue based on the motivational factor or interest
influencing engagement with the experience. The poster will demonstrate how, within
the control of the participant, learning journeys can help us understand how to develop
engaging citizen science activities.

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T6.4.2 Set-up and evaluation of innovative school-based citizen-science

activities (NKUA, OU, CSIC, M4-M40)
During the 1st year of the project the NKUA elaborated an integrated action plan for the
achievement of the objectives of Sub-Task 6.4.2. This plan, which is illustrated in the figure
above, served as the General Design Model and the proposed implementation
approach for a series of interconnected actions that were to be developed under 6.4.2.
By putting this plan into effect, the NKUA proceeded with the following key steps in Year
1:
(a) it designed, organised and carried out an online training programme for
Greek primary and secondary school environmental educators and other
educational stakeholders of EE/ESD on ‘Citizen science and Environmental
Education for Sustainability’ with a focus on how to incorporate the Cos4Cloud
project’s citizen observatories platforms and tools in school practice,
(b) it set up a community of learning and practice based on the course’s
participants, which would serve as the nucleus for a national educational
network of primary and secondary schools/ teachers/ educational
stakeholders
(c) it developed a set of training materials to support and facilitate the course
participants’s learning, and
(d) it coordinated the co-design of a set educational scenarios, i.e. educational
designs for implementing citizen science activities and projects in schools with
the use of selected Cos4Cloud CO platforms.

Figure 37 General design model

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These initiatives and products that are listed above contributed to and resulted in new
actions designed and implemented during the Year 2, which mainly focused on:

● the implementation of a range of case studies of educational projects and

activities in Greek primary and secondary schools, and
● the evaluation of these case studies in terms of their learning potential and
educational impact in cultivating an environmentally and scientifically literate
and active citizenry based on the collection and analysis of qualitative data.
In more detail, during Year 2 the NKUA:
○ continued continued to provide support, feedback and consultation to
teachers and educational stakeholders who had participated in the training
course and to strongly encourage the transfer of their acquired knowledge
and gained professional insights into their teaching practice,
○ coordinated the implementation of 5 case studies of citizen science in
Greek schools as a follow-up of the training course and the educational
scenarios produced. Despite the prevailing adverse conditions due to the
Covid-19 pandemic and the changes brought about affecting the schools’
operation and the standard teaching and learning processes, a small but
significant number of educational projects and activities were carried out
in 4 Greek secondary and 1 primary education schools, addressing and
involving in total of 141 students,
○ supported all necessary adjustments that needed to be carried out to
the educational scenarios to become readily usable and feasible in
school practice under the current conditions,
○ designed the methodological framework and the evaluation approach
to be taken to assess the learning potential and educational impact of
the implemented educational projects,
○ created new forms, templates and questionnaires as tools for the
collection of qualitative data, which that were employed for the reporting
of the case studies and their evaluation by the teachers,
○ coordinated the collection of data from the case studies,
○ carried out a first-level analysis of the qualitative data collected for the
in-depth examination of specific case-studies,
○ undertook new initiatives and actions to help grow the initial community
to a nationwide educational network of Greek schools, teachers and
other educational stakeholders, as a further step to support the widening
of citizen science practice to school population. Among these follow-up
initiatives were:

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○ the NKUA’s organisation and delivery of one teaching activity in an

undergraduate course and 1 training seminar in a post-graduate course;
and the NKUA’s participation in in-service teachers’ professional
development events (webinars) organised by collaborating or new Greek
school educational stakeholders,
○ the compilation, elaboration and update of the online course’s training
materials and educational scenarios to become the content of a new
electronic book edition to be released in 2022 by the NKUA’s Publishing
House with open access for everyone interested on the integration of
citizen science in school environmental education and the circulation of the
ideas and technologies of the Cos4Cloud project,
○ the provisional design of a website for the national educational
network (the “EECSnet”: Environmental Education for Sustainability and
Citizen Science Network).
Delivery of T6.4.2 is ongoing and will continue to M40.

T6.5 Training and capacity building services (OU, CSIC, Earthwatch, NKUA,
M4-M40)

The goal of T65 is to create tools and resources supporting use and integration of the
Cos4Cloud services as well as promoting integration by COs (this will also be delivered in
collaboration with WP8 and WP7). Sharing best practice is an integral part of this;
collecting examples of experiences, including education and training activities, knowledge
transfer and lessons learnt. Comments etc will be collated via the Evidence Hub, linked to
guides and handbooks, etc and shared together online in the Toolbox. Thus contributing
to opportunities for the progression of participants from initial engagement to long-term
commitment by building awareness through bespoke activities promoting and
supporting Cos4Cloud services, citizen observatories and citizen science.

T6.5 delivery in Year 2 focused on outlining structured plans for the creation of guides
and user handbooks, working with Cos4Cloud service leads and COs, as part of the
outputs and key performance indicators (KPIs) of Cos4Cloud. It is anticipated that this will
involve:
● Development of Handbooks / Guides supporting Cos4Cloud services for the CO
community / potential service user groups. Target is to create at least 1 per service,
a minimum of 10, by the end of the project.
● Handbooks / Guides highlighting Cos4Cloud project best practice and experiences
for the CO community and other stakeholders. Target is to create 10 Cos4Cloud
best practice handbooks / guides (target audience tbc) by the end of the project.

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Examples of this will include core themes, i.e. How to co-design a new citizen
science project within the Cos4Cloud framework?; Best practice for citizen
observatories; CO’s and School-based citizen science; Cos4Cloud co-design etc.
● Evidence Hub: Creation of live spaces for discussion and sharing of best practice,
lessons etc between participants / stakeholders etc.

The second aspect of delivery in Year 2 focused on building awareness of Cos4Cloud

services and COs through the implementation of targeted training and capacity building
activities aimed at engaging citizen scientists, citizen observatory participants,
stakeholders and wider audiences. These were also documented as best practice
examples and will be integrated as case studies and training tools, capacity building
services and other resources within the Cos4Cloud Toolbox and Evidence Hub in Year 3.
Delivery of T6.5 is ongoing and continues from M4 - M40.

The Open University (OU)

iSpot as a Cos4Cloud CO: Highlighting the significant role of iSpotnature as one of the
four Cos4Cloud exemplar biodiversity COs, 2021 also marked a significant milestone for
iSpot: 12 years contributing to building species identification skills, biological
recording, data gathering, teaching and research. The impact of iSpot was noted as
being extensive - from being essential to the wellbeing of many as a connection with
nature throughout Covid-19, to contributing to education, environmental policy-
related actions and biological data recording in the UK and globally. Highlights
included the following:

● iSpot’s 12 years for 12 months activities started in June around the timeline of
#WorldEnvironmentDay which was emphasised to put a global spotlight on
the state of ecosystems, while highlighting how citizen science supports action
for biodiversity and the role citizen observatories can play as a part of this
solution, engaging citizens to record, identify and learn about this. The iSpot
community were invited to share their views about this for World Environment
Day. and to participate and share their Observations from Restoration Sites
using the tag `Restoration` to add observations from restoration sites visited.

● The launch of a new iSpot OpenLearn space highlighting OU training and

learning opportunities around citizen science, biodiversity and ecosystems
including the Cos4Cloud project:

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Figure 38 iSpot OpenLearn space

● Happy Birthday!: iSpot turned 12 on Sunday, June 27, 2021 and milestones
throughout the day from the activity of the citizen observatory community
were highlighted here:
● iSpot12for12 biodiversity citizen science challenges: putting a spotlight on
biodiversity linked with key national and international activities. The focus for
June was Insect Week and the iSpot community got involved highlighting the
wide range of insects on iSpot as well as posting new observations and linking
them in a special iSpot Insect Week Project.
● Unique / interesting / memorable observations: iSpot@12 highlights project
collated examples with participants encouraged to tag their memorable
observations 'iSpot@12' to add their own.
● iSpot website updates: In 2021 as part of an iSpotnature.org website refresh, the
OU team made the decision to revise its introductory message for users on iSpot.
This was in part influenced by and associated with a review of iSpot’s role as a CO,
which provides a service that supports training and capacity building in biological
recording and citizen science.

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Figure 39 Home of the iSpot websit

● Explore, Record, Collaborate and Learn were introduced as the four themes
selected and highlighted to guide users on their iSpot journey and get the most
out of your experience. ”iSpot (www.iSpotnature.org ) is aimed at helping anyone
identify anything in nature! It is a citizen science project (i.e. citizen observatory)
run by The Open University (OU) that was developed to help everyone learn about
and engage with nature. Share and build your wildlife identification skills while
monitoring and recording biodiversity.”

OU COP26 ‘Green Zone’ event exploring culture, citizens and climate: The OU co-
hosted a unique event on November 7th 2021 at the 26th United Nations Climate
Change Conference (COP26),in Glasgow, Scotland entitled Ancient Knowledge and
Modern Thinking: Climate Perspectives
in Folk Art. Speakers included
Cos4Cloud’s / iSpot's Janice Ansine and
Advaith Siddharthan and they explored
connections between culture, citizens,
and climate while examining pieces by
these artists from Glasgow Museums’
World Cultures collection.
This was a thought-provoking session that
intersected the worlds of culture, science
and technology, sharing technological
innovations that citizens can use to record
and protect nature, including iSpot and
the Cos4Cloud project. “Citizen science is

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powerful: it allows anyone to participate and contribute while engaging with and
learning about science. It can foster deep and meaningful connections with nature,
as well as facilitate informed action,” Ansine said.

Our citizen science approach provides opportunities to explore, record, identify,

collaborate, contribute, learn and personalise experiences. “Currently we are working

with partners across Europe and Colombia in the Cos4Cloud project co-designing a range

of new technologies, services and training resources supporting biological recording and

environmental monitoring,” she added. How can we make a difference and help others

do so too? Citizen science is one way to do this. Over 1.5 thousand joined the event

live both online and in person, the recording

is available here.

To raise awareness and promote learning,

the OU also has a wide range of free online

resources exploring climate change and the

importance of COP26, and citizen science on

the free learning site OpenLearn.

The OU continued to provide the free course

Citizen Science and Global Biodiversity, In Year
2, in addition to earning a free Open University
digital badge on completion, this training
course is endorsed by the Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) Standards Office and can be used to provide evidence
of continuing professional development, as self-directed CPD.

Promotion of the OpenLearn Create free course created by the OU team, a cross-
pollinated resource for pollinator citizen science, as preparations were made in Year 2 to
integrate this as a resource in the Cos4Cloud Tool Kit and Evidence Hub.

Trebola
In October 2021, Daniel Bernal, co-founder of the citizen science platform to monitor air
quality, CanAirIO, and part of Cos4Cloud team, led a practical hands on session at the VIII

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Colombian Congress and International Conference on Air Quality and Public Health. In
this course he explained how to build a low-cost personal PM 2.5 monitor.

Figure 40 On-site workshop: make your own PM2.5 sensor

Noting that low-cost devices are an essential tool to estimate exposure to pollution, and
this is an opportunity to build and have one. Daniel demonstrated how to build the device
with a “Sensorion SPS30” sensor, MCERTS certified, making it the only low-cost sensor
with international certifications in the market. The course content is being collated for
integration within the Toolbox and Evidence Hub.

CSIC
In Year 2 CSIC facilitated online and face-to-face training on the use of Natusfera to the
organisers of the scuba diving and snorkelling activities framed in the BioMARató BioBlitz
. Before each one of these activities, participants and volunteers of the BioBlitzs were
instructed and encouraged to use Natusfera to report the observations (see ‘Subtask
5.3.1 [SC1] Bioblitzes’ in WP5 reporting). The course content is being collated for
integration within the Toolbox and Evidence Hub.

MS26: Training resources

The wide range of activity delivered under T6.1, T6.2, T6.3, and particularly T6.4 and T6.5
in Year 2 contributed to the implementation of MS26 Training resources. The
development best practice examples and resources as well as the first group of training
resources. This also will support delivery of D6.3 Citizen science toolbox and evidence
hub (M35), D6.6 Training materials available and online and capacity building report
(M36) and D6.2 Best practice guidelines and resources (M36) in the coming year.

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Deviations
There are no deviations of note

1.2.7. WP 7 - Project Dissemination and Exploitation (Lead: Earthwatch)

WP7 Objectives: WP7 aims to create opportunities for the Cos4Cloud project outcomes,
and guide the project activities to ensure Cos4Cloud services’ sustainability; both within
and outside of the EOSC.

Most tasks and deliverables were led by Earthwatch, with other beneficiaries adding
valuable feedback to deliverables. Task 7.3 was led by CSIC.

Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2nd reporting
period:
● Task 7.2 Market and business case analysis V1 (M6 - M24)
● Task 7.3 Network expansion and dissemination (M24 - M40)
● Task 7.4 IP and innovation management (M1 - M40)
● Task 7.5 Market and business case analysis V2 (M24 - M40)
● Task 7.6 Exploitation roadmap (M24 - M40)
● Task 7.7 Exploitation documentation (M24 - M40)
● Task 7.8 Strategic plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results (PEDR)
(M1 - M24)

The following WP7 Deliverable was submitted during 2ND RP:

● D7.2 Dissemination and marketing strategy

The following Milestones relevant to WP7 were completed during 2ND RP:
● None

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried during
the 2nd RP:

WP7 Progress per task:

Task 7.2 Market and business case analysis V1 (Earthwatch, DDQ, 52N, SfC, SECD,
Bineo, DynAikon, M6-24)
In this task, led by Earthwatch, WP7 generated a list of prospective end-users and
potential questions to ask these users - including their willingness to pay for services -
and kept a record of answers. These questions were asked in the context of networking
and co-design activities.

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WP7 also carried out an in-depth market analysis of Cos4Cloud project outputs ,
consisting of the following six specific steps:
1. Market segmentation
2. Added value analysis
3. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis
4. Competition analysis
5. PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) analysis
6. Market expansion.

All steps were documented for D7.2 Dissemination and marketing strategy.

Whilst D7.1 Exploitation Plan – ex ante identification and evaluation of project

opportunities outlined Cos4Cloud’s opportunities for market expansion within the
EOSC, following a thorough exploration of the EOSC marketplace and an assessment of
how best to integrate Cos4Cloud’s services within this framework, D7.2 Dissemination
and marketing strategy focused on the potential for market expansion outside of the
EOSC. WP7 produced documentation per service, detailing who relevant stakeholders for
the service are, how they can be contacted, which marketing materials will be necessary
for effective dissemination, and the anticipated impact of this activity. An example is
shown below.

Figure 41 Example of the mapping per service of the exploitation plan

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Deviations: In RP1 some aspects of Task T7.1 were added to Task T7.2, to allow for a
thorough analysis of the EOSC marketplace in D7.1 Exploitation Plan - exante
identification and evaluation of project opportunities. In 2ND RP, there were no
further deviations to the task.

Task 7.3 Network expansion and dissemination (CSIC M24 - M40)

During 2022 CSIC was paving the way to expand the dissemination of the Cos4Cloud
project. It was a joint transversal effort that encompasses both this task and other tasks
in WP6 (‘Task 6.1 Networking with other projects, initiatives and platforms’ and ‘Task 6.2
Sharing best practice’) and WP8 (Task 8.3 Stakeholder Engagement).

Regarding the dissemination of the project advancement in international organisations,

CSIC, CREAF and ECSA coordinated a webinar co-organized by Cos4Cloud and EU-
Citizen.Science about how the project will benefit the citizen science community:
“Introducing Cos4Cloud: how will it benefit the citizen science community?”. Besides,
project advancements such as the integration of some of the services in EOSC, have been
monthly placed in ECSA Newsletter during all 2021. November and December newsletter
can be seen here and here. During 2022, CSIC will lead the task to post project
advancements in other international citizen organisations: Latin America (RICAP), North
America (NCSA), the SciStarter citizen science database (LoS) and the CODATA citizen
science task group.
.
Task 7.4 IP and innovation management (Earthwatch, ALL, M1-40)
BINEO has set up an overview of all relevant project foreground IP per partner and
maintain a record (in the project workspace) of the IP generated individually and jointly
by the Partners, and each Partner contribution. Three models for dealing with IP rights in
products and services during and after the project are already identified:
● (paid) licencing, where one partner compensates for the use of IP;
● transfer of IP rights from one partner to another;
● joint ventures between partners that offer products and services based on joint
IP.

During the first period, WP7 created a draft template in which each partner can present
the relevant information about the IP of each product or service. In 2ND RP, this
document has been added to, as service development continues. This documentation will
be finalised in D7.4 IP management plan in RP3.

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Task 7.5 Market and business case analysis V2 (M24 - M40)

The services being developed in WP4 are now at a stage where they can be tested. Thus
this task focuses on reviewing the outcomes of T7.2 and the associated deliverable D7.2
Dissemination and marketing strategy. This ongoing task will ensure that the
exploitation plan evolves in parallel with Cos4Cloud initiatives. In RP3, Earthwatch will
facilitate a gap analysis exercise, the outcomes of which will feed into D7.5 Exploitation
roadmap v2.

Task 7.6 Exploitation roadmap (M24 - M40)

The Exploitation roadmap will provide the final version of the Cos4Cloud exploitation plan
and will include the contributions of each consortium member. To this end, WP7 has
maintained communication with members of both the CoNNect and SciTech groups, to
keep up to date with service development. WP7 has begun to assimilate the technical,
regulatory and business perspectives of the results and develop an exploitation roadmap,
which will form part of deliverable D7.5 Exploitation roadmap v2.

Task 7.7 Exploitation documentation (M24 - M40)

This task aims to proactively promote the Cos4Cloud project and its results by providing
targeted information to various audiences beyond the project’s own community. To this
end, Earthwatch and other partners have been working on a publication, “How networks
of citizen observatories can increase the quality and quantity of citizen-generated
data used to monitor SDG indicators”, which draws on the Cos4Cloud project as an
example, to highlight how generating networks of citizen observatories through the
services provided by the project can make citizen-generated data more interoperable and
accessible , increasing the impact and usefulness of citizen science. This work will be
submitted to the journal Sustainability in RP3.

During the second Annual Meeting of the Cos4Cloud project the services leaders were
asked to create a demonstrative video of the use and characteristics of each one of the
services. These videos are not public and remain within the consortium. The private
videos are available here. Earthwach, in close collaboration with CSIC and CREAF in the
framework of WP8, is planning on improving these videos and creating a series of
factsheets targeted to different audiences.

Task 7.8 Strategic plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results (PEDR)
(Earthwatch, CSIC, INRIA, Bineo, DDQ, SfC, M01-M24)
This task, led by Earthwatch, defines the exploitation strategy for the results and
comprises the necessary activities to get the technological innovations into exploitable

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results. This work is detailed in D7.3 “Strategic plan for the exploitation and
dissemination of the results (PEDR)” and was covered in the report for RP1.

Deviations
There are no deviations of note

1.2.8. WP8 - Communication, Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement (Lead:

CSIC)

WP8 Objectives: To ensure integration and communication within the COS4CLOUD

project across all partners, WPs and disciplines. In close collaboration with WP7, to
establish the optimal communication channels to promote project outcomes to identify
key target audience groups, and to effectively engage relevant users and to guide
COS4CLOUD research, development, and innovation activities.

Beneficiaries were engaged on the following active tasks during the 2nd reporting
period:
● Task 8.1 Development and Implementation of the Communication strategy
● T8.2. Build and promote the EOSC-COS4CLOUD brand
● Task 8.3 Stakeholder Engagement
● T8.4 Evaluating project impact

The following WP8 Deliverables were submitted during Year2:

● D8.3 Project Video

The following Milestones relevant to WP8 were completed during Year2:

● M36 Establish Brand Identity (M14)

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried
out during Year 2:

WP8 Progress per task:

Task 8.1 Development and Implementation of the Communication strategy
(CREAF, M1–40)
Work carried out: During the Year 2 CREAF, with support of CSIC, has implemented the
communication strategy designed in D8.2 “Communication Plan”. Some adjustments
have been made to adapt the communication plan to the course and reality of the project.

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We have opened two new channels: a Telegram to promote the co-design and testing
activities and an Instagram to make visible the photos participants uploaded to Natusfera
during the BioBlitz we organised: the BioMARató.

In addition, we have expanded our communication actions to disseminate our services.

Specifically:
● Short and informative video interviews with some of the developers.
● Expand the sections of the services on the Cos4Cloud website (more information
in Subtask 8.2.3 of WP8 report).

Gender equality
Gender representation and the promotion of role models for women in STEM research
has been considered in all communication activities to make visible the contribution of
the women working on Cos4Cloud. The blog ensures gender equality by giving an equal
voice to both men and women in the items published. The website, news and social media
posts has been written in a gender-neutral language and all digital products use non-
discriminating photos, images or languages following as reference a neutral gendered
guideline located in the D8.2 “Communication Plan”.

You can find some examples of social media posts and piece of news making visible
female Cos4Cloud workers and other women relevant to the project:

● Post on the Cos4Cloud blog for the 8th of March 2020. It explains the role of all
the women working at Cos4Cloud and includes one statement and photo for
each of them:
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/cos4cloud-international-women-day-2021-
citizen-science/
Also, we promoted it on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1368941812602331137
● Interview with Karen Soacha, a researcher at ICM-CSIC and part of the
coordination team of Cos4Cloud.
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/citizen-science-karen-soacha-interview-icm-csic/

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Figure 42 Screenshot interview with researcher at ICM-CSIC

● Interview with Dr Kate Lewthwaite, the citizen science manager at the Woodland
Trust:
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/technology-citizen-science-future-woodland-
trust/

Events
CREAF and CSIC have coordinated and implemented the communication and
engagement of several workshops and webinars following the promotion strategy
described in D8.2 “Communication Plan”. You can see a summary of these strategy here:
● Pre-event: Event page on the project website, hashtag, social media
announcement, partner outreach, save-the-date newsletter
● Event launch: Sign-up form, Social Media promotion, launch newsletter
● Post-event: Post-event survey to participants, blog post in Cos4Cloud’ website

In addition to this strategy, CREAF and CSIC have developed a series of templates to use
in the creation of social media and website banners following the Cos4cloud brand
manual in order to create harmony in the promotional materials of the project. You can
see an example here:

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Figure 43 Examples of the use of templates for social media and website banners

Besides, CREAF and CSIC developed a series of banners to promote the Bioblitz
BioMARató (see Subtask 5.3.1 in WP5 reporting). You can see an example here:

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Figure 44 Biomarató banner

Also to promote the workshops organised within the BioMARató framework. You can see
an example here:

Figure 45 Example of the invitations for the Biomarató workshops

Here you can see the events organised by Cos4Cloud in which CREAF and CSIC have taken
a lead role in developing and executing the communication strategy:

Co-design workshops
● (First workshop to co-design Cos4Bio) Cos4Bio: Let's co-design innovative
technological services for citizen science: Santiago Martínez de la Riva (Bineo
Consulting) and the Science for Change team conducted a co-design session
focused on Cos4Bio.

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● (Second workshop to co-design Cos4Bio) Let’s co-design Cos4Bio during the

CitSciVirtual event!: Santiago Martínez de la Riva (Bineo Consulting) and the
Science for Change team conducted a co-design session focused on Cos4Bio.
● (First workshop to co-design MOBIS) MOBIS: Let’s co-design innovative
technological services for citizen science! Norbert Schmidt and the Science for
Change team conducted a co-design session focused on MOBIS.
● (Second workshop to co-design MOBIS) Blue Innovation Days - Let's co-design
MOBIS.
a service to improve citizen science technologies! Norbert Schmidt and the Science
for Change team conducted a co-design session focused on MOBIS.
● Let’s co-design tools to improve camera traps’ user experience! The DynAikon
team and the Science for Change team conducted a co-design session focused on
FASTCAT-Edge and FASTCAT-Cloud services.

Workshops and seminars about Natusfera and the BioMARató

● Informative talk about the BioMARató (in Spanish)
● Talk about marine biology: how to identify marine species? (in Spanish)
● Would you always eat the same? Marine selective predation (in Spanish)

Other workshops
● Introducing Cos4Cloud: how will it benefit the citizen science community?: Alex Joly
(INRIA), Santiago Martínez de la Riva (Bineo Consulting), explained some of the
services they are developing.
● Engaging the society beyond data collection: Cos4Cloud organised this workshop
as a Satellite Activity of the Event “A Predicted Ocean”, an Ocean Decade
Laboratory organised in the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean
for Sustainable Development.
● Diversity and inclusiveness workshop #1: How dominant white culture manifests
in citizen science, the workshop looked at different aspects of diversity and
inclusiveness in citizen science.
● Inclusivity in Citizen Science Workshop, the speakers talked about their
experiences in creating inclusive community projects and environments.

Here you can find some examples of blog posts posted after an event:

● Connecting citizen science stakeholders at a global scale: the CitSciVirtual 2021

● Inclusiveness in citizen science: how can projects help vulnerable groups to
participate?
● The first round of Cos4Cloud’s co-design sessions has already started!
● Engaging the society beyond data collection: watch the video!

Deviations: One of the communications tasks has been to adapt the communications
plan's strategic actions to an online format due to covid restrictions.

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T8.2. Build and promote the EOSC-COS4CLOUD brand (CREAF, CSIC M1–40)

Subtask 8.2.1 Brand Development (CREAF, CSIC)

Work carried out: A Corporate Identity Manual for Cos4Cloud was developed in Year1.
During Year 2 CREAF and CSIC have supervised the successful implementation of the
Cos4Cloud brand in all the project materials, either developed by CREAF and CSIC itself
or by other members of the consortium.

Both Manual and Cos4Cloud logo are available on the corporate website to download.
➢ Link to the Corporate Identity Manual

EOSC-COS4CLOUD
Cos4Cloud has built and promoted an EOSC-Cos4Cloud brand to (1) identify Cos4Cloud
as part of the EOSC and a pioneer in introducing citizen science in the EOSC (2) promote
the Cos4Cloud services among the EOSC community. To achieve this, we have:

➢ Added the EOSC logo to all our graphic materials, including the infographics
explaining Cos4Cloud’s services. See an example here (the logo is included in the
lower left-hand corner together with the sentence ‘This project is part of’):
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FASTCAT-
Cloud_DynAIkon.pdf
➢ Mention and tag the EOSC social media accounts when promoting Cos4Cloud
outputs or making some of the EOSC events and news visible (see some listed
examples in Subtask 8.2.4).
➢ As some of the services are already available in the EOSC Market, we have written
a piece of news for the EOSC blog to promote MOBIS, and we are planning to write
and publish at least two or three more. Link to the piece of news on the EOSC:
https://eosc-portal.eu/news/mobis-eosc-service-environmental-biodiversity-
citizen-science-apps
➢ Make sure that partners mention the EOSC when writing pieces of news that
include Cos4Cloud. For example, CREAF mentioned Cos4Cloud and EOSC in one
of its news; read it here: http://blog.creaf.cat/en/noticies-en/creaf-new-member-
of-the-european-open-science-cloud/
➢ A piece of news on the Cos4Cloud blog to promote Cos4Cloud participation in the
EOSC Symposium 2021:
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/cos4cloud-participates-in-the-eosc-symposium-
2021/

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➢ A piece of news on the Cos4Cloud blog to promote the services that are already
available in the EOSC Market:
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/cos4cloud-services-citizen-science-eosc-market/

BioMARató
In addition to the EOSC-COS4CLOUD corporate identity manual, a new logo for the
BioMARató has been created:

Subtasks 8.2.2 Communication toolkits (CREAF, M1–40)

Work carried out:
Project Video
An appealing video about the Cos4Cloud project has been developed and documented
in D8.3 “Project Video”. The video aimed to explain Cos4Cloud, understandably, in less
than two minutes. The communication team worked on a script together with the
company in charge of the animation: Science Animated, see the script on the D8.3
document. The video includes subtitles in English, Spanish, Catalan, French, German,
Swedish, Greek and Dutch, which are all the Consortium languages. The Consortium
translated the script collaboratively: each partner translated it into their mother tongue.

Figure 46 CosCloud video

We have posted the video with subtitles on YouTube, see the links:
● English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWCOq7Hcpec&t=1s

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● Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1_6-iQ2mPc
● Catalan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xuk1OYQXTk
● German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlHcMMQqrC8
● Dutch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKkEDK8pOOg
● Swedish:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKBKOlSR44I&list=PLQ7ELjLAK2OkO
87Dt4ASRXFxaZZyqvW05
● French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8yA32SEZQE
● Greek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznByg0lx6E

We included a small communication plan and KPIs to monitor the video impact in the
D8.3 (you can read this information in the deliverable). Some of the main actions and
results:
● https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1419955381992833027 (a promotional
tweet with 7.560 impressions and 29 clicks)
● 330 views in total (including the views of the videos with subtitles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWCOq7Hcpec&list=PLQ7ELjLAK2OkO87Dt4
ASRXFxaZZyqvW05&index=7
● A promotional post on the Cos4Cloud blog: https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/how-
is-cos4cloud-boosting-citizen-science-technologies-watch-the-video/
● We also promoted the video in our newsletter:
https://mailchi.mp/3b12f2496351/cos4cloud-newsletter-n4-september-2021

Science Animated has also promoted the video with the following results:
● 1130 views and 51054 impressions of the video on its YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWCOq7Hcpec&list=PLQ7ELjLAK2OkO87Dt4
ASRXFxaZZyqvW05&index=7
● Social media promotion on:
○ Twitter (79552 audience reached & 1224 impressions):
https://twitter.com/Sci_Ani/status/1418134193578692611
○ Facebook (6489 people reached & 4687 views):
https://www.facebook.com/scianimation/posts/4424520867572256
○ Find a more detailed report here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mddBWZJc6kP3FRHgs-
G_yExElaWBlQgJ/view?usp=sharing

COS4CLOUD Communication Toolkit:

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A banner, a leaflet and a scientific poster was designed in Year 1. All the graphic materials
are available to download for free on a specific website section.
➢ Link to the graphic material section.
EOSC logo is present in all Cos4Cloud’s graphic materials, as well as an explanation of
EOSC:
➢ Link to the banner.
➢ Link to the leaflet.
➢ Link to the scientific poster.

MVE Communication Toolkit:

This toolkit was created in Year1 and can be found on the following link:
➢ Link to the MVE explanation and figure

BioMARató
An infographic to highlight the main BioMARató 2021 results was designed and
promoted. It includes the noteworthy results, five success cases & statements of some
of the most active participants and curiosities of marine organisms (all of them found by
the participants).
➢ Link to the English version
➢ Link to the Catalan version
➢ Link to the Spanish version

Deviations: Due to the pandemic situation most of the events have been online, so
leaflets haven’t been printed. Nevertheless, we always encourage the events’ audiences
to download them and also we disseminate them through social media.

Subtask 8.2.3 Project website (CREAF, CSIC):

Work carried out: The full functional website with Google Analytics running was
published during Year 1. The web was designed according to the Cos4Cloud
communications goals:
● It explains what a citizen observatory is and why it is so valuable to society. In addition,
we will highlight Cos4Cloud's values and mission. (Goal 1)
● It includes a section to explain all the services and tools that Cos4Cloud is developing.
(Goal 2)
● An events’ section where we publish up-to-date information about upcoming activities
and demonstrations, including a calendar of forthcoming events (Goal 3)
● It establishes the project as part of the EOSC, specifically through the page which
explains what the EOSC is and how Cos4Cloud will contribute to it; this section also

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describes the Minimum Viable Ecosystem in the project. EOSC logo in the footer
together with the sentence ‘This project is part of the EOSC’ (Goal 4)
● It has a section that describes all the citizen science projects that collaborate with
Cos4Cloud, linking to their own websites and apps, so that anyone interested can
easily access them (Goal 5)

During Year2 CREAF and CSIC have updated several sections of the website according to
the project progress. Here you can see the updated sections:

‘Be part of our community’ section

The ‘Be part of our community’ section has been updated to add a section called ‘Get to
know our community!’. This section contains:
● Examples of members of the community: CSIC and CREAF requested formal
permission to publish the photos and information of the members of the
Cos4Cloud community. The people who gave their permission to appear on the
web have been published.
● Highlights of the community: number of members and in which activities they
have decided to participate.

Figure 47 Highlights Cos4Cloud community

➢ Link to ‘Get to know our community!’

The ‘Be part of our community’ page has received 838 visits during Year2 and 38 people
have already signed-up through the Cos4Cloud website. The ‘Get to know our
community’ page has received 50 visits since it was created at the end of October 2022.

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‘Cos4Cloud services’ section

In the framework of the co-design workshops executed in WP5, CREAF and CSIC have
made a great effort to update the pages of each one of the services. A series of materials
have been developed aiming to provide co-design participants and visitors of the
Cos4Cloud website a clear vision of the services, its development, functionalities and
advantages for Citizen Observatories. All the materials have been developed in close
collaboration with services leaders and the co-design team (CSIC, CREAF and
Science4Change in WP5) through several meetings and interviews.

➢ Link to ‘Services’ section

Each one of the services now have the following information:

● Short sentence summarising the service
● Infographic of the service (Factsheet) ready to download in PDF
● Updated description of the service, including the section “Development and
functioning” and the section “Innovation for citizen observatories”
● Link to an interview of the service leader clarifying relevant points of the service
(in those services where the service prototype wasn’t advanced enough to be
comprehensible during their co-design workshop)
● FAQs section
● Co-design highlights (in those services that have had participatory workshops as
part of their co-design process)
● Link to download the service in the EOSC Marketplace (for those services already
in the EOSC marketplace)
● Link to news and events related to the specific service
● Claim to join Cos4Cloud Telegram channel and Cos4Cloud co-design community

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Figure 48 Example of the website of the Cos4Cloud services (MOBIS)

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The case of the Cos4Bio service is a little different from the rest. CSIC developed a series
of materials and exercises for participating in the CitSciVirtual Conference 2021. These
materials have also been used on the Cos4Cloud website to create the section “Tackling
challenges together for Citizen Observatories”. This section, created in collaboration with
the co-design team (CSIC, CREAF and Science4Change, see WP5 reporting), is intended to
be an exercise of asynchronous co-design. The exercises to test Cos4Bio created for the
CitSciVirtual Conference 2021 are now published on the Cos4Cloud website. All website
visitors can perform a simple activity to test Cos4Bio as a citizen or an experienced citizen
science user/developer. The participants have to access a Miro board linked on the
website in order to perform the activity. The page has received 122 visits during Year 2.

Figure 49 Website Tackling challenges together for citizen observatories

‘Co-design’ section
In close collaboration with the co-design team, CSIC and CREAF have updated and written
new texts and graphics for the menu “Co-design” of the Cos4Cloud website. Specifically,

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some highlights about the co-design process in Cos4Cloud have been added, as well as a
shortcut to the related section “Be part of our community”.

➢ Link to ‘Co-design’ section

Figure 50 Codesign highlights

‘Networking and synergies’ section

This new section has been created to show the synergies with:
● Other EOSC and Horizon 2020 funded projects,
● Citizen science organisations and,
● Environment and marine conservation organisations.

Each project or organisation has a brief description, logo, and link that redirects to their
website. At the end of the page, there is a Call to Action button with a call for new
synergies.
➢ Link to ‘Networking and synergies’ section

Blog and news section

CREAF and CSIC published at least 3-4 posts per month, 36 informative articles during the
second-year period. The publications highlight various topics relevant to the project
outputs, events, relevant paper publications, interviews, and citizen science. News and
post blogs are planned using an editorial calendar that is updated once a month. News
and post blogs are promoted through social media (Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn),
tagging partners and institutions involved in the news, so they collaborate with the news
announcement. Besides, news and post blogs are also promoted through a periodic
newsletter (see Subtask 8.2.4 of this report), and the co-design and services update ones
are published in the Cos4Cloud Telegram group.

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➢ Link to the news & stories section

During Year2 CREAF interviewed two members of the Cos4Cloud consortium taking into
account gender equality.
➢ Link to Karen Soacha interview (CSIC)
➢ Link to Joan Maso interview (CREAF)

As part of the partners’ commitment to contribute to make visible, communicate and

promote Cos4Cloud, each partner will write a piece of news for the website once a
year. The aim of this initiative is to raise interest in the Cos4Cloud project by showing the
Cos4Cloud’s partners’ expertise and multidisciplinarity, as well as the work they’re
carrying out in the Cos4cloud project. CSIC and CREAF set up a calendar with the topics
partners have chosen, as reported in Year 1. So far, partners have collaborated on the
Cos4Cloud blog with 10 posts. The Cos4Cloud communications team is in charge of
reviewing and publishing these posts and promoting them through social media: creating
banners and GIFS with the most meaningful statements of the posts, including them in
the Cos4Cloud newsletter, etc. See the links to the posts:

 Artportalen: a success story in introducing citizen science biodiversity

observations to environmental management in Sweden (written by SLU partner)
Link to the post
 The Open University co-host successful UK Biodiversity Conference (written by
The Open University partner)
Link to the post
 The Open University champions COP26 with ‘Green Zone’ event exploring
culture, citizens and climate (written by The Open University partner)
Link to the post
 The power of deep learning for large-scale species identification and
geolocalization (written by Inria partner)
Link to the post
 Inspiring teachers to include citizen science in their school curricula (written by
NKUA partner)
Link to the post

Written by ECSA:
● Smartphone photos can be used to identify whales, dolphins and porpoises
○ Link to the post
● Embracing technology is the way forward for the future of citizen science
○ Link to the post

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● ‘The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is excited for identification technologies

which may aid volunteers, such as Cos4Cloud’s services Biodiversity-DL and AI-
Naturalist’, Barnaby Smith
○ Link to the post
● Inclusiveness in citizen science: how can projects help vulnerable groups to
participate?
○ Link to the post
● Citizen science is vital for conservation
○ Link to the post

Apart from the sections mentioned so far, the Cos4Cloud communications team have
developed a dedicated website for the Cos4Cloud BioBlitz: the BioMARató (see Subtask
5.3.1 in WP5 reporting).

‘BioMARató’ website
In close collaboration with WP5, CREAF and CSIC have planned, wrote and created a
dedicated website for the BioMARató. The web architecture consists in the following
sections:
● What is BioMARató?: description of the BioBlitz and rules for participating
● Join the challenge: explanation on how to sign up
● Rules and recommendations: covid-19 protocol and regulations and
recommendations for the natural environment

Although the BioMARató has been a local event located in Catalonia, it was decided to
publish the website in Catalan, Spanish and English to cover the maximum possible
audience taking into account the international nature of the project.

The BioMARató website has Google Analytics running and to date the website has
received 1616 visits.
➢ Link to the BioMARató website

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Figure 51 Biomarató website

Ongoing tasks: In the first semester of 2022 the services sections about DUNS, MECODA
and AUTHENIX will be updated with infographics and extra information matching them
to the rest of the services. The news and events services will continue to be periodically
updated, as well as the rest of sections if necessary.

Subtask 8.2.3. Database of contacts (CSIC):

Work carried out: The initial database of contact was created during Year1. This
database contains: 1) List of stakeholders invited to the Requirement Workshop in M4
and related projects; 2) Network contacts of the partners prior Cos4Cloud; 3)
Stakeholders selected form D6.1 “Identification of and Engagement with Projects of
Interests”; 4) Related projects; citizen science organisations and associations, such as
ECSA, RICAP, Ibercivis… ; 5) newspapers, magazines, radio and TV channels, websites and
blogs.

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During Year 2 we have added new media contacts. The main project added to the
database has been the EU funded project NEANIAS.

This database is complemented with the database of contact of the CSIC, which includes
both local and international press contacts.

Communications synergies with other projects:

Cos4Cloud’s Communication team keeps collaborating with different projects and
institutions at a communication level to give mutual support on promoting the events
and news on social media. Main communication collaborators can be found at the
“Networking and synergies” section of Cos4cloud website.

Subtask 8.2.4 Use of Traditional and Social Media and new technologies (CREAF,
CSIC) and Subtask 8.2.5 Use of Traditional Media, Social Media and Newsletter
(CREAF, CSIC):
Work carried out:

Press Releases:
Cos4Cloud has sent two press releases to the national and international database of
contacts, one to promote the ‘BioMARató’ BioBlitz in April 2021 and another one to
explain the noteworthy results of the BioBlitz in November 2021.

1. Press Release: BioMARató promotion sent by ICM -CSIC press office and also
published in CREAF blog. It had 3 direct impacts on local media:
● Newspaper/digital media:
○ https://xarxanet.org/ambiental/noticies/biomarato-la-competicio-que-
dona-coneixer-la-biodiversitat-de-les-platges-traves?fbclid=IwAR2ms-
nSRHkW13oUL5szQMV63Pg6dpUU0Shs477H-kAHkm7jXBhFdYgTGJw
○ https://www.ecoticias.com/medio-ambiente/209311/BioMARato-
ciudadania-biodiversidad-costas-catalanas
○ https://voluntariatambiental.cat/activitat/biomarato-2021-a-les-platges/
● Radio
○ https://www.novaradiolloret.org/comenca-la-biomarato-un-concurs-de-
fotografies-dessers-vius/
2. Press Release: ‘BioMArató’ results sent and posted by the ICM-CSIC press
office.
● This press release did not impact traditional media, probably because it is a
‘summer topic’ and was released in November when CSIC scientists finished
analysing the data. However, Cos4Cloud, CREAF, ICM and other collaborators put
a lot of effort into promoting it on social media. Also, the press release was sent

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to all the participants (117). As a result, some local media have shown interest
and the BioMARató will be in 2022 one of the stars of the podcast “Ovella Verda”.

Other impacts on the digital newspaper and traditional media:

➢ Also, Cos4Cloud has written an article for a national newspaper to explain the
Cos4Cloud project and promote the co-design activities.
○ https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/sociedad/2021/03/04/ciencia-ciudadana-
tecnologia-y-codiseno-los-ingredientes-principales-del-proyecto-
cos4cloud-1475186.html
➢ Cos4Cloud has also appeared in several Greek media regarding the “Citizen
Science and Environmental Education for Sustainability” NKUA carried out during
Year2. Specifically:
○ Television: Two of the teachers' initiatives to introduce citizen science in
the school practice (designed thanks to the NKUA training course) were
selected by a daily Greek environmental news program, “O3” of the
National Broadcasting TV channel (ET3). During the programme,
Cos4Cloud was mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28vMF_iTG0o&t=3s
○ Newspapers/digital media:
■ https://www.amna.gr/mobile/articleen/546103/Mathites-tou-
Gumnasiou-Krestenon-kai-i-ekpaideutikos-tous-katagrafoun-tis-
murodies-tou-topou-
tous?fbclid=IwAR1VhYfLaxLBLXBYc5WLjooeuGI4PnL2frn7LexsEUrs
n_pYtFVqSNdA45E
■ https://proini.news/osfritiki-agogi-kai-logotexnia-sto-gumnasio-
krestenon/
■ https://bit.ly/3bmwX5b
■ https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/347923_mathites-katagrafoyn-
tis-myrodies-toy-topoy-toys?fbclid=IwAR2W9T4Ynr7-
h6hgCYWF5SQbazchoQzIU7J4oGpFBrNZssZkLyCQCBmb-kQ
■ https://joinradio.gr/odourcollect-platforma-myrodies/
■ https://www.all4mama.gr/ta-tetradia-ton-paidion-gemisan-apo-
myrodies-sta-krestena/

➢ Cos4Cloud and a short explanation of the project was also mentioned in the BBN
Times: https://www.bbntimes.com/technology/transdisciplinary-science-and-
technology-the-matter-of-life-and-death

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Social Media:
Nowadays, social media is key to raise awareness of any project, that is the reason
Cos4Cloud has an account on Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and YouTube. The social media
strategy is further explained in the communication plan (D8.2). All the social media posts
mentioning Cos4Cloud and their reach are listed in Table “Communication Activities - 2ND
RP, located in a dedicated Confluence page.
➢ Download Communication Activities - 2ND RP

TWITTER: As reported in Year 1, this channel was opened in November 2019. CSIC and
CREAF publish on Twitter 1-2 times a day/weekday original content + 1-2 times retweets,
share posts (with comment) a day/weekday 2-3 times/retweets related content. So far, it
is the Cos4Cloud social network with more followers (1045) and engagement.
Twitter contents are planned biweekly. As reported in R1, posts usually focus on these
topics:
● Monday recommended reading
● Thread to promote our weekly news posted on the Cos4Cloud blog.
● Cos4Cloud’s services.
● Cos4Cloud’s outputs
● Cos4Cloud Events
● Redirect our target public to any of the Cos4Cloud website sections (e.g., be part
of our community)
● EOSC news and events to promote the EOSC-Cos4Cloud brand.
● 'Ephemerides' and events days (science week, women's day, citizen science
month, water, forest citizen science days, etc.).

The interaction with the profiles listed in our 10 Twitter lists have been actively
maintained, including comments, retweets, etc.

LINKEDIN: Opened in December 2019. CREAF and CSIC publish on Linkedin 3-4 times a
week, usually about topics described above in the Twitter section.

INSTAGRAM
Opened in June 2020. CREAF and CSIC publish on Instagram 1-2 times a week, usually
about topics described above in the Twitter section.

YOUTUBE
All the webinars and activities organised by Cos4Cloud were recorded during this
reporting period and 17 videos were uploaded to YouTube, including the Project Video
‘How Cos4Cloud is boosting citizen science?’ (and all the subtitled versions). The specific
videos and number of visits are added on the reporting Table “Communication Activities
- 2ND RP, located in a dedicated Confluence page.

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➢ Download Communication Activities - 2ND RP

BioMARató - INSTAGRAM
CSIC and CREAF launched an Instagram account in July 2021 to make visible the best
participants’ photos, interact with them and acknowledge their participation in the
BioBlitz.
➢ Link to access the BioMARtó Instagram.

Posts focused on:

● Encourage people to participate in the BioMARató
● Explain some marine species curiosities
● Help participants identify species
● Promote the activities organised in the BioMARató framework

TELEGRAM
CSIC and CREAF opened a Telegram channel in March 2021. This channel aims to reach
the Cos4Cloud community directly, sending a notification when Cos4Cloud organises an
event or any services updates.
➢ Why Telegram? It is more secure than other platforms such as WhatsApp and it
allows unlimited participants to join the conversation.
➢ Cos4Cloud Telegram has 25 participants.
○ Link to the Cos4Cloud Telegram

Newsletters:
All the newsletters are sent through Mailchimp.
● Quarterly newsletter: Focused on disseminating general information about the
project: latest posts of Cos4Cloud blog, events, etc.
➢ Link to the second edition
➢ Link to the third edition
➢ Link to the fourth edition
● Event Mailings: Periodic newsletters focused on an event organised by
Cos4Cloud, inviting our mailing subscribers to register, and also a post-event
survey so that the participants can share with us their feedback. We have sent 14
event and post-events mails. Some examples: Introducing Cos4Cloud: how will it
benefit the citizen science community, Let's co-design innovative technological
services for citizen science!, BioMARató 2021, Engaging the society beyond data
collection and Blue Innovation Days (co-design workshop on MOBIS).
● Email list: A single email distribution list on MailChimp platform, we’re using it
both for the newsletter and the event mailings. Strategy to get subscribers is based

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on a slider on the website project encouraging people to subscribe (Call to Action

buttons), dissemination through social media, and sign-up and checkout event
forms. So far, the Cos4Cloud email list has 509 subscribers.

EOSC-Cos4Cloud brand promoted on social media:

According to CSIC and CREAF social media planning, at least once biweekly a publication
in Linkedin and Twitter is about the EOSC. See some examples:
➢ https://twitter.com/EoscPortal/status/1453271275011444745
➢ https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1460213260813230081
➢ https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1465280770826719234
➢ https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1472896209597747203
➢ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6868866426455760896
➢ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6865987171334012928
➢ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6843863546925731840
➢ https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1487001878596657160
➢ https://twitter.com/Cos4Cloud/status/1485545162264748033

Feature articles, podcasts, etc. of Cos4Cloud in Internet:

As a result of the communication strategy, including press releases, social media and
networking, Cos4Cloud has been featured in 1 podcast, 1 television, 64 posts in external
blogs/websites including events, campaigns, mentions with the logo/project’s description
and informative articles related to Cos4Cloud and 10 articles in newspapers or digital
media. An extended list of all the featured articles and other media impacts on the
Internet is located on the reporting Table “Dissemination Events - 2ND RP, located in a
dedicated Confluence page.
➢ Download Dissemination Events - 2ND RP

Ongoing tasks: CSIC and CREAF quarterly analyse and evaluate the communication
strategy (see section ‘Evaluating project impact’ below) to improve Twitter, LinkedIn,
Instagram and Youtube performance and engagement and the Social Media SEO strategy
to improve the hashtags strategy. This analysis also aims to monitor the Key Performance
Indicators (nº of followers, subscribers, etc.).

Subtask 8.2.6 Promote, design and layout the key project’s outputs (CREAF, OU,
ALL):
Work carried out:
Factsheets:
Cos4Cloud has produced a series of infographics (services’ factsheets) to explain the
Cos4Cloud services. During Year2 we designed and published 9. Below you can see all the

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links to download all of them. We are currently working on the infographics of MECODA,
AUTHENIX and DUNS, which will be ready during the first semester of 2022.

Figure 52 Infographic of the service Cos4Bio

➢ Link to download MOBIS infographic

➢ Link to download Cos4Bio infographic
➢ Link to download Cos4Env infographic
➢ Link to download Pl@ntNet-API infographic
➢ Link to download AI-GeoSpecies infographic
➢ Link to download AI-taxonomist infographic
➢ Link to download Biodiversity-DL infographic
➢ Link to download FASTCAT-Edge infographic
➢ Link to download FASTCAT-Cloud infographic

Video: “What can be achieved by citizen science”

As part reported in Year 1, Earthwach produced the video “What are the achievements of
the citizens' observatories in Cos4Cloud?”. CREAF and CSIC have continued publishing a
series of posts in Cos4Cloud social media channels promoting this video. The video is
published on our website, YouTube channel and Instagram TV. We have registered 462
visualisations so far.

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Figure 53 Cos4Cloud video: What are the achievements of the citizen observatories in Cos4Cloud

Science Animated has also promoted the video during Year 2 with the following results:
● 2205 views and 67867 impressions of the video on its YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzsMXyj6qJY
● Social media promotion on:
○ Twitter (16283 audience reached & 1041 impressions):
https://twitter.com/Sci_Ani/status/1421052210306244610
○ Facebook (6489 people reached & 7992 views):
https://www.facebook.com/scianimation/posts/4511995455491463
○ Find a more detailed report here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pXBC7xwRtblUDYfcCxOJrPE1tXgNkWmo/
view?usp=sharing

Ongoing tasks:
(1) Case studies and Success stories presenting user experiences of how
information derived from Cos4Cloud sensor data has/can be applied to real-world
management situations - As described in the communications plan (D.8.2), we will
identify at least four success stories within the Cos4Cloud citizen observatories,
and use two engagement events as case studies. CREAF will lead this task in
collaboration with The Open University and CSIC. It is planned for the fourth
quarter of 2022/the first quarter of 2023. So far the framework for the case studies
and success stories is under development by the OU as part of the Evidence Hub
design.
(2) Policy briefings. As described in the communications plan (D.8.2), WP8 will create
a series of policy briefings. These will explain how Cos4Cloud’s services can benefit
their activities and lead to better-informed policy. ECSA will lead this task in
collaboration with The Open University. It is planned for the fourth quarter of
2022/the first quarter of 2023. During 2021, ECSA has created a template for the

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policy briefs and has started working on one of the briefs to be finalised during
2022.
(3) Guidelines: “How to codesign a new citizen science project within the Cos4Cloud
framework” (Task T5.1) & “Best practice for citizen observatories’ (Task 6.2). In
Year2 the OU started development of the framework for collating best practice
guidelines for citizen observatories as part of the draft design of the Cos4Cloud
Toolbox and Evidence Hub. These will be further created and made available as
part of the content designed and shared throughout 2022. As described in the
communications plan (D.8.2), targeted user-friendly guidelines will be designed
and collated; developed from gathering lessons learned, case studies, etc., that
incorporate the activities, services, and tools implemented by the citizen
observatory platforms, projects, and partners within Cos4Cloud. It is planned for
the first quarter of 2022.

Task 8.3 Stakeholder Engagement (ECSA, CSIC, OU, M1-40)

In terms of communication, during Year 2 the stakeholder engagement strategy has been
used to:
1. Ensure enough participation into the co-design workshops
2. Create awareness of the project
3. Create collaborations in terms of dissemination

This has been done using different tools and strategies, explained in the following
subtasks.

Subtask 8.3.1 Dissemination to stakeholders at external events (ALL):

Work carried out:
Cos4Cloud partners have participated in 46 conferences, 42 of which have had an oral
presentation and/or poster on Cos4Cloud. Cos4Cloud has participated in 32
workshops and webinars, 5 training activities and in 1 exhibition. An extended list
with detailed information of all the dissemination activities at external events is located
in the Reporting Table “Dissemination Events - 2ND RP, located in a dedicated Confluence
page.
➢ Download Dissemination Events - 2ND RP

Featured events
➢ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/lifeclef-citizen-science-biodiversity-machine-
learning/
➢ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/cos4cloud-at-the-singapore-geospatial-festival/
➢ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/connecting-citizen-science-stakeholders-at-a-
global-scale-the-citscivirtual-2021/

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➢ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/research-libraries-and-citizen-science-
engagement-how-to-build-bridges/
➢ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/cos4cloud-participates-in-the-eosc-symposium-
2021/

Deviations: Due to covid pandemic the participation in external events has been mostly
online, since most of the conferences and events had been virtual.

Subtask 8.3.2 Stakeholder Consultation (CSIC):

Work carried out:
Stakeholder identification and recruitment

One one hand, OU has 78 identified projects of interest, including citizen science projects,
citizen observatories and other initiatives (Deliverable 6.1 “Identification of and
Engagement with Projects of Interests”).

On the other hand, the stakeholders identification and recruitment has been based
mainly on two complementary strategies:
● Cos4cloud website section “Be part of our community” and the form “Join our
community” linked in the website and shared during Cos4Cloud events. CSIC is
leading this stakeholders identification and for the time being 38 stakeholders
have confirmed its interest in being part of Cos4Cloud communities.
● Identify and reach the target audience needed in each one of the webinars and
workshops organised by Cos4Cloud, including the co-design ones:
a. Identify the target audience jointly with the services leaders (co-design
workshops) or the co-organizers (rest of the events),
b. Search for social media groups (such as Facebook groups), institutions,
academia, NGOs, etc. where to find the target audience,
c. Contact them to invite them to the event and/or post the information of
the event in their own communication channels. In the case of Facebook or
LinkedIn groups, post directly the info regarding the event.
d. In the registration form of the event, ask the participants if they want to
receive a Cos4Cloud newsletter and/or be part of the Cos4Cloud
community in order to enlarge the database of stakeholders.

In Year2 additional protocols for maintaining and communicating with project contacts
were agreed between WP8 (CSIC & CREAF), WP7 (Earthwatch) and WP6 (OU) via the
Cos4Cloud CoNNect Group to best facilitate collaborative working across these WPs .

All the stakeholders' contacts mentioned above are stored in a database that has been
updated periodically and that is stored in CSIC repositories following the GDPR directive.

Questionnaires and surveys

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In order to get to know the audience assisting Cos4Cloud events an online post-event,
CSIC sent a survey some of the events organised by the project:

➢ Link to survey 1 - Cos4Env

➢ Link to survey 2- FASTCAT Edge/Cloud
➢ Link to survey 3 - Cos4Bio
➢ Link to survey 4 - MOBIS
➢ Link to survey 5 - Engaging society beyond data collection
➢ Link to survey 6 - Introducing Cos4Cloud: how will it benefit the citizen science
community?
➢ Link to survey 7 - BioMARató (in Catalan)
➢ Link to survey 8 - BioMARató (in Spanish)

For the time being we have collected 82 responses. Information related to the co-
design workshops have been published in the Cos4Cloud website in the section “Co-
design highlights” of each one of the services.

Figure 54 Codesigh highlights

Information about the rest of the seminars, workshops and webinars organised by
Cos4Clous has been used to improve the following events in terms of timing,
methodologies and communication strategy to engage the target stakeholders.

Besides these online surveys, NKUA sent three online questionnaires to the participants
of an online teacher training course for key Greek environmental education stakeholders
(teachers, officials and teacher training staff). The questionnaires were sent to record and
assess the Greek teachers and educational stakeholders’ participation in it and their
intention to apply the acquired knowledge. Results showed that most of the participants

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had no previous experience with citizen science at all. Nevertheless, after having
undertaken the course, all teachers and educational officials expressed their
commitment to get involved with citizen science and implement the educational
scenarios they developed into their school(s) under their responsibility. Some of their
evaluative statements and video statements can be seen in the following piece of
news:”What do the NKUA course’s participants think about the training on citizen science?
Read the statements and watch the videos!”

1. Questionnaire before the start of the online training course

● Aim: to record the participants’ profile (demographic information, previous

experience in EE/ESD, previous experience in CS, etc.), their motivation for
participating in the training course, their expectations, their level of familiarisation
with the openEclass platform, etc.
● Number/ types of question items: 29 open and multiple choice questions
● Answered questionnaires: 23
● Link:
https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/modules/questionnaire/pollparticipate.php?course=CCE
HUMAN121&UseCase=1&pid=6

Figure 55 NKUA training course

2. Evaluation questionnaire of the two webinars organized

● Aim: to assess the extent of the trainees’ satisfaction from their participation in
the two webinars ("Tackle odour pollution with OdourCollect" & "Monitoring plant
biodiversity with Pl@ntNet"), which were organised as part of the online training
course, as well as the degree to which they believe they will be able to use the
acquired knowledge for the implementation of school-based educational activities
● Number/ types of question items 16 multiple choice questions
● Answered questionnaires: 21

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● Link:
https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/modules/questionnaire/pollparticipate.php?course=CCE
HUMAN121&UseCase=1&pid=12

3. Questionnaire on the participants’ intention to implement the educational

scenarios and activities

● Aim: to record the participants' intention to implement the educational scenarios

and activities developed during the training course for the period April-May 2021
and the school year 2021-2022, as well as their intention to present or inform
other teachers about the scenarios or to collaborate with other teachers to
implement them
● Number/ types of question items 19 open and multiple choice questions
● Answered questionnaires: 18
● Link:
https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/modules/questionnaire/pollparticipate.php?course=CCE
HUMAN121&UseCase=1&pid=16

Cross- project workshops, seminars, symposia, etc.

During the second reporting period, CSIC has been focused on raising awareness of the
project and the production of productive relationships with stakeholders over the long
term. Apart from the activities mentioned above, different workshops and webinars with
externals projects and initiatives have been organised:
● Webinar co-organized by Cos4Cloud (ECSA and CSIC) and EU-Citizen.Science
about how the project will benefit the citizen science community: “Introducing
Cos4Cloud: how will it benefit the citizen science community?”. This workshop
also contributes to ‘Task 7.3 Network expansion and dissemination’.
● Co-design workshop of the MOBIS services within the Blue Research &
Innovation Days organised by Blue-Cloud project. This workshop also contributes
to ‘Task 5.1 Co-design services’.
● Workshop in collaboration with Panelfit project: Mutual Learning Encounter -
Code of Conduct on Data Protection for RRI
● Workshop in the Open Science Fair event framework with Blue-Cloud project:
Channeling open science for a sustainable management of the ocean

Open University (OU)

During Cos4Cloud’s second reporting period, the OU continued to raise awareness of the
project by developing and implementing a wide range of communications plans and
activities to engage with key networks and stakeholders, in collaboration with delivery in
WP6. This included focusing on engaging iSpotnature’s citizen observatory community

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with dissemination workshops and events throughout the year. For example Cos4Cloud
was featured in iSpot news stories / articles as well as Forum posts highlighting key events
and Cos4Cloud activity within our iSpotnature registered user community:
● **'Introducing Cos4Cloud: how will it benefit the citizen science community?' 24th
February Online Webinar** - iSpot Forum
● Join the Cos4Cloud community and help co-design innovative technological
services for citizen science! | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org),
● https://forum.ispotnature.org/t/news-info-opportunities-ispot-project-
collaborations-cos4cloud/1243

iSpot website channels as well as social media were widely used to highlight key activities
and engage both internal OU audiences, the wider public; as well as the iSpotnature
community and external stakeholders particularly those involved in citizen science and
biological recording in the UK. This included:
● Engagement through key biodiversity and environmental engagement events,
such as World Environment Day 2021, focusing on Ecosystem Restoration World
Environment Day 2021: Ecosystem Restoration - how can iSpotnature help to
Reimagine. Recreate. Restore? | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot, Biodiversity Day
2021, highlighting #WeAreTheSolutionForNature Taking action everyday
#ForNature (not just on #BiodiversityDay 2021) | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot
(ispotnature.org), and Earth Day 2021, putting The OU and iSpotnature.org on the
world map of biodiversity events iSpotnature and Earth Day 2021: Restore Our
Earth | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot and engaging the iSpot community in a
Restoration Project, celebrating observations from restorations sites across the
UK, Earth Day 2021: iSpotnature celebration of observations from restoration sites
| Project | UK and Ireland | iSpot

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Figure 56 iSpotnature activities: earth day 2021

● OU iSpotnature engagement and publicity via ongoing collaborations with

specialist expert groups / communities, i.e. the Royal Entomological Society (Insect
Week 2021: Insect Week 2021: Celebrating the little things that run the world! |
News | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org) and community of practice iSpot
users with the iSpot project Insect Week, 21-27 June 2021 AND Beyond…. | Project
| UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org);
● As well as engaging with the citizen science and iSpot community for key
biodiversity and biological recording engagement events with iSpot activities and
focused projects, such as Citizen Science Month throughout April 2021, our July
HighFlyers Month as part of our iSpot 12For12 Anniversary monthly series of
community activities covering; National Meadows Day, 3rd July 2021, UK Swift
Awareness Week, 3rd - 11th July 2021, Keeping swifts ‘the sound of summer’ in the
sky! | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org), Moth Night (UK), 8th - 10th
July 2021, Celebrating National Moth Night - Shining a light on moths! | News | UK
and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org) and Moth Week (Global), 17th - 25th July 2021,
Celebrating National Moth Week – illuminating moths on a global scale! | News |
UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org), Bees Needs Week, 12th - 18th July 2021,
and International Tigers Day, 29th July 2021, Its all about Tigers… through other

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species which share the name! | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org)
and UK Fungus Day, 2nd October 2021, Look out for fungi especially 25 Sept to 9
Oct 2021 | Project | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org);
● And regular News Story monthly blog updates engaging the iSpot community and
highlighting community of practice activities and projects of interest, such as the
iFocus bi-weekly community series of iFocus Projects [seotitle] | Project | UK and
Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org), BioBitz’s and events throughout the year of
specialist interest to iSpot and our wider citizen science, expert and biological
recording community taking us through the seasons; Autumn to Winter 2021 - It's
The Final Countdown! | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org), The
Winter Countdown for December 2021! | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot
(ispotnature.org), All Good Wishes for the New Year and here's your January 2022
Winter Run Down! | News | UK and Ireland | iSpot (ispotnature.org)

Figure 57 iSpot images of the insect week 2021

Dissemination activities and discussions were also held with academics and researchers
in the School of Environment Earth and Ecosystem Sciences (EEES), the wider STEM
Faculty and across the university using internal discussion groups, meetings and activities
(i..e. Ecosystems Research Group [link to be added] to broaden the scope for engagement
with the Cos4Cloud project.

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The OU (iSpot Team) continued their significant collaboration with the National
Biodiversity Network (NBN) after successfully co-hosting the NBN’s first fully online
conference in 2020, with their highest attendance figures to date, following up with
another successful fully online NBN Conference 2021 in Year 2. This provided greater
opportunities to engage with the biological recording community in the UK about iSpot
associated projects, including Cos4Cloud, further strengthening connections with the
biological recording community in the UK.
(https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/news/834704/nbn-
conference-2021-biodiversity-data-from-collection-to-use).

As part of WP6, in collaboration with WP8, the OU team also participated in conferences,
engagement and attendance across the citizen science community, UK, European and
Global i.e. wider European and Global conference events at CSA Virtual (May 2021) (see
OU WP8 dissemination reporting and WP6 Report).

ECSA, CSIC and CREAF planned a series of online events for 2021, including a series of
workshops on diversity and inclusiveness in citizen science. This series of online events is
co-organised by four partners: ECSA, Cos4Cloud, the ECSA & Living Knowledge Network
Working Group on Empowerment, Inclusiveness and Equity, and D-NOSES. The first
online event/webinar took place on January 27 and was called “Diversity and inclusiveness
workshop #1: How dominant white culture manifests in citizen science”. The recording of
the webinar is available on the ECSA YouTube channel, here. The second online event of
the series took place on 30 May and was titled “Inclusivity in Citizen Science Workshop”.
It can be watched at the ECSA YouTube channel, here. This series of events, which will
continue during RP3, contributes to both T8.3 “Stakeholder Engagement” and T6.2
“Sharing best practice” as its aims to engage with the wider community, offer the
opportunity to share experiences in citizen science projects or activities and in COs, and
share best practice on making participation inclusive and open.

Subtask 8.3.3 Citizen Scientists (ALL):

Work carried out: To date, the project has addressed citizen scientist engagement from
a transversal perspective, with the participation of all the project partners and largely
relying on the communication strategy developed in Task 8.1.

During the second reporting period, ECSA, CSIC and OU, as leaders of Task 8.3, have been
raising awareness of the project among the European citizen science community and
citizen scientists, to ‘lay the groundwork’ for more active engagement and involvement
throughout the rest of the project. This has been achieved through different means,
including:

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● Cos4Cloud communication strategy through social media, and press (see

reporting on Task 8.1)
● Cos4Cloud newsletter (724 subscribers)
● Sharing project news and updates via CSIC (ICM) Social Media accounts, especially
Twitter (7,097 followers) and Instagram (2163 followers)
● Regular project updates in ECSA’s monthly newsletter (2,000+ subscribers)
● Sharing project news and updates via ECSA Social Media accounts, especially
Twitter (4,573 followers).
● Sharing project news and updates via iSpot (OU) Social Media accounts, on Twitter
(7042 Followers) and LinkedIn (team combined Connections: 995) and across the
iSpotnature community of over 78, 600 registered participants. The OU is
developing plans for the delivery of wide ranging communications strategies with
the iSpot community.

A part of this, Cos4Cloud has established several connections with related projects and
organisations that are promoting Cos4Cloud events and news in their websites and social
media accounts. This collaboration also contributes to the ‘Subtask 8.2.3. Database of
contacts’ of this WP8 report you can find further information about this relationship. Task
7.3 Network expansion and dissemination

The most relevant collaborators are as follows:

● EU-Citizen.Science: collaboration to give us mutual support on promoting the
events and news on social media: inform bi-monthly about our editorial planning.
● ECSA: Cos4Cloud is visible on the platform through its project profile and has used
the events section of the platform to share and promote Cos4Cloud events.
● Ciència Ciutadana the citizen science association in Catalonia: collaboration to
promote Cos4Cloud events and news.
● Spanish Citizen Science Observatory: collaboration to promote Cos4Cloud events
and news.
● Ibercivis: collaboration to promote Cos4Cloud events and news.
● SciStarter, the biggest citizen science organisation in the United States: strategic
partner to promote Cos4Cloud in UE and Latin America. Collaboration to promote
Cos4Cloud events.
● REINFORCE: collaboration to promote Cos4Cloud events and news.
● Blue-Cloud: collaboration to promote Cos4Cloud events and news.
● NEANIAS: collaboration to promote Cos4Cloud events and news
● RICAP: collaboration to promote Cos4Cloud events and news.

This collaboration has helped the project to ensure that citizens have the opportunity to
learn about the project, how to take part and how data collected is used.

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A list of all the Cos4Cloud’ social media and news publications made by external
collaborators can be found in the reporting Table “Dissemination Events - 2ND RP” and
Table “Communication activities”, located in a dedicated Confluence page.
➢ Download Dissemination Events - 2ND RP
➢ Download Communication Activities - 2ND RP

Success stories
Within Task 6.2, WP6 has identified different success stories. In WP8 we have
disseminated the success stories through the website, social media and newsletters.

Subtask 8.3.4 Advisory Board (CSIC):

The members of the AB are published in the website and are the following ones:

● Pierre Bonnet: Permanent researcher at CIRAD Institute.

● Carolina Botero: Executive Director at Karisma Foundation
● Paula Puy: Communication Technician and volunteer at Xarxa per la Conservació
de la Natura
● Ivan Rodero: Data Management Officer at EMSO ERIC.
● Sven Schade: scientific officer for JRC's Digital Earth and Reference Data Unit
(European Commission)
● Huma Shah: Research Scientist at Trust in AI (Coventry University)

The AB has experts from umbrella organisations and research institutes with experience
on citizen observatories. They were selected for their relevance to the developments and
long-term planning in this reporting period. For the second period of the project we have
kept a continuous and strategic contact with the AB and we have had fluid conversations
on their topics of expertise.

The first meeting with the members of the AB took place in January 2022. The following
members of the AB were present: Pierre Bonnet, Ivan Rodero, Huma Shah, Sven Schade,
Carolina Botero. As well as the coordination team of the Cos4Cloud project (CSIC): Jaume
Piera, Karen Soacha, and Sonia Liñán. The minutes of the meeting will be shared with the
rest of the consortium during the next Steering Committee and an action plan will be
created. The main recommendation and Insights from the AB for the upcoming year are
as follows:

● Services Sustainability:
○ It could be interesting that the institution developing the service does not
take care of the maintenance and hosting of the service. Try that a large

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infrastructure support the services (Sven Schade offered to help Cos4Cloud

in this task)
○ Before the end of the project, invest in the evaluation of low cost
technology. This doesn't mean to reduce the ambition of the service, it’s
about finding a balance between quality and price. Promote between the
consortium low-cost technology and find which technology can be
adapted to a low-cost one. Share this information also in the guidelines of
the project.
○ Explore the possibility of co-finance the hosting and maintenance of the
services after the end of the project (fundraising by COS users, for
example)

● Service exploitation:
○ Realise a benchmarking of the services compared with ones already in the
EOSC marketplace. Could be important to have these comparisons public
in the web page or other dissemination materials.
○ Use the Cos4Cloud community to consult the real demands of the users
of the services and get a global understanding of what is the challenge
regarding services exploitation and sustainability, and also to identify the
consumers.

● Services development:
○ Discussion on licences: define licences and why choose one and not
another, Carolina Botero has offered to participate in a specific
Cos4Cloud workshop regarding the licences.
○ Standardisation. Answer the question: How much Cos4Cloud is
contributing to the larger discussion of interoperability?

● Governance of data:
○ Clarify the relationship of Cos4Cloud with the current political discussion
of common European digital spaces. Aslo deal with the issue of the
governance of data and citizen observatories. In this area, both Sven
Schade and Carlonina Botero are interested in collaborating with us.
○ Cos4Cloud is collaborating with global projects, and its services can be used
outside Europe too. It would be interesting to engage discussions regarding
data spaces, marketplaces, etc. outside Europe.

● Communication:

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○ Try to illustrate in a single place the state of the services. Right now the
website shows details of each service in separate pages. We are planning
to create a dashboard to show the progress of the service in a single page.
Ivan Rodero has offered to help Cos4Cloud in this task.
○ Add more information regarding interoperability and standardisation of
the services in the website. Answer the following questions: How far are
the services interoperable with other services? How much are our services
complementary with other services?
○ Include in the website an example of the implementation of the codesign
process in one of the services (co-design in practice).
○ Better clarification in the website of the relationship with the community.

As part of the action plan resulting from this meeting,, we will propose the organisation
of a Satellite event during ECSA Conference 2022 regarding the sustainability of services
for Citizen Observatories. We will also organise a dedicated workshop to discuss the
licences of the services.

Subtask 8.3.5 Advisory Panels (CSIC):

Continuing the work done during Year, the recruitment of the Advisory Panels is being
channelled through the Cos4Cloud website section “Be part of our community” and the
form “Join our community”. Since these Advisory Panels will be used mainly for the co-
design and testing process of Cos4Cloud services, we decided to integrate the
recruitment of these panels with the recruitment and search of stakeholders for the co-
design. During Year2 the Advisory Panels has been asked to participate in the co-design
workshops.

The CoNNect group (Consortium partner representatives contributing to WPs 5,6,7,8) has
been consulted on project communication materials for workshops and webinars to
ensure an effective approach, including the development of the Cos4Cloud website.

Deviations: After analysing the real needs of the co-design process CSIC have changed
the approach for recruiting the Advisory Panels. However, this doesn't represent a
significant deviation or affect the project.

Subtask 8.3.6 COS4CLOUD Workshops & Update-meetings (CSIC, ALL, M1, M40)
CSIC organised a Requirement Workshop in Year1 M4 and all the insights collected are
summarised in Deliverale 43 “Summary report on inputs of the advisory board and panels
at requirements workshop”.

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For more information regarding the BiobLitz organised during Year2, see Task Subtask
5.3.1. In the framework of the BioBlitz BioMARató and UrbamarBio, we have organised
series of online webinars and “face-to-face” presentations:
● Presentation of the Barcelonés marine guide (output of UrbmarBio)
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/presentation-of-the-barcelones-marine-
guide-2/
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/presentation-of-the-barcelones-marine-
guide/
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/citizen-science-urbamarbio-barcelones-
marine-guide/
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/urbamarbio-citizen-science-barcelones-
marine-guide/
● Biodiversity workshops in the framework of the BioMARató:
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/talk-about-marine-biology/
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/would-you-always-eat-the-same-marine-
selective-predation/
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/citizen-science-marine-biology/
○ https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/blog/biomarato-citizen-science-marine-biology/

T8.4 Evaluating project impact (CSIC, M12-40)

Monitoring of Cos4Cloud impact is an ongoing task. Tools such as Brand24, Metricool

and Altmetric are used to track online conversations and news references to project
outputs. The results are being evaluated and an internal report will be elaborated at the
end of the project.

Altmetric

DOI Downloa Mention Tweets/ Policy

ds/ views s in source
News Facebook
and
Blogs

Mapping citizen science contributions

to the UN Sustainable Development 10.1007/s11 17000 12 143 1
Goals. Sustainability Science. Fraisl, D., 625-020-
Campbell, J., See, L. et al. Mapping 00833-7
citizen science contributions to the UN
sustainable development goals.
Sustain Sci 15, 1735–1751 (2020).

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Pl@ntNet Services, a Contribution to

the Monitoring and Sharing of 10.3897/bis 923 4
Information on the World Flora. s.4.58933
Bonnet P, Champ J, Goëau H, Stöter F-
R, Deneu B, Servajean M, Affouard A,
Lombardo J-C, Levchenko O, Gresse H,
Joly A (2020) Pl@ntNet Services, a
Contribution to the Monitoring and
Sharing of Information on the World
Flora. Biodiversity Information Science
and Standards 4: e58933.

Design and Development of

Interoperable Cloud Sensor Services to 10.5194/egu
Support Citizen Science Projects. sphere-
Bredel, H., Jirka, S., Masó Pau, J., and egu2020-
Piera, J.: Design and Development of 13338, 2020
Interoperable Cloud Sensor Services to
Support Citizen Science Projects, EGU
General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8
May 2020, EGU2020-13338,

How citizen scientists contribute to

monitor protected areas thanks to 10.1002/268 1 10
automatic plant identification tools. 8-
Bonnet, P, Joly, A, Brown, S, et al. How 8319.12023
citizen scientists contribute to monitor
protected areas thanks to automatic
plant identification tools. Ecol Solut
Evidence. 2020; 1:e12023.

Citizen Science Monitoring for

Sustainable Development Goal 10.3390/su1 1552 21
Indicator 6.3.2 in England and Zambia. 22410271
Bishop, I.J.; Warner, S.; van Noordwijk,
T.C.G.E.; Nyoni, F.C.; Loiselle, S. Citizen
Science Monitoring for Sustainable
Development Goal Indicator 6.3.2 in
England and Zambia. Sustainability
2020, 12, 10271.

Contribution citoyenne au suivi de la

flore d'un parc national français, un 10.34971/za
exemple remarquable à l'échelle du z0-n247
Parc national des Cévennes.. Pierre
Bonnet Hervé Goëau Frantz Hopkins
Errol Véla Amandine Sahl Antoine
Affouard Jean-Christophe Lombardo
Julien Champ Hugo Gresse Alexis Joly
ISSN 2727-6287 – Article n° 21 – 19
octobre 2020

LifeCLEF 2020 Teaser: Biodiversity 10.1007/978

Identification and Prediction -3-030- 4100
Challenges. oly A. et al. (2020) LifeCLEF 45442-5_70

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2020 Teaser: Biodiversity Identification

and Prediction Challenges. In: Jose J. et
al. (eds) Advances in Information
Retrieval. ECIR 2020. Lecture Notes in
Computer Science, vol 12036. Springer,
Cham.

Overview of LifeCLEF location-based hal-

species prediction task 2020 02989077 88
(GeoLifeCLEF). Benjamin Deneu,
Titouan Lorieul, Elijah Cole, Maximilien
Servajean, Christophe Botella, et al..
Overview of LifeCLEF location-based
species prediction task 2020
(GeoLifeCLEF). CLEF 2020 - 11th
International Conference of the Cross-
Language Evaluation Forum for
European Languages, Sep 2020,
thessaloniki, Greece.

Participation of LIRMM/Inria to the hal-

GeoLifeCLEF 2020 challenge.Benjamin 02989084 99
Deneu, Maximilien Servajean, Pierre
Bonnet, François Munoz, Alexis Joly.
Participation of LIRMM / Inria to the
GeoLifeCLEF 2020 challenge. 2020.

Overview of LifeCLEF 2020: A System- hal-

Oriented Evaluation of Automated 02945382 324
Species Identification and Species
Distribution Prediction. Alexis Joly,
Hervé Goëau, Stefan Kahl, Benjamin
Deneu, Willem-Pier Vellinga, et al..
Overview of LifeCLEF 2020: A System-
Oriented Evaluation of Automated
Species Identification and Species
Distribution Prediction. CLEF 2020 -
11th International Conference of the
Cross-Language Evaluation Forum for
European Languages, Sep 2020,
Thessaloniki, Greece. pp.342-363,
⟨10.1007/978-3-030-58219-7_23⟩.

AI naturalists might hold the key to 10.1016/j.pa

unlocking biodiversity data in social tter.2020.10 44 1 48
media imagery. Tom A. August, Oliver 0116
L. Pescott, Alexis Joly, Pierre Bonnet.
Patterns (2020)

Protecting small populations of rare 10.24189/nc

species. Case study on dactylorhiza r.2020.028
viridis (orchidaceae) in Fancott Woods
and Meadows SSSI, Bedfordshire, UK.
Tatarenko I., Dodd M., Wallace H.,
Bellamy G., Fleckney A. 2020.

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Protecting small populations of rare

species. Case study on Dactylorhiza
viridis (Orchidaceae) in Fancott Woods
and Meadows SSSI, Bedfordshire, UK.
Nature Conservation Research
5(Suppl.1): 165–171.

Katherin Wagenknecht, Tim Woods, 10.1162/din

Francisco García Sanz, Margaret Gold, t_a_00085 1064 34
Anne Bowser, Simone Rüfenacht, Luigi
Ceccaroni, Jaume Piera; EU-
Citizen.Science: A Platform for
Mainstreaming Citizen Science and
Open Science in Europe. Data
Intelligence 2021; 3 (1): 136–149.

The Science of Citizen Science.

Vohland, K., Land-Zandstra, A., 10.1007/978 286000
Ceccaroni, L., Lemmens, R., Perello, J., -3-030-
Ponti, M., Samson, R., & Wagenknecht, 58278-4
K.

Deneu B., Joly A., Bonnet P., Servajean 10.1007/978

M., Munoz F. (2021) How Do Deep -3-030- 1100
Convolutional SDM Trained on Satellite 68780-9_15
Images Unravel Vegetation Ecology?.
In: Del Bimbo A. et al. (eds) Pattern
Recognition. ICPR International
Workshops and Challenges. ICPR 2021.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science,
vol 12666. Springer, Cham

Joly A. et al. (2021) LifeCLEF 2021 10.1007/978

Teaser: Biodiversity Identification and -3-030- 701
Prediction Challenges. In: Hiemstra D., 72240-1_70
Moens MF., Mothe J., Perego R.,
Potthast M., Sebastiani F. (eds)
Advances in Information Retrieval.
ECIR 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer
Science, vol 12657. Springer, Cham.

Deneu B, Servajean M, Bonnet P, 10.1371/jou

Botella C, Munoz F, Joly A (2021) rnal.pcbi.10 2743 2
Convolutional neural networks 08856
improve species distribution modelling
by capturing the spatial structure of
the environment. PLoS Comput Biol
17(4): e1008856.

Affouard A, Chouet M, Lombardo J-C, 10.3897/bis

Gresse H, Goëau H, Lorieul T, Bonnet s.5.73857 275 1
P, Joly A (2021) Customized e-floras:
How to develop your own project on
the Pl@ntNet platform. Biodiversity

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Information Science and Standards 5:

e73857

Joly A. et al. (2021) Overview of 10.1007/978

LifeCLEF 2021: An Evaluation of -3-030- 256
Machine-Learning Based Species 85251-1_24
Identification and Species Distribution
Prediction. In: Candan K.S. et al. (eds)
Experimental IR Meets Multilinguality,
Multimodality, and Interaction. CLEF
2021. Lecture Notes in Computer
Science, vol 12880. Springer, Cham

Pl@ntNet-300K: a plant image dataset 10.5281/zen

with high label ambiguity and a long- odo.472665 734
tailed distribution. C Garcin, A Joly, P 3
Bonnet, JC Lombardo, A Affouard, M
Chouet, ...

Vohland K. et al. (2021) Citizen Science 10.1007/978

in Europe. In: Vohland K. et al. (eds) -3-030- 11000
The Science of Citizen Science. 58278-4_3
Springer, Cham.
Table 8 List of Cos4Cloud publications and related downloads and views

On the other hand, CSIC, with CREAF support, monthly evaluates the communication and
engagement strategy since month 6 according to the KPIs described in the
Communication Plan (D8.2). This evaluation is crucial to adapt and update the
communication strategy. Up to now, the main impact results of the communication and
engagement strategy are summarised in the figures above.

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Figure 58 Key Performance Index of the communication plan

Figure 1. Infographics: Activities and Impact of the communication and engagement

strategy during Year 2. The social media 'audience reached' includes the reach of the
Cos4Cloud social media plus the audience reached by the social media accounts that
have mentioned the Cos4Cloud project. The press and publications audience reached
reflects the external online media, websites, and blogs that wrote about Cos4Cloud (it
doesn't include Cos4Cloud's blog posts).

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Figure 59 Summary of Cos4Cloud’ mentions, both in social media and non-social media (press, radio, blogs, etc.)
All the data has been collected with Brand24 from January 2021 to January 2022.

Deviations
There are no deviations of note

1.2.9. WP9 - Ethics Requirements (Lead: CSIC)

WP9 Objectives: To ensure compliance with the ‘ethics requirements’ set out in this work
package.

To achieve the objectives of the work package, the following work has been carried during
the 2ND RP:

W9 Progress per task:

The ‘ethics requirements’ that the project must comply were delivered during RP1as
deliverables: D9.1 H-Requirement No 1, D9.2 POPD Requirement No 2, D9.3 NEC
Requirement No 3, D9.4 NEC Requirement No 4.

During 2ND RP CSIC has verified that all the consortium has followed the ‘ethics
requirements’ of the projects.

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CSIC has verified that the data collected from stakeholders or participants in events are
hosted in repositories in compliance with GDPR and that all partners are implementing
technical and organisational measures adequate to safeguard the rights and freedoms
of the data participants.

During the 3rd General Meeting of the Project, CSIC and SfC organised a data protection
workshop where the CoNNect group discussed the best way to unify the stakeholders
database collected by CSIC, ECSA and OU. Finally this unified database is stored in CSIC
repositories in compliance with GDPR. ECSA, OU and CSIC have collected personal data
for this database, but always following an informed consent process.

Deviations
There are no deviations of note

1.3. Impact

2. Update of the plan for exploitation and

dissemination of result
The exploitation plan is being updated as part of the implementation of this project,
through a dedicated set of deliverables. Details on progress are given in this report under
Task 7.8.

3. Update of the data management plan

In April 2021 was submitted the second version of the D1.4. Revised version of the Data
Management Plan. The new version of the DMP describes the types of data that will be
generated or collected during the project, the standards that will be used, and the ways
in which the data may be exploited and shared including the data security and ethical
aspects. An online Data Management Planning tool (DMPonline:
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk ) has been used to elaborate this deliverable. This tool
provides a template with the guidelines to assure a complete description of the project
DMP following the FAIR principles, i.e. making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable,
and Reusable. The FAIR principles are promoted by the different scientific institution in
order to enable Open Data as well as Open Science and has been promoted within the
project. The DMP will be updated during the project lifetime to cope with the data
management requirements and related issues that may arise, in particular with the
support of new use cases.

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Additionally, the last version of the DMP will include the results of the privacy and data
protection issues that the Consortium have been working on. In this regard, the
coordination, together with the co-design team, organized a data protection regulation
(GDPR) workshop with all the partners. The workshop was held during the general
meeting held on June 7 and 8, 2021. The main questions expected to be addressed with
the workshop were: What personal data is "collecting" directly or indirectly by the
services? What is the Cos4Cloud consortium doing to comply with the regulations of the
GDPR? In the workshop, progress was made in the construction of a data protection
impact for each of the services. Each of the groups discussed the type of data to collect if
it included vulnerable data, how to manage the associated infrastructure to ensure GDPR
compliance. This information will feed the last version of the DMP.

4. Follow-up of recommendations and comments from

previous review(s)

On February 25th 2021, the general review of the Cos4Cloud project was carried out by
the project officer and the committee of experts for the first reporting period. The
following section consolidates the actions implemented by Cos4Cloud Consortium in
response to the recommendations made during the review by the European Commission.

Recommendation 1: D2.2: Preliminary version of the agile methodology and

documentation instructions is REQUESTED FOR REVISION and should be either
resubmitted in 3 months’ time with concrete methodology and instructions for the
project.

The D2.2 deliverable was resubmitted within the time framework including the following
improvements: 1) Inclusion of a current state mapping of the agile methodologies within
the Consortium 2) Definition of the transversal agile practices already or to be
implemented 3) improvement of the agile methodology guidelines focused on traceability
of requirements, services documentation and connection with the co-design process.

Internal technical revisors and the coordination team from the Cos4Cloud Consortium
assured the creation of a new D2.2 version including a detailed revision of the EU experts’
comments and a general improvement of the deliverable.

Recommendation 2: D4.1: General purpose integration platform has been REQUESTED

FOR REVISION and be resubmitted in 3 months’ time with editing and additional
information.

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The D4.1 deliverable was resubmitted within the time framework including the following
improvements: 1) Description of the user’s requirements already collated from the co-
design activities 2) Analysis of the benefits and ‘market’ analysis of the Experts Portal in
the context of biodiversity platforms 3) Internal technical revisors and the coordination
team from the Cos4Cloud Consortium assured the creation of a new D2.2 version
including a detailed revision of the EU experts’ comments and a general improvement of
the deliverable.

Recommendation 3: D7.3 Strategic plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the
results (PEDR) has been REQUESTED FOR REVISION in 3 months’ time containing concrete
plans and KPIs to be achieved.

D7.3 has been reviewed and improved, addressing all the comments and suggestions
from the reviewers. The new version of the PEDR contents now a page per service/output,
detailing the value creation, implementation and exploitation of the service, including
concrete KPIs.

General dissemination Key Performance Indexes (KPIs) are covered in D8.2

Communications Plan.

Recommendation 4: The next version of the DMP needs to be more concrete. For
example, it should provide concrete strategies in relation to software licensing and
sharing. and a list of the databases that are being generated in the project.

The Deliverable D1.4 Revised version of the Data Management Plan included the types
and formats of different data collated by the project, the purpose of the collection,
standards used, persistent identifiers and licenses. Sensitive data was identified including
the processing conditions. And data utility is part of this new version of the DMP too.

The licensing and sharing software component will be consolidated in the deliverable D7.4
IP management plan, which will be submitted in April 2022, where strategies to manage
the intellectual property of each service will be analyzed and addressed.

Recommendation 5: The composition of the advisory board should be extended to

achieve the necessary gender balance, as agreed by the consortium during the review
meeting.

In response to the agreement during the review meeting, the Cos4Cloud Advisory Board
included the participation of three women. One expert in digital rights, other experts in
privacy and another in community engagement and environmental conservation
networks. The Advisory Board (AB) consists now of three males and three females. If the
Consortium considered necessary to expand the AB with more experts (men and women)

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keeping the gender balance as a rule of thumb. On this page, we have published the
members of the AB: https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/advisory-board/

Recommendation 6: Project has a great potential for a global impact. This is why it
should put stronger focus on the exploitation plan and the sustainability of the project's
results over a longer period, including clear assessment of the exploitation paths both
within the EOSC scenario and independently from EOSC.

The exploitation strategy has been improved during 2ND RP. D7.1 Exploitation Plan –
ex ante identification and evaluation of project opportunities outlined Cos4Cloud’s
opportunities for market expansion within the EOSC, following a thorough exploration of
the EOSC marketplace and an assessment of how best to integrate Cos4Cloud’s services
within this framework. D7.2 Dissemination and marketing strategy focused on the
potential for market expansion outside of the EOSC. The outcomes of these tasks will
feed into D7.5 Exploitation roadmap v2, that will include the final Cos4Cloud
exploitation plan and will address a range of business models for the consortium to
decide further exploitation paths after the project ends.

The services developed are now in a testing stage, and during the following months
Earthwach will ensure that the exploitation plan evolves in parallel with the testing of the
services. A workshop focused on sustainability of the services will be organised during
RP3 with the participation of the SciTech and CoNNect group and some members of the
Advisory Board.

Recommendation 7: Refine and improve the existing exploitation plan of delivered

products and services with concrete offerings from the platform and potential
additional features.

The updated exploitation strategy is now focused on each of the services/outputs with
more factual information about the benefits for the users and the advantages of
Cos4Cloud services compared to other similar services. Closely linked with this is the
service's co-design, the feedback from potential final users has been transformed into
"user stories'' that the service developers have used to improve the features of the
services. In the 3rd RP we aim to enhance the acceptance of the services and differentiate
them from their competitors.

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Recommendation 8: Try to mitigate the potential risk to miss the ability to influence
EOSC by involving EOSC members into the advisory board and by engaging very closely
with relevant EOSC stakeholders.

Cos4Cloud has maintained and continues to promote an active participation of the

Consortium in the evolution of EOSC. One of the strategies has been to participate in the
EOSC working groups (GT). Jaume Piera (Project’s coordinator) is one of the members of
the EOSC Skills and Training WG: EOSC Working Groups form an official part of the EOSC
Governance structure that will ensure a community-sourced approach to the current
challenges of the EOSC. The “Skills and Training” WG, is working on building competence
(skills) and capabilities (training) for EOSC. The goal is to provide a framework for a
sustainable training infrastructure to support EOSC in all its phases and ensure its uptake.

Another strong connection between Cos4Cloud and EOSC is the participation in the EOSC
Association. CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council (organisation that hosts the
coordination of the project) is part of the four founding members of the Association. Also,
CREAF one the consortium members were accepted as one of the Association members.
These synergies become a great opportunity to better understand how to align the
Cos4Cloud innovation services to EOSC.

Ignacio Blanquer, researcher of the GRyCAP in the I3M research institute, professor at the
Universitat Politècnica de València and member of the Eosc Secretariat - Association
Board of Directors, was participating in the Cos4Cloud general meeting held on 7th -8th
June 2021. He was invited to give insights and an overview of the EOSC to open a
discussion within the Consortium about the sustainability of the services.

Recommendation 9: Sharpen technical programme and its interaction with community

engagements. A two-way relation between “Scitech” and “Connect” groups should be
better defined in order to become fully operational and scalable.

The following actions has been implemented to improve the communication and
workflow between the two Cos4Cloud working groups: 1) Strength communication
between chairs of the groups with the coordination group, 2) Reporting by the chair of the
working groups (Connect and Sci&Tech) during the Steering Committee, 3) At the
beginning of each Sci&Tech and Connect group meeting each chair presents an update
report of the other group to keep informed all the members about the progress and
planned activities by their colleagues.

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Strong collaboration and communication have been maintained by the Cos4Cloud

working groups, as can be seen in the description of the communication channels of WP1
Task 1.5 and the WP5 Task 5.1 co-design tasks.

Recommendation 10: The project should accelerate the actual ICT development and
delivery of prototypes to demonstrate in the coming period that the expected results
are achievable in the time and with the available resources as currently distributed
among the WPs.

Four of the twelve services to be delivered by Cos4cloud have been published in the EOSC
marketplace: Cos4Bio, MOBIS, Pl@nNet Api and Authenix. Eleven of the twelve services
have the first prototype ready to be tested in RP3, including the four in the EOSC
marketplace:

1. Cos4Bio: Biodiversity Expert Platform

2. Cos4Env: Environmental Expert Platform
3. MECODA: Data analysis package
4. MOBIS: Customizable Interface service for Cos4Cloud apps
5. FASTCAT-Cloud: Platform for an interactive pre-processing camera trap, Flexible AI
System for Camera Traps
6. FASTCAT-Edge: Automatic Video Stream Processing (for camera traps, drones and
blimps)
7. Pl@ntNet-API: API Pl@ntNet as a service
8. AI-Taxonomist: Cross-platform training set creation for automated identification
9. Biodiversity-DL: Flexible Ai System for Camera Traps
10. AI-GeoSpecies: Location-based species prediction
11. Authenix: Authentication GPDR-compliant service

The DUNS service will have the first prototype in 2022 because their development is based
on the progress of other Cos4Cloud services.

In 2022 the services will be tested in real/challenging environments to validate their

capacity to tackle citizen observatories challenges.

Recommendation 11: WP5 should consider user engagement, including virtual user
engagement, testing etc. and strengthen these in the forthcoming periods.

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WP8 works closely with WP5 to ensure user engagement in WP5 activities, such as the
BioBlitzs and co-design activities. The user engagement for co-design and testing activities
has been channelled through:

"Cos4Cloud community". A dedicated page with an open call to enrol in the Cos4Cloud
community is located on the website. This page has been promoted through social media,
newsletters and announcements during Cos4Cloud events. The community members
receive periodic information about co-design and testing activities, news and reports
through a dedicated Telegram channel and a newsletter.

Tailored communication campaigns to target audience based on social media, news,

newsletters, workshops, webinars, media partners and specific presentations.

Both WP5, WP6 and WP8 have worked on strategic engagement tools outside the project.
For example, we have created a forum about technological citizen science services in the
EU-Citizen.Science platform to promote dialogue and exchange of views between the
European community of citizen science.

WP5 and WP8 leaders have weekly meetings to keep improving the engagement strategy.
They also have weekly meetings with the co-design team. The engagement strategy is
always one of the agenda points during the monthly CoNNect meetings. CoNNect
members are working on the organisation of engagement activities, as well as in the
identification of potential stakeholders to join Cos4Cloud community. WP8 has prepared
a specific presentation of the co-design methodology in Cos4Cloud to use during online
meetings with identified stakeholders to present the project and the benefits of joining
the Cos4cloud co-design community.

Recommendation 12: Clearly differentiate communication and dissemination activities

that looks to be spread among different WPs. This will help avoiding the risk of
duplication of efforts and of losing control on the actual progresses in terms of outreach
and preparation towards future exploitation.

Outreach, communication, dissemination and engagement activities and actions are

always discussed during the monthly CoNNect meetings to avoid duplication of efforts
and achieve different goals with a single action. However, this sometimes could be
confusing when making the report since some actions will appear in different WPs.
Cos4Cloud consortium and the CoNNECt members (mostly leading WP5, 6, 7 and 8) have
agreed to decide together where to report each activity. When an activity contributes to
more than one task or working package, a note has been added to clarify this situation.

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Recommendation 13: The project reporting needs to be improved. The time gap between
formal reports (deliverables) in several work packages is bringing serious risks for
effective management, monitoring and control. This is being demonstrated already in
several deliverables, where the content is mainly describing initial and generic concepts
but the actual implementation, outcomes and plans are missing. The problem is
particularly evident in the case of technical deliverables that should move from the
definition of the methodologies to the demonstration of concreted achievements in
terms of services and technological solutions. This can take the form of intermediate
versions of the deliverables to be submitted to the EC or annexes to planned deliverables
or to the progress reports.

Since some key deliverables are planned for the end of the project, the Consortium has
agreed to make an intermediate version of these deliverables to be submitted to EC, as
well as to create some intermediate report of tasks. The following intermediate
deliverables and reports has been created and attached as annex to the present technical
report:

● D2.4 Intermediate report: Interoperability experiment report

● D3.7 Intermediate report: MECODA data analysis package
● D4.5 Intermediate report: Customizable Interface service for COS4CLOUD Apps
(MOBIS)
● D5.1 Intermediate report: Codesign report process
● D6.5 Intermediate report: Design and evaluation of school-based CS activities
● Task 5.4 Intermediate report: DIY progress and evaluation
● Task 2.3 Additional report: Agile test plan

Similarly, the date of some deliverables has been sent earlier than the agreed on the
DoA:

● D3.5 New AI related components and services in CO-platforms (Initial deadline:

28 February 2022 / Actual deadline: 31 January 2022)
● D4.2 Experts portal for biodiversity data validation (Cos4Bio) (Initial deadline: 28
February 2022 / Actual deadline: 31 January 2022)
● D4.4 Platform for interactive pre-processing camera trap images (Initial deadline:
28 February 2022 / Actual deadline: 31 January 2022)

Recommendation 14: Project management should take better care of the quality
assurance of the deliverables.

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Project coordination updated the project's living guidelines and have improved the
monitoring to the deliverables review procedure. Initially, the deliverables have a first
stage of scope definition and guidelines by the coordination team with the deliverable
managers. This initial stage seeks to ensure the fulfilment of expectations in the content
and specially to avoid that it remains at a generic level or that the progress or results
obtained are not detailed enough. All deliverables have two stages of review prior to
submission to the Commission. They have been reviewed first by members of the
Consortium who can contribute from a technical and engagement perspective. After that
the deliverables have been reviewed by the Coordination team to ensure their technical
and editorial quality.

5. Deviations from Annex 1 and Annex 2 (if applicable)

Partner:ECSA
Justification for person-months variation in comparison to that stated in the GA

In the following, we would like to explain why we have exceeded the person-months (PMs)
estimated in the proposal for WP1 and WP8 and have already contributed most of the
PMs planned for WP6. The greatest contribution of ECSA to the project is to WPs 5, 6 and
8.

During the course of the project, different staff members have worked on the project for
ECSA. We have tried to organize the transitions as well as possible but still changing staff
has meant that new staff members have spent significant time familiarizing themselves
with the project and the project procedures. A student assistant has worked on the
project leading to a higher number of PMs. Moreover, the student assistant that was
already involved in the project continued to be involved in the project but as a young
researcher for a lower PM cost than ECSA’s average. This has also led to a higher number
of PM worked than that proposed in the GA.

WP1 - Total available: 2 PM; Used during RP1+RP2: 2.5 PM

WP6 - Total available: 5 PM; Used during RP1+RP2: 4.47 PM
WP8 - Total available: 4 PM; Used during RP1+RP2: 5.1 PM

Additionally, a reallocation of resources from the category of other direct costs to other
categories is foreseen. Since it was not possible to carry out the initially planned face-to-
face activities due to COVID restrictions, it is estimated that part of the remaining 13,000
euros will be transferred to other categories.

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Partner: SECD
Converting travel budget to person-month

Due to COVID, meetings have been virtual and therefore the travel budget cannot be
spent as planned. To compensate, we will use one additional person-month on T2.8. The
additional PM is used to function as the editor of an OGC Best Practices document “OGC
Best Practice for using SensorThings API with Citizen Science”, summarising the
interoperability work from WP2 reported as STAplus. This document is already work in
progress and will be circulated as the first draft to the OGC membership for their next
meetings in June 2022.

Partner: Earthwatch
Converting travel budget to person-month

Due to COVID, meetings have been virtual and therefore the travel budget cannot be
spent as planned. To compensate, we will use one additional person-month to further
disseminate the work of Cos4cloud and exploit the results produced, through additional
research papers and relevant conference participation.

Partner: 52°North
Justification for person-months variation in comparison to that stated in the GA

The efforts of 52°North in the further work packages besides WP 2 are currently lower
than expected. This results from a stronger emphasis on the activities performed in WP2.
However, for the remainder of the project, we expect a stronger involvement in the
remaining work packages, especially related to transferring WP2 results to Cos4Cloud
services, training activities, dissemination, communication and outreach.

For 52°North, there is a deviation of the amount of person months compared to the plan
stated in the Grant Agreement. This mainly affects WP2. In this work package, additional
efforts were necessary, mainly for experimentally evaluating the proposed STA+ best
practice developed as part of WP2. However, because this was work, which had to be
mainly carried out by student assistants (in contrast to the original plan for the reporting
period), the costs per person month were also in reporting period 2 lower than originally
foreseen. As a result, 52°North will deliver more person months in WP2, without requiring
additional budget.

For the overall project, the average person month rate of 52°North is lower than originally
expected. This results from two factors:

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1) A higher than expected share of work that had to be carried out by student assistants,
also in the second project period. While these tasks required additional efforts, this is
compensated by the lower costs of the student assistants. This results in a lower person
month rate but allows at the same time to deliver the necessary additional efforts to
perform the necessary experimental implementation work.

2) During the proposal phase, 52°North planned to include with each regular researcher
the support of student assistants. However, the work of these student assistants was not
expressed as dedicated additional person months (instead they were counted as an
implicit part of the regular researcher efforts). Thus, the amount of person months of
52°North in the proposal included only the person months to be delivered by regular
researchers. However, in the reporting also the person months delivered by student
assistants were counted separately. As a result, the divisor through which the average
person month costs were calculated became higher. This resulted in average person
months costs which were lower than expected.

Partner: CREAF
Deviations and other issues:

- CREAF has reported an Adjustment to the first period, due to a travel expense that,
because of an internal error, was not justified in the previous reporting period.

- Due to COVID19 restrictions, all travel foreseen for the last 2 years has been cancelled.
Efforts has been redirected and will continue being redirected to intensify the regular
coordination calls and to improve the interoperability in the project based on
implementing the SensorThings API Plus that reuses a Smart Cities standards and add
the necessary elements for citizen Science.

Updated budget:

CREAF will transfer 23.000€ from “Other Direct Costs” category to “Personnel” category.
This increase in the staff effort corresponds to approximately 6 PM, which will be added
to WP8 and WP2.

BINEO CONSULTING SL
Deviations and other issues:

Due to COVID restrictions, all travel foreseen for the last 2 years has been cancelled.
Efforts have been redirected and will continue being redirected to create a new
interoperability layer based on Darwin Core.

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Updated budget:

Bineo will transfer 14.850 € from “Other Direct Costs” category to the “Personnel”
category. This increase in the staff effort corresponds to approximately 4PM, which will
be added to WP2 and WP4.

Partner DynAikon
Deviations and other issues:

One major deviation of our effort is in WP3, where we partially underestimated the needed
effort, but most crucially of all, were not able to recruit one researcher at the skill level
that we anticipated we could. Effectively, we had to remodel the role from a 50% part-
time senior research role for 24 months to a 100% full-time junior research role for 24
months. This added 12 person months to the project, most of which in WP3. This change
also necessitated more engagement, guidance and hands-on involvement by the SME
owners Prof Frederic Fol Leymarie and Prof Stefan Rueger than initially foreseen, with an
increase of 15% over and above the initial estimate of unit costs.

The other major deviation is in the direct project costs owing to a collapse in travel spend.

WP5, WP7 and WP8 look as if we underspent effort so far, but they are by their very nature
more relevant to our work in the third and last reporting period, where we are on track
to catch up. WP1 is on track.

Our involvement in WP2 and WP4 was almost over at the end of Reporting Period 2, and
we spent roughly the anticipated number of person months. Hence, we predict no
significant deviation for these work packages at the end of the project.

We estimate that the overall person month effort at the end of the project will be 32%
higher than originally thought, mainly caused by the change of researcher role in WP3
and the ensuing higher effort in terms of unit costs.

Change of budget

DynAikon suggest moving 13.313 Euro from direct costs to direct unit costs, and 1.000
Euro from direct personnel cost to direct unit costs, to achieve an increase of 300 unit
hours (ca 13.1%).

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Partner: SfC
Converting travel budget to person-month
Due to COVID, all tasks have been performed via virtual meetings. Therefore the
travel/materials budget cannot be spent as planned. The effort dedicated to re-plan these
activities is reflected at the increase of PM.

Increased effort in co-design methodologies

As per comments received in reporting period 1, and in order to better fit and integrate
with agile development methodologies, some parts of the co-design methodology were
reworked and some services received additional workshops based on the new iteration
of the co-design + agile methodology. This led to an increase in PMs regarding service co-
design related tasks.

Other delays in WPs other than WP5

During the course of the project, unexpected changes in staff members have led to
spending additional time familiarizing themselves with the project and the project
procedures. Extra effort has been put in WP5 tasks so they were following the schedule
of co-design sessions, but less time sensitive tasks in other WPs have been delayed. We
are in the process of substantially increasing the workload and also assigning more staff
(from travel expenses not performed) in such tasks, in order to catch up with the original
estimates.

Partner: SLU

SLU did not report activities for task 5.3 despite the planned dedication of 15 PM. This
was due to the departure of the main researcher linked to the project initially and his
replacement, which took several months and significant delays in the activities. Although,
there have been follow-ups by the coordination and the connect group as a collaborative
work space in this component, there were no significant progress. Therefore, a
reallocation of 12 PM is planned from SLU to NKUA partner, which has demonstrated the
ability to execute this component.

Partner: NKUA

NKUA will use the resources from the 12 PM of SLU to cover the tasks foreseen in subtask
5.3.2 of educational networks and additionally strengthen the subtasks 6.4.2 Set-up and
evaluation of innovative school-based citizen-science activities and 8.3. 1 Dissemination
to stakeholders at external events.

The specific actions to be carried out, as well as the updated budgets of both NKUA and
SLU, will be formalized through an amendment.

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Annex I: Summary of the effort in PM per WP

165
WP1 Comparative effort
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP1 Orignal WP1 Accumulated

WP2 Comparative effort

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP2 Orignal WP2 Accumulated

WP3 Comparative effort
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP3 Orignal WP3 Accumulated

WP4 Comparative effort

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP4 Orignal WP4 Accumulated

WP5 Comparative effort
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP5 Orignal WP5 Accumulated

WP6 Comparative effort

35

30

25

20

15

10

WP6 Orignal WP6 Accumulated

WP7 Comparative effort
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP7 Orignal WP7 Accumulated

WP8 Comparative effort

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

WP8 Orignal WP8 Accumulated

Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Annex II: D2.4 Intermediate deliverable: Interoperability

experiment report

162
Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the
EOS-Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

(Preliminary)
Deliverable 2.4
Interoperability experiment report
31 January 2022, Version 0.1

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant X

Agreement

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R0.1 20220131 Draft intermediate deliverable Joan Maso, Kaori Otsu

R0.2

R1.0

Authors

CREAF: Joan Maso, Kaori Otsu

Citation
Cos4Cloud consortium (2022). Joan Maso, Kaori Otsu. Interoperability experiment report (D2.4)

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.

8
D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

Index

1. Introduction to Citizen Observatories Interoperability

2. Community of Practice (CoP) on Interoperability

2.1 WeObserve project (~ March 2021)

2.2 Cos4Cloud project (April 2021~)

3. Interoperability experimentation by Citizen Observatories in Cos4Cloud and EOSC

3.1 SensorThings API plus (STA+)

3.2 Darwin Core API

3.3 AI-related services

3.4 Authentication service

4. Interoperability experimentation by external Citizen Observatories

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D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

1. Introduction to Citizen Observatories Interoperability

In recent years, citizen involvement has been an increasing key factor for the development
of integrated environmental monitoring systems. In the EU, efforts have been made to
develop the concept of Citizen Observatories (COs), previously supported by the Seventh
Framework Program (FP7) and Horizon 2020 (H2020), and continue to be funded in Horizon
Europe (HE) projects. Currently, COs are an integral component of monitoring, reporting on
the environment and empowering resilient communities, supported by innovative
technologies such as Earth Observation (EO) and mobile devices.

Furthermore, to share best practices as well as identify gaps and synergies among COs,
implementing standards has been promoted to ensure interoperability and the
development of a sustainable ecosystem, and extend the geographical coverage of citizen
science to new communities at the regional, European and international level.

2. Community of Practice (CoP) on Interoperability

2.1 WeObserve project (~ March 2021)

The community has been consolidated with the different Citizen Science Associations, in
particular in Europe with the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), and also
different EU funded networking projects such as the COST Action Citizen Science to
promote creativity, scientific literacy, and innovation throughout Europe, the CSA
WeObserve and the CSA EU-Citizen.Science.

As demonstrated in the WeObserve project, the Citizen Science infrastructures in Europe

adopt the concept of Citizen Observatories (COs), characterised by their focus on observing
the environment, the smaller scale of their activities and their longer timeline of
monitoring. The project fostered communities of practice (CoP) to strengthen the
knowledge base surrounding COs by promoting citizen engagement, the value of COs for
governance and CO data interoperability. As a result, the OGC Engineering Report was
published on Citizen Science Interoperability Experiment, documenting the desired
outcome of applying standards to citizen science, identified challenges and gaps, and
recommendations for future work (http://docs.opengeospatial.org/per/19-083.html).

2.2 Cos4Cloud project (April 2021 ~ )

Since April 2021, Cos4Cloud has been leading the Community of Practice (CoP) on
Interoperability after the finalization of the WeObserve project extension. The transition
forced an interlude that ended after the summer period. This is the list of virtual meetings
that were organized by CREAF:
● 27 October 2021, Online Conference for CoP on Interoperability
● 1 December 2021, Online Conference for CoP on Interoperability

Since the activity is organized in collaboration with the OGC, we continue using the OGC

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D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

public twiki to store the meeting minutes

(https://external.ogc.org/twiki_public/CitSciIE/WebHome). The objective of the activity was
to create a second interoperability report on the STA+ and its advantages for Citizen
Science. However, the lack of participation prevented the finalization of the effort. Instead,
there was a proposal on creating a STA+ best practice document in coordination with task
2.8. One of the aspects recently discussed is the capacity of the different citizen scientists
to modify or remove their contributions and their consequences. Cos4Cloud will continue
leading the CoP on Interoperability in the final report.

3. Interoperability experimentation by Citizen

Observatories in Cos4Cloud and EOSC
Interoperability experimentation is summarized in Technology Integration Experiments
(Figure 1) among citizen observatories and service partners participating in the Cos4Cloud
project, reflecting the integration status of all tests carried out up to date. By clicking the
status in the summary matrix, each test is linked to an individual interoperability test
summary template (Figure 2), which guides reporting criteria such as objective, standard
use, evaluation on cost and effort, result, recommendation to improve interoperability,
path to operations, contact person, and image of integration . The status will continue to be
updated as the tests progress as well as new tests will be explored for various
combinations of integration.

Figure 1: A summary matrix of Technology Integration Experiments

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D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

Figure 2: Interoperability test summary between Natusfera and Cos4Bio

The summary matrix can be further categorized in two main standards adopted in
Cos4Cloud for data exchange, STA+ and Darwin Core, which are documented in the
following sections.

3.1 SensorThings API plus (STA+)

The OGC Sensor Things API has been suggested as a thematic agnostic standard that can
be used both for environmental observations and biodiversity observations. The extension
of STA to cover citizen description (Party), licensing and observation groups proposed in the
first period reporting has been implemented and demonstrated in practical applications.
During this period, a best practices document has been started with the intention to
complete it in the next reporting period. We believe the approach is useful beyond citizen
science so we changed the name from STA4CS to STA+.

Also during this reporting period, we recognized that presentations to the OGC community
(Citizen Science DWG and SWE.IoT SWG) were well received and that OGC members are in
favor of the extension. A demonstration endpoint was set up and deployed in the EGI cloud

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D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

(https://cos4cloud.secd.eu/staplus/v1.1), with some use cases in integration with Natusfera,

Pl@ntNet DaaS, FASTCAT-Cloud and MOBIS. In line with implementation of the EOSC, it was
intended to deploy the EGI, a federation providing their cloud services registered in the
EOSC Martketplace. In the final report, the results of use cases will be documented in
detail.

3.2 Darwin Core API

Among the biodiversity community there is a strong legacy of the Darwin Core
implementations that has the advantage of offering an approach tailored to the
Biodiversity domain. The Cos4Bio service has suggested this standard and has suggested to
the four biodiversity COs in Cos4Cloud (Natusfera, Pl@ntNet, iSpot and Artportalen) to
support it and ensure the connection to Cos4Bio, which is now registered in the EOSC
Marketplace (https://marketplace.eosc-portal.eu/services/cos4bio). The integration results
of each citizen observatory with Cos4Bio will be detailed in the final report.

The intention is to also adopt this standard in the Cos4Env application, however, it requires
to further explore if the five environmental observatories in Cos4Cloud (CanAirIO,
OdourCollect, FreshWater Watch, Kduino and iSPEX) will support this standard. Darwin
Core allows for environmental observations that complement the biodiversity ones but
might not be suitable for exchanging long-time series data coming from environmental
automatic sensors or camera traps. The standard that supports Cos4Env will be
determined for the final report.

3.3 AI-related services

Various approaches other than STA+ and Darwin Core have been provided by Cos4Cloud
partners and tested with other components for interoperability. Once Pl@ntNet
Identification API became available in the EOSC Marketplace, it has accelerated integration
tests with COs such as Cos4Bio, Natusfera, Pl@ntNet, iSpot and Artportalen as well as
MOBIS application. Furthermore, Pl@ntNet Identification API improved its performance by
integration with another service GBIF-DL.

Other AI-related services for integration with COs currently include AI-Taxonomist with
Cos4Bio and Pl@ntNet, AI-GeoSpecies with Pl@ntNet, and FASTCAT-Cloud with iSpot.

3.4 Authentication service

One of the main integration outcomes highlights authentication service by Authenix with
COs and services in Cos4Cloud. This integration is expected to evolve and extend towards
the final reporting. Currently, the following APIs offer Authenix based authentications:

● Pl@ntNet DaaS (https://my-api.plantnet.org/) has implemented a Cos4Cloud API that

requires a Bearer Access token from Authenix

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D2.4 Interoperability experiment report Cos4Cloud #836463

● FASTCAT-Cloud (https://service.fastcat-cloud.org/api) has integrated Authenix

● Cos4Bio (https://cos4bio.eu/) has integrated Authenix
● STA+ (https://cos4cloud.secd.eu/staplus/v1.1) has integrated Authenix
● MOBIS application is currently being evaluated how to use Authenix

To ensure a seamless login experience for users of EOSC, progress was made with the
effort to establish Authenix to be registered in the EOSC Marketplace and be part of a
community AAI (Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure) in EOSC.

4. Interoperability experimentation by external Citizen

Observatories
Involvement in interoperability experiments is not limited to COs in Cos4Cloud but may be
extended to external COs. The final report will involve the Cos4Cloud partners responsible
for their service implementation as well as organizations responsible for other citizen
science projects.

Firstly, integration of Pl@ntNet Identification API has made progress in Tela Botanica CO,
Hemelin and BeeKeeper applications. In addition, trials have been made for integration of
iTaxonomist by the FrogID project.

References
Cos4Cloud consortium (2022). Alexis Joly, Santiago Martínez de la Riva, Norbert Schmidt,
Stefan Rueger, and Frederic Fol Leymarie. New AI related components and services in
CO-platforms(D3.2).

Cos4Cloud consortium (2022). Technical report V2. 2nd Reporting Period: Consolidated
report. Period: January 2021 - January 2022

Grant Agreement-863463-COS4CLOUD (2019)

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Annex III: D5.1 Intermediate deliverable: Co-designed

services for Cos4cloud report

163
Co-Designed Citizen Observatories Services for the
EOS-Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

Intermediate report: Deliverable 5.1

Co-Design Service for Cos4Cloud Report
Date, Version 1.0

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant X

Agreement

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R0.1 01/02/2022 Creation and population of contents Alex Amo, Blanca Guasch (SfC)

R0.2 02/02/2022 Revision and inclusion of contents Ángela Bustamante (CREAF),

Karen Soacha (ICM-CSIC)

R1.0 l

Authors

SfC: Alex Amo, Blanca Guash

Citation
This document is in an internal deliverable. It should not be cited in public reports. For internal documents
this report can be cited as: Cos4Cloud consortium (2022). Amo, A., Guasch, B. Deliverable 5.1 Codesign
services for Cos4Cloud report.

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.

2
D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Executive Summary
COS4CLOUD consortium hereby summarizes the results from T5.2 so far, which comprises
the development of Citizen Observatory services from a bottom-up approach, including a
stakeholder mapping, motivations for engagement, etc. involving them as much as possible
in the Co-Design process.

Different participatory strategies are deployed, emphasizing in Co-Design methodologies

and other tools for user feedback gathering and design democratization. Integration with
the Agile part of the project is taken into account by coercing, when possible, the feedback
gathered from users into adequate structures and definitions agreed between Co-Design
and Agile specialists at Cos4Cloud. The consortium is managing to ensure that the process
is happening across different stakeholders and different phases of service Co-Design.

Most of the services in Cos4Cloud ecosystem have deployed at least one channel to gather
feedback from users and incorporate their feedback into the development process.
Although those channels do not strictly honor all Co-Design principles, the Co-Design team
supervises them and gathers as much information as possible about how do such channels
perform in terms of feedback quality, request honoring and user satisfaction.

Six Co-Design workshops have been celebrated. Although results vary from case to case,
good feedback is coming from both developers and users. Thanks to the Cos4Cloud
Co-Design Community maintained by the comms team, the communication channel with
the workshop participants and other volunteers is not closed after the workshop. This
enables the Cos4Cloud Co-Design team to leverage former participants in subsequent
iterations of the Co-Design continuum.

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Index

Introduction 6

Progress 7
Co-Design Framework 7
Co-Design Community 8
1. The Cos4Cloud's community 9
2. Actions to engage participants before each co-design session 10
3. Materials production previous to the event 11
4. Communication strategy after the event 12
5. Co-design community future: how to maintain it and take advantage of it? 13
Methodological Development 14
Wheels Workshop Methodology 14
User Stories Workshop Methodology 17
Other Co-Design Activities or User Feedback Channels 20
Execution of Co-Design and Other Related Activities 21
Co-Design Workshops 21
Other Related Activities and Channels 23
Delivery after Co-Design Workshops 25
Agile Methodology Integration 26

Annex I: Workflow sheet 27

Annex II: Information sheet 33

Annex III: Indicators sheet 35

Annex IV: Co-Design digest sheet 39

Annex V: Workshop reports content 40

Mobis 2021/03/10 40
Cos4Bio 2021/03/11 49
Mobis #2 2021/04/22 62
Cos4Bio #2 2021/05/18 74
FASTCAT-Cloud and FASTCAT-EDGE 2021/06/30 76
Cos4Env 2021/11/20 80

Annex VI: Co-Design strategy presentation 86

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Introduction
Co-Design is an approach to creative practice that enables a wide range of people to make
a creative contribution in the formulation and solution of a problem. In a Co-Design
process, the users are considered “experts” of their own experience and their needs and
concerns become central to the design process. In Cos4cloud, Science for Change has
assumed the necessary role of facilitator and developer of the methodology that supports
the Co-Design process for each of the services that compose the project.

SfC and CSIC have been setting the methodological and operational basis for the
application of the Co-Design process to the different services that are included in the
COS4CLOUD ecosystem. Such Co-Design process includes briefing, planning, documenting,
disseminating and recruiting participants for Co-Design activities prior to their execution, as
well as the execution itself, then reporting and monitoring after the execution.

Progress
Co-Design Framework

Co-design, or co-creation, is defined as the practice of collaborative product or service

development. It has also been defined as the joint creation of value. It involves the
participation of stakeholders and end-users in the product/service design and development
processes to find a solution that suits their context.

The following factors are always present in a co-creation workshop: innovation, design,
values and social considerations, participation and democratization. Hence, in a co-design
process, the users are considered “experts” of their own experience; their needs and
concerns become central to the design process.

Also, the co-design process needs a facilitator. The role of the facilitator is not only to
moderate the dynamics, but to provide ways to communicate, be creative, share insights
and test out new ideas.

A wide range of tools and techniques are available to support the Co-Design processes.
Research in this regard has been made. As a result, a compilation of feasible Co-Design
activity formats has been documented in the project's Confluence platform and it’s
constantly updated if needed. The format choice for a given Co-Design activity is made on a
case by case basis, after identifying the needs of the service leader and the specific service.
However, the two interactive online workshop methodologies that have been developed
specifically for COS4CLOUD (see “Methodological Development”) have proven to be the
most suitable choice among others, hence its prevalence so far.

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Depending on the needs discovered after the service leader’s briefing, a decision is also
jointly made regarding the number or Co-Design sessions needed (one or two) as well as
other complementary Co-Design activities or user feedback channels that do not
necessarily take place on a discretionary date.

After the amount, format and date of Co-Design activities for a given service is agreed, SfC
develops and documents the specific contents that will be used in the activity: general
concept and goals, preliminary activity planning, agenda for the activity itself, interactive
digital materials like customized Miro boards and any other supplementary materials
needed. This process takes a variable amount of time depending on factors like the type of
activity, the complexity of the goals and the type of audience for that activity. During the
preparation of the materials needed, CSIC performs the communication tasks and handles
the recruitment of members into COS4CLOUD’s Co-Design community so they attend the
upcoming Co-Design activities.

A complete chronological schedule of tasks involving the preparation of a Co-Design activity

can be found in ANNEX I.

Also, a complete information sheet comprising all the information that needs to be
gathered during the preparation stage of workshops can be found in ANNEX II.

Co-Design Community

Science for Change and the communication team (CSIC and CREAF) have worked closely to
establish a joint strategy to achieve maximum results from the co-design sessions. In
particular, the Cos4Cloud communication team has played a vital role in (1) engaging
participants to join the co-design sessions and (2) developing audiovisual materials to
explain the services to be co-designed and ensuring that the participants understood their
usefulness and functionalities.

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1. The Cos4Cloud's community

Figure 1. Cos4Cloud webpage inviting to “Be part of our community of codesign”

The communication team has made a significant effort to engage, create, and maintain
Cos4Cloud's community throughout the project. Find the main actions summarized here:
● Creating the 'Be part of our community' section on the website. It explains the
goals of creating this community, the benefits of joining it, the profiles we are
looking for and the main activities they can participate in. Additionally, we created
two separate sections within this page: testing community and co-design
community, to explain the activities they can participate in related to each
community. Moreover, we added a link to access a form to join us; in this form, they
can select their profiles and where they would like to participate (testing activities,
co-designing activities, advisory board or the three of them). So far, 38 people have
signed up through the Cos4Cloud website.
● In order to reward the people who joined Cos4Cloud's community, we asked all of
them if they would like to post their profiles on the 'Get to know our community’
page. So far, we have seven profiles published.
● To encourage people to join our community, we have also added a section
explaining the benefits of joining our community on each service page on the
website. In this way, if a person visits, for example, Cos4Bio, she or he can find out
about our community and join it in case they want to contribute to its development
or testing.

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2. Actions to engage participants before each co-design session

CSIC and CREAF have carefully designed an engagement strategy to have enough
participants in the co-design sessions. Please find the main actions summarized:
1. Define the target audience: each service was at a different development phase
and had different expectations and needs from the co-design sessions. That is why
the co-design & communication team met with each service developer before
planning the activity to define the target audience that could improve the service
(developers, the general public, citizen observatories' managers, etc.).
2. Design a banner to promote the event on social media.
3. Post the event on Cos4Clou's website.
4. Create a Telegram channel to promote the co-design activities. So far, we have 25
participants.
5. Create customized mailings to send personal invitations to potentially interested
people who are part of the Cos4Cloud community. Also, we usually ask the partners
to send invitations to some of their contacts.
6. Send promotional mailings through our MailChimp (more than 500 subscribers).
7. Promote the activities on social media by (1) making posts on Linkedin and Twitter
and (2) sending direct messages to accounts that met the profile we needed. For
example, in the case of FASTCAT-Cloud/Edge we followed camera traps and social
media accounts and sent them an invitation.
8. CSIC, in close collaboration with CREAF and Science for Change, also created a
presentation to explain the co-design in Cos4Cloud. The objective was to send it
with the event invitations. See it here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V8Tqjjr9u49SdVjeQ-hhIr3AQZXK7ho-
pZqpyZp0yes/edit?usp=sharing

Figure 2. The banner to promote the FASTCAT co-design session.

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The engagement strategy has been a ‘living document’, improved with the experience. For
example, at first we thought about creating a Slack to gather feedback on the different
services. However, after talking with the developers about the services and collecting their
needs, we realized we could not open a general channel or engage all kinds of people for
all the events, we needed to create a public map for each of the co-design sessions.

3. Materials production previous to the event

Furthermore, it has been essential to create materials before the co-design activities that
help the participants understand the Cos4Cloud services; as they have better understood
the services, the more advantage of the co-design sessions we have taken. Previous to the
event, we have produced and sent to the participants the following materials:
1. An appealing and compressive factsheets (infographics).
2. Record a video interview with the service developer explaining the service's key
points.

Figure 3. Video interview with Fredereic Fol Leymarie to explain FASTCAT-Edge and
FASTCAT-Cloud.

3. Ask the services' developers to create a mockup or a service prototype (if

possible).
4. Work with the developer of each service to create:
● A more understandable text to explain the service on the website
● Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section

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Figure 4. An example of one of the services’ infographics.

4. Communication strategy after the event

To improve, maintain and make bigger our community, the communication team has
carried out the following actions:

1. Create and send customized post-event surveys after each co-design activity to the
internal evaluators, the developers of the service and the participants.
2. Write a piece of news on Cos4Cloud's website, summarizing the key points of the
event.
3. Create and update the 'co-design highlights' section on the website to (1) encourage
people to join our community by reading the positive inputs of the participants and
(2) to make visible our work regarding co-design.

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Figure 5. Co-design highlights in the services sections after each event.

5. Co-design community future: how to maintain it and take advantage of it?

At the time of this writing, the following questions remain to be answered and further
conversations between the stakeholders as well as the members of the consortium need to
take place:
● Although the hypothesis needs further analysis, It could be that members of the
Co-Design community join because they are interested in the Citizen Observatory
they join for only, whether it’s related with their hobby (in case of hobbyists and
citizen scientists) or their job (in case of professional workers and researchers).
● If the Citizen Observatory that motivates any Cos4Cloud community member to stay
connected is only one amongst many, the odds of successfully fostering a
transversal community of people focused in the Co-Design for the sake of Co-Design
itself could be low. The messages should focus on their topics of interest.
● We have the possibility of applying further qualification and segmentation to the
community, asking the members two questions: a) if they want to stay connected
and participating in Co-Design workshops, and b) what is/are the Cos4Cloud
service(s) in which they are interested. In this way they would receive messages
from the relevant topics only, avoiding hassle and lowering risk of members leaving
the community. Higher segmentation means higher communication effort but it
could also enhance the experience of the participants and the quality of the
feedback they provide.

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● Identifying other Citizen Observatory user communities that also listen to any sort of
user feedback and joining forces in the creation of specific Co-Design communities
per topic could be an effective path to take in order to keep the community alive
and increase the engagement. Results could vary depending on the topic itself (plant
observation, animal observation, water quality monitoring, air quality monitoring,
etc.) but it could generate a more grassroots-like movement. Tela Botanica
association in France could be a real example of how a community that is already
engaged with botanical observation and studies could react with positive feedback
and engage in other projects of the same topic, like Pl@ntNet.

Methodological Development

Every Citizen Observatory aims to solve a problem for which it is developed (species
identification, store observation, aggregation of data, etc.). Depending on the type of
challenge that we want to tackle with Co-Design sessions, different formats, methodologies
and materials could be used.

In this chapter we detail the Co-Design session methodologies specifically developed for
the COS4CLOUD services. They were initially based on a preliminary set of needs and
challenges extracted from conversations with service leaders, and extended as newer
feedback is continuously collected.

Wheels Workshop Methodology

This workshop methodology was developed in order to satisfy a set of broad goals which
are common and useful for any software development targeting end users:

● Expectations: What do the stakeholders expect from this service?

● Feasibility: Is it well proportioned? Is it overambitious?

● Course/direction: Are we on the right track?

● Inputs: Is there anything we have not thought about? Is there anything missing
regarding structure, functionality or interface? What could be improved? What
should be taken into account from now onwards?

Wheels methodology includes two parts, explained below.

Part #1: First Impression Wheel.

Design thinking methods in which this methodology is based:

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● SWOT Analysis.
● Affinity Diagramming.
● Brainstorm Graphic Organizers.

Description:
The First Impression Wheel consists of a circle (or wheel) with six differentiated areas, in
which there are six different questions. These are:

● How would you use this service?

● What are the most interesting features?
● Would you change anything?
● Is there anything missing?
● How can this service contribute to the quantity and quality of data in Citizen Science
Observatories?
● What could go wrong?

Starting from the top area and going clockwise, the participants should go answering the
questions one by one, and write down all relevant comments in sticky notes.

We will dedicate 7 minutes to each area of the wheel:

● The first 3 minutes will be in silence, so that every participant can think of an answer
(or more than one) and write it down.
● The next 4 minutes will be for discussing and commenting on the answers.

Scheme is shown in the next figure. As can be appreciated in the figure, five of the six areas
can relate to the typical fields of a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats).

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Figure 6. Figure of first impression wheel (part #1) in Wheel workshop methodology

Part #2: Desirability Wheel

Design thinking methods in which this methodology is based:
● Desirability Testing.
● Content Inventory & Audit.
● Affinity Diagramming.
● Brainstorm Graphic Organizers.

Description:
The Desirability Wheel consists of a circle (or wheel) with four differentiated areas, in which
there are four different words. These are:

● Functionality.
● Interface.
● Architecture.
● Citizen Science.

Starting from the top left area and going clockwise, the participants should go addressing
the topics one by one, and write down all relevant comments in sticky notes.

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We will dedicate 10 minutes to each area of the wheel:

● The first 3 minutes will be in silence, so that every participant can think of an issue
(or more than one) and write it down.
● The next 7 minutes will be for discussing and commenting on the answers.

Scheme is shown in the next figure. As can be appreciated in the figure, the Desirability
Wheel emerges from the three lower areas of the First Impression Wheel, since those are
the ones where weaknesses and opportunities will be collected.

Figure 7. Figure of desirability wheel (part #2) in Wheel workshop methodology

Schedule: Estimated duration of 2:30h.

Link to live board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lSzLWEU=/

User Stories Workshop Methodology

This Workshop Methodology is the answer to the feedback gathered by service leaders
regarding some limitations and lack of specificities of the previous one. More particularly,
this Workshop aims to achieve a more actionable output, more suitable for service leaders
that need to make specific choices regarding user experience and its workflows. With this
methodology we try to include the problems or challenges in a way that they can be
addressed by the service leader via specific tasks. In some services, there is a lack of
examples of why the end user is interested in the service. Therefore, we will try to find this
through the workshop.

Since all the services respond to a particular problem, this methodology works on a
"problem-solution" basis too. The expected outcomes of the workshop are not expected to

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be solutions themselves, but “user stories”. User stories are standardized, well defined and
actionable or close-to-actionable units of information, typically under the form of a
sentence with a predefined structure. User stories are used as building blocks of functional
description in agile software development methodologies. Processing the information and
delivering it in such an actionable format ensures good integration with Agile Prototype
Methodology.

Therefore, the goals for this Co-Design workshop methodology are:

● Requirements: What do participants need this service to provide? Do these
requirements align with what the service leader is developing?
● User Stories: What does each future end-user want, and why?

Methodology includes two parts, explained below. The first dynamic will serve to detect
challenges, while the second one will focus on finding solutions to these challenges.

Part #1: User Profile

Design thinking methods in which this methodology is based:
● Behavioral mapping: visual documentation of human activity.
● Customer Experience Audit: capturing the day-to-day context in which people
engage with a service.
● Personas: representative human profiles based on archetypal descriptions of users.

Description:
The 'User Profile' dynamic consists of three parts:

● Choose your avatar (5min). In this part, participants will be asked to choose an
avatar from a given set that defines them in some way.
● Build your user profile (5min). After choosing the avatar, they will be asked to write
down their name (or an avatar nickname), their professional field and background,
and their most relevant hobbies.
● List and discuss the main challenges you face when using CS apps (10min). Finally,
participants will be asked to list and discuss the main challenges they face when
using citizen science apps.

Thanks to this dynamic, we will start from an end-user's perspective to go deepening into
the service development. In this way, we will give participants the opportunity to work from
their very own individual perspectives and to start contributing with real problems or
issues they deal with in their daily lives. On the other hand, we –as facilitators and service
leaders– will be able to identify which requirements and needs arose from which specific
user profiles, which is very useful information.

Scheme is shown in the next figure.

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Figure 8. Figure of User Profile (part #1) in User Stories workshop methodology

Part #2: User Stories

Design thinking methods in which this methodology is based:
● Affinity Diagramming: the visible clustering of observations and insights into
meaningful categories and relationships.
● User Journey Maps: a visualization of human interactions with a service.
● User Stories: an informal, natural language description of features of a software
system written from the perspective of an end user.

Description:
The 'User Stories' dynamic consists of building user stories using these connectors: "As a ...
I want / I have the need to ... so that / in purpose of ...". There will be three parts in this
dynamic:

● Take a moment to remember what the service is about (5min). Some information
about the service that is being co-designed will be placed in the miro board
(infographics, screenshots, etc.). In this way, participants will have all the
information they need right in front of them during the whole time. We will have 5
minutes to comment on the service before we start working on the user stories.

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● What is a user story? Definition, templates & examples (5min). We will dedicate 5
minutes to explaining what a user story is and giving a couple of templates and
examples.
● Tell your stories (20min). The rest of the time will be for participants to write down
as many stories as they can think of, according to their profiles defined above and to
their challenges when using CS apps.

Scheme is shown in the next figure.

Figure 9. Figure of User Stories (part #2) in User Stories workshop methodology

Schedule: Estimated duration of 2:30h.

Link to live board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lLXUnwo=/

Other Co-Design Activities or User Feedback Channels

Despite the fact that the two interactive online workshop methodologies detailed above
have been developed specifically for COS4CLOUD and have proven useful, there are
complementary Co-Design activities or communication channels that may provide a
valuable stream of feedback from users or potential users, covering wide audiences and
spans of time with relatively small or no effort. Such activities may not fall strictly under the
definition of Co-Design, even they may not necessarily take place on a discretionary date,
but they honor some of the principles of Co-Design and they empower end users
democratizing the design of the services, hence they are also coordinated from the
Co-Design perspective and listed in chapter “Execution of Co-Design Activities”.

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Execution of Co-Design and Other Related Activities

Co-Design Workshops

The overall progress of Co-Design workshops (in chronological order of first activity) is
detailed in the following table. Unless specified otherwise, the format of the Co-Design
activity is an online, interactive, participatory workshop.

Please bear in mind that the execution of a Co-Design workshop implies that its following
stages have been completed: briefing, planning, documenting, recruiting, execution and
initial reporting to service leader. The monitoring process and the corresponding feedback
loop between service leader, agile and Co-Design teams does not end until the
development of the service has been completed.

Service Description Developer 1st 2nd Others

Workshop Workshop

MOBIS Mobile DDQ 2021/03/10 2021/04/22

Interface for
Apps

Cos4Bio Biodiversity Bineo 2021/03/11 2021/05/18 Yes

Experts' Portal

FASTCAT-Cloud Pre-Processing DynAIkon 2021/06/30 Not needed

Camera Trap

FASTCAT-Edge Video Stream DynAIkon 2021/06/30 Not needed

Processing
Service

Cos4Env Environmental Bineo 2021/10/20 Not needed

Experts' Portal

DUNS Data Use Bineo Pending

Notification

MECODA MECODA Data CSIC Pending

Analysis
Package

Pl@ntNet-API PlantNet as a Inria Pending Yes

Service

AI-Taxonomist Similarity-Searc Inria Pending

h Based
Identification

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Service Description Developer 1st 2nd Others

Workshop Workshop

AI-GeoSpecies Location-Based Inria Pending Yes

Species
Prediction

Biodiversity-DL Cross-Platform Inria Pending

Training Data
Aggregation

Table 1. Co-Design workshops progress table

Some images of Co-Design workshops taking place are provided below.

Figure 10. Screenshot and social media post of FASTCAT Co-Design workshop (30/06/2021)

Figure 11. Screenshot and social media post of Cos4Env Co-Design workshop (20/10/2021)

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Other Related Activities and Channels

An overview of other Co-Design or close-to-Co-Design activities and channels is provided in

the following table. Only the services with “others = yes” in the previous table are listed
here.

Service Activity/Channel definition Date Notes

Cos4Bio “Community of Experts for Co-Design” internal meeting 29/09/2020 Internal

consortium talk
aiming to
define a basic
Co-Design
roadmap to
follow.

Pl@ntNet Exchanges with users through email: Exchanges with N/A About 20 per
general users through contact email box. This allows us day on
to understand the different uses as well as the evolution average.
needs of the application in terms of ergonomics,
performance, new functionality, etc.

Pl@ntNet Exchanges with beta-testers through email / app store: N/A About 1000
Exchanges with beta-testers through Google play store beta-testers
(when public beta program is in place) and emails. This
allows us to test new functionalities and get feedback
from intensive and/or technophile users.

Pl@ntNet On-site tests and interviews of professional users (e.g. N/A No indicators
forest rangers, farmers, teachers, botanists/researchers, provided by
etc.). This allows us to get more detailed feedbacks from service leader
professional users so as to adapt the application to their
need

Pl@ntNet Exchanges with Pl@ntNet API users through emails and N/A about 2000
videoconferences. The new functionalities developed
within the API (COS4CLOUD service) are defined directly
according to their needs.

Pl@ntNet Exchanges with stakeholders making (or wishing to N/A No indicators

make) wide use of Pl@ntNet in the context of their provided by
activity (e.g. natural area managers, people in charge of service leader
regulatory missions of biodiversity inventory,
educational program managers, tourism activities
animators, etc.). This allows us to identify adaptation
needs specific to their business as well as various
constraints e.g. related to GDPR, data access or adoption
problems.

Pl@ntNet Involvement in participatory workshops organized by N/A No indicators

Telabotanica association (French network of amateur provided by
and professional botanists) inspired from the service leader
“participatory action research” methodology. This
provides a broader view and ideas on how Pl@ntNet
tools and services could be useful in local policies,
schools, natural area management activities, etc.

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AI-GeoSpecies Exchanging with beta testers through two audiences: N/A Currently
● Tela Botanica network (network of botanists in receiving the
France as well as one of the largest citizen first feedback
observatories). In order to mobilize the largest from Tela
possible number of members of Tela Botanica Botanica
in the testing of AI-GeoSpecies, a message was network //
sent via the newsletter of the network. Feedback from
AMAP is being
● AMAP research lab: interdisciplinary laboratory collected by
that conducts research on plants and plant email and
communities with the aim of predicting through the
ecosystems responses to environmental forcing, organization of
A message was sent via the general mailing list. a workshop (to
be announced).

Table 2. Other activities/channels overview

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The following table shows the participation statistics for every service Co-Design workshop
performed so far. Number of participants can heavily depend on the type of community
involved, technical difficulty of the challenge proposed in that session, and other context
elements in which such a session is being performed.

Co-Design activity name General

Public /
Service Date (communication) Academia Industry Policymakers Others Total

Cos4Bio: Let's co-design innovative

technological services for citizen
Mobis #1 11/03/2021 science 9 3 12
MOBIS: Let's co-design innovative
technological services for citizen
Cos4Bio #1 10/03/2021 science 30 1 3 34
Let's co-design MOBIS: a service to
improve citizen science
Mobis #2 22/04/2021 technologies! 62 10 36 95
Let’s co-design Cos4Bio during the
Cos4Bio #2 18/05/2021 CitSciVirtual event! 5 5
Fastcat Cloud / Let’s co-design tools to improve
Edge 30/06/2021 camera traps’ user experience! 2 19 20
Cos4Env Co-design workshop +
Cos4Env 20/10/2021 round table 8 2 10
Total 176

Delivery after Co-Design Workshops

After the execution of the Co-Design workshop, a report with the insights, qualitative and
quantitative feedback extracted from participants is generated and delivered to the service
developer. One of the outputs that the Co-Design activity report tries to deliver is a list of
features and use cases extracted from participants’ feedback and converted into “user
stories”. User stories are standardized, well defined and actionable building blocks used in
agile software development methodologies. Processing the information and delivering it in
such an actionable format ensures good integration between Agile Methodology (that will
be discussed further). Subsequently, it maximizes the odds of being useful by helping in
driving action, in performing development follow up, in measuring the impact of Co-Design
activities and in demonstrating how relevant stakeholders in Co-Design have influenced the
final design of services to suit their needs.
A template sheet of quantitative and qualitative indicators that are extracted from
participants feedback and delivered to service leaders can be found in ANNEX III.

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Agile Methodology Integration

Developing an agile methodology in the context of a EU-project is not that straightforward

as when working on one concrete software product having one dedicated customer.
However, the aim is to find a minimal set of methodologies which fits us all and to cultivate
that agile process bridging the long-term plan (proposal) and actual implementation of
each service.

The Methodology being developed and tested in Cos4Cloud proposes a way how we can
organize our workload in an agile way in order to be able to scale over multiple service
developments and aim to obtain a minimal viable ecosystem. We start from the actual
challenges a EU-project with multiple partners does have. In more detailed, Agile-specific
deliverables we describe core reasons to work with agile approaches and the different
levels of adoption that can be reached. We reason about an iterative process which should
fit most of the time. Due to the heterogeneity of all partners, however, it is presented in a
relatively generic way in order to avoid that a too detailed set of instructions for all partners
could lead to unfeasible requirements, precluding partners from implementing the services
properly.

Constantly discussing the way we actually work is key in agile. Even if all partners are just
fine with what has been initially proposed, the way we really work is expected to be a
moving target (and should be embraced as such as we are improving not just our product,
but the way we collaborate too).

The part of the discussed Agile methodology that Co-Design methodology needs to fit into
and interact with is the information structure of what to do and how to formulate things,
that is, the definition of the WHAT, the HOW and the WHEN for each service. Hence the
methodological development of the Co-Design workshops evolved from the more
generalistic approach in “Wheels Workshop Methodology” to a more Agile-fitting “User
Story Workshop Methodology”, and the concept of Co-Design digest was introduced.

The aim of Co-Design digests is to build a bridge from the (rather raw) outputs of a
Co-Design workshop to the concrete tasks and user stories of a development team. A
digest shall provide some basic information about the workshop and provide the
processed and analyzed outcome of the workshop, e.g. enlightenments, highlights,
good/bad findings, and reasoned user stories. The digest ideally shows how feedback from
Co-Design sessions is going to be incorporated into the development process of each
service.

A template for Co-Design Digests can be found in ANNEX IV.

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Annex I: Workflow sheet

Following annex, part of the Co-Design methodological guide, is a workflow and timeline
template used for planning and monitoring purposes. It describes the list of tasks in
preparatory, execution, evaluation and exploitation phases. The time is expressed in days
before (negative) and days after (positive) the completion of the Co-Design activity. This
template is dynamic and therefore it has been subject to changes during the project.

TASK TASK TIME

(days)
EXPECTED RESULTS CHANNEL AND COMMENTS
TYPE SPECIFICATIONS
OF THE RESULTS
WS
Preparation Create specific -60 Send links to the Confluence and
workshop page in comm team Slack.
Confluence and
Co-Design Slack
channel
WS
Preparation Define with service -60 Send info to the Information: Consider at least 2
leader: comm team. complete weeks between
(1) date of the Schedule the Confluence workshops.
workshop, workshop in Google communication When defining
(2) number of Calendar and Zoom. document. stakeholders, intend to
participants Doubts, notices, get as much detail as
required, organization: possible regarding
(3) profiles required, specific Slack required profiles (ages,
(4) contacts of channel (without gender, expertise,
required the service specific development
communities (in case leader). platforms, etc.).
they have any)
WS
Preparation Send email to -60 All relevant Email and
relevant partners partners updated Confluence.
with calendars and and involved: mail
information sent with
Confluence link.
WS
Preparation Ask / define with -30 Send info to the Document in
service leader: comm team to Confluence.
(1) description of the include in the
service to be invitations.
Co-Designed, Send info to the
(2) current status of Co-Design specialist
development, to design the
(3) specific feedback session.
they expect from the
Co-Design session

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WS
Preparation Identify within the -30 Send to the comm Identified
Cos4Cloud Database team for invitations. Stakeholders
the stakeholders to within an Excel
invite. and uploaded to
Confluence.
Doubts and
comments in
Slack channel
(without the
service leader).
WS
Preparation Prepare invitations -30 Send to the Communication Seek mid-term
and inscription Co-Design expert template alliances with other
forms. and SfC’s project complete en consortiums,
manager for Confluence.Doub universities, research
validation & ts and comments centers, communities.
stakeholders in Slack channel
recruiting (without the
service leader).
WS
Preparation Publish the -30 Send to Co-Design Published at
workshop as an expert and SfC’s Cos4Cloud web.
event in the project manager for
Cos4Cloud web validation &
page. stakeholders
recruiting
WS
Preparation Send invitations to -25 Participants Email.
stakeholders. enrolled.
WS
Preparation Send email to -25 Email sent. Email.
partners of the
event, with invitation
attached, to promote
event and
enrollment.
WS
Preparation Prepare newsletter -25 Participants Mailchimp.
about the event and enrolled.
send to stakeholders
and partners of
Cos4Cloud.
WS
Preparation Start Social network -25 Participants Social Networks.
posts including enrolled.
registration form.
WS
Preparation Start Telegram -25 Participants Telegram.
communication enrolled.
about event.

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

WS
Preparation Contact "partners" -25 Participants Email and phone.
that would help to enrolled.
communicate
(alliances).
Share invitation,
registration form
and link to event at
Participants
WS
Cos4Cloud webpage -25 Email.
Preparation
enrolled.
with Consortium for
them to send to their
contacts.
Enrolled
participants:
create Excel and
Regi
upload in
Monitor registration stra Send to SfC to allow
Confluence.
WS
evolution and inform tion adjustments, if
Preparation
Doubts and
to SfC peri needed.
comments in
od
Slack channel
(without the
service leader).
Information:
complete
Confluence
communication
Generate event in document.
Send link to the
WS
Calendar and link in -20 Doubts, notices,
Preparation
comm team.
Zoom. organization:
specific Slack
channel (without
the service
leader).
Define Co-Design
Document in
WS
methodology for the -20 Workshop design.
Preparation
Confluence.
workshop.
Prepare Miro boards
WS
-20 Workshop design. Miro.
Preparation
for the workshop.
Information:
complete
Confluence
Define workshop communication
WS
-20 Workshop design.
Preparation
agenda. document.
Doubts, notices,
organization:
specific Slack

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

channel (without
the service
leader).
Information:
complete
Confluence
Validate communication
methodology, document.
WS
Preparation agenda and Miro -15 Workshop design. Doubts, notices,
board with the organization:
service leader. specific Slack
channel (without
the service
leader).
Satisfaction Survey Creation:
(one link for each Mailchimp.
event): Send survey to SfC’s Doubts and
WS
Preparation (1) prepare survey, -7 project manager comments in
(2) validate with SfC and service leader. Slack channel
and the service (without the
leader. service leader).
Host and backstage
WS
0 Zoom.
Execution
of Zoom.
Host and backstage
WS
0 Zoom.
Execution
of Miro.
Dynamization of the
WS
0 Zoom.
Execution
session (main room).
Cos4Cloud general
WS
0 Zoom.
Execution
presentation.
WS
Execution Service presentation. 0 Zoom.
Co-Design
WS
Execution methodology and 0 Miro and Zoom.
Miro presentation.
Methodologic
WS
Execution facilitation within 0 Miro and Zoom.
breakout rooms.
Technical facilitation
WS
Execution within breakout 0 Miro and Zoom.
rooms.
Social networks
WS
Execution dissemination of the 0 Social Networks.
event.

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Interviews to
WS
Execution participants to 0
collect testimonials.
Thank you email to
participants with
satisfaction survey light/total version
attached and Participants according to
WS
1 Mailchimp
Evaluation
informing that they engagement developers' feedback
will receive an (ask)
informative
document.
Send mini-evaluation
survey to the Evaluation Email or
WS
1
Evaluation
facilitators and indicators. Mailchimp
service leaders
Results uploaded in
Send workshop
Confluence and Confluence and
WS
results to service 5
Exploitation
email with link sent email
developer.
to service developer
Informative
document
Analysis of workshop
complete, uploaded
results and Confluence and
WS
10 in Confluence and
Exploitation
informative email
email to comms
document.
and coordination
teams.
Send workshop
results and Email with link to
Confluence and
WS
informative 10 Confluence
Exploitation
email
document to document sent
Consortium.
Analysis of workshop Info sent to SfC’s Comm team sends
Document
results and project manager, info. The rest of the
WS
10 uploaded in
Exploitation
informative Co-Design expert event organization
Confluence
document. and developer team contributes.
Promote Co-Design Comm team sends
Upload workshop
and generate PDF optimized info. The rest of the
WS
report in the 15
Exploitation
motivation for next for web event organization
Cos4Cloud webpage.
workshops team contributes.
Promote Co-Design Comm team sends
Publish workshop
and generate info. The rest of the
WS
report in the 15 Web
Exploitation
motivation for next event organization
Cos4Cloud webpage.
workshops team contributes.

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Mail to participants
with workshop Participants
WS
15 Mailchimp
Exploitation
report and link to engagement
Cos4Cloud webpage.
Publish participants Promote Co-Design
testimonial videos in and generate Social Networks/
WS
15
Exploitation
social networks and motivation for next Other channels
Telegram. workshops
Monitor which ideas
from participants are
WS
Exploitation going to be 20
incorporated by
service developer.

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Annex II: Information sheet

Following annex, part of the Co-Design methodological guide, is an information sheet
designed to centralize the gathering of all preparatory information needed for a Co-Design
session. Project managers interact with service leaders in order to fill the template when a
Co-Design session is being prepared. Once filled, the sheet is delivered to the Co-Design
specialist so she/he can start the development of the session boards (either physical or
digital) and supporting materials. The template includes all kinds of information that may
be needed by the Co-Design specialist for that purpose. This template is dynamic and
therefore it has been subject to changes during the project.

GENERAL INFO

Service name

Context (brief info of the Co-Design activity that has been agreed with the service leader,
including the Co-Design format that has been chosen for the activity)

Specific objectives of the session

Contact person (whoever is in charge of gathering and updating this sheet)

EVENT

Number of sessions

Date and time

Duration

Place (online + platforms / offline + geographical place)

Interactivity of session (approximate degree of interaction with attendants in %, being

80% the typical in a highly interactive session)

Language

PARTICIPANTS

Number of participants expected

Profile of the participants

Number of working groups and what is the splitting criteria, if any

Number and type of facilitators needed for the session (moderators, technical support,
chat and room control, etc.)

Rehearsal session with facilitators and other staff, if needed (yes/no, when/where)

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CONTENT

Title given to the session (i.e. “Let’s Co-Design tools to improve camera traps’ user
experience!”)

General description of session (contents, what topics to explain or discuss, preliminary

structure, etc.)

Graphic logos to include (who organizes, who contributes, who participates, etc.)

DELIVERY DATES

Date/time in which the Co-Design session draft materials are due (optimal: 1 week
before)

Date/time in which the Co-Design session final materials are due (optimal: 3-4 days
before)

Date/time in which the definitive URLs for the boards of each working group are due
(optimal: 1 day before)

MATERIALS DEVELOPED FOR THE SESSION (to be filled by Co-Design expert)

Description of the dynamics

Links (Zoom, Miro, Google Drive, Google Slides, Slido, project web, post-session
questionnaire, etc.)

Physical materials for offline sessions (maps, stickers, markers, printings, etc.)

Other requirements for offline sessions (rooms, projectors, microphones, speakers,

adapters, tables, chairs, catering, signs, pictures, etc.)

Statements to include in session, like EC banners and grant numbers, through slides or
materials specifically designed for the session.

What permissions to set to working boards after session in case of online sessions
(edit, view, closed). In case of editable boards, how much time before final closure.

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Annex III: Indicators sheet

Following annex, part of the Co-Design methodological guide, is an indicators sheet
designed to be filled with the answers from the post-session questionnaires that are sent
to the participants. By gathering quantitative feedback we ensure that relevance and
quality of sessions can be measured in a more objective way. By gathering qualitative
feedback we also ensure that we don’t miss important suggestions, complaints, and
specific feedback regarding anything that could happen during the session. This template is
dynamic and therefore it has been subject to changes during the project.

GENERAL INDICATORS

Number of facilitators Training/ Technical Methodologic Technical Other

content facilitators al facilitators support
(explaining (assisting (assisting
technical others in how others in how
aspects of to perform to use digital
the service) the dynamics) tools, etc)

Participants (total)

Internal participants CItizens Academia Public Private Other

(from the project)

External participants Citizens Academia Public Private Other

(event attendants)

Engagement % (highest
count of participants /
participants in the end *
100)

Number of participants
answering post-session
questionnaire

% of participants that
evaluate the session
(number of answered
questionnaires / number of
questionnaires sent * 100)

EVALUATION OF PARTICIPANTS

Age span 0 - 17 18 - 31 32 - 45 46 - 59 60 +

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Gender Woman Man Not binary Other Prefer not to

answer

Sector/ ámbito Civil society Academia/ Public Private Other

research

¿Where are you from? (city,

country)

On a scale from 1 to 5, do 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

you think this Co-Design

session was useful for
you?

On a scale from 1 to 5, do 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

you think this Co-Design

session was useful for the
project/service?

On a scale from 1 to 5, do 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

you think the materials

(boards, graphics, etc)
provided were adequate?

Did you participate in Yes (same Yes (same Yes (same Yes No
topic) Co-Design participative (same tools)
similar dynamics before methodology) format)
this session?

Did you participate in any Yes, same Yes, same No, but I No, but I No, I didn’t
project organization knew the knew the know neither
other Co-Design session of project organization project nor
this project or organized by organization
the same organization?

Has the session helped you 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

structure strategies that

you could apply in your day
to day life?

Has the session helped you 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

discover tools that you

could apply in your day to
day life?

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Has the session helped you 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

visualize complex
concepts in a simple way?

In general, do you leave 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

with the feeling of having

learned something new?
(concepts, methods, tools,
skills, processes, etc.)

Do you think you will carry 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

out any of the strategies

that have emerged during
the session?

What was your knowledge 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

of the subject before this

session?

What did you like most

about the session?

What can we improve for

the future?

Did you find the duration of Too short A bit short Correct A bit long Too long

the session reasonable?

Did you like working with 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

the online board tool during

the session?

Do you think that the online 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

board tool is a suitable tool

to work with the content of
the session?

Has it been easy for you to 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

access and use the online

digital board?

Has the work methodology 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

seemed logical and

appropriate to the needs of
the project?

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Has the balance between Too A bit too Well balanced A bit too Too practical
theoretical theoretical practical
theory and practice been
consistent with the
objective of the session?

Would you recommend this 1 (nothing) 2 3 4 5 (a lot)

session to a friend or
co-worker?

Is there anything else you

want to comment on?

EVALUATION FROM FACILITATORS

What are your main

reflections or conclusions
from this session as a
facilitator?

How has the working group

worked? (what dynamics
have been created, what
opinions have been given,
general feeling)

What would you keep

unchanged?

What would you change?

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Annex IV: Co-Design digest sheet

This sheet reflects the structure of the Co-Design digests to be delivered and updated
jointly between Agile team, Co-Design team and service developers.

Workshop details

Link to workshop Preferably, a link to the recorded video session, if available.

Link to PDF Report Internal link to uploaded PDF in Confluence, if available.

Link to online Links to the different online interactive boards, typically from the
interactive boards Miro platform.

Output

User’s input Description Category Status Relevance Decision Comment

… … … … … … …

Short description of expected content in Output table:

● User's input: Short description of the user's feedback

● Description: More detailed description (max. 3 sentences)
● Category: Freely defined categories (e.g. Search, Integration, UX, Performance…).
Developers can modify this.
● Status: Development Status. Developers have to fill this based on their progress.
● Relevance: Determined priority (high, medium, low). Can be determined by
developers.
● Decision: To be implemented? (yes, no)
● Comment: In case it’s not going to be implemented, a rationale. In case it will be
implemented, preferably a link to the user story in the dev team's backlog.

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Annex V: Workshop reports content

The following annex provides the meaningful outputs of Co-Design workshops, that is, indicators,
worksop related feedback and service related feedback. Some considerations:
● Other details like the detailed agenda of the day, the script for staff, workshop
methodological developments that have been already explained, names and profiles of the
participants or board screenshots are omitted for extension reasons.
● Service related feedback can have multiple structures depending on the workshop
methodology used and context (Wheels, User Stories, or manually extracted takeaways from
event recordings).
● Some indicators or content for specific workshops can be empty for different reasons like
lack of answers to questionnaires.
● Extracted indicators per each workshop can differ slightly from the Indicators template in
ANNEX III, since the definition of indicators is a dynamic process and also because some
indicators can be tailored for specific cases.

Mobis 2021/03/10
Miro boards:
● Group A: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lSzLWEU=/
● Group B: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lQFEurM=/

General information of the workshop

Service MOBIS
Workshop 01 – Expectations
Date and timing March 10th, 2021
Silvina Frucella (SfC)
Blanca Guasch (SfC)
Facilitators
Norbert Schmidt (DDQ)
Joep Van der Heiden (DDQ)
General indicators of the workshop

Number of participants (total) 13

Number of participants from
6
the Consortium
Number of internal participants 4
Number of external
3
participants
Number of participants from
3
Academia
Number of participants from
0
Industry
Number of participants from
0
Civil society
Number of participants from
0
Government-Agency
Number of facilitators 4 (not included in the number of participants)

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Feedback from the participants

Number of participants that

replied to the post-event 6
survey
Number of participants
(internal or consortium) that
The surveys were anonymous.
replied to the post-event
survey
% of participants in the
46%
evaluation
How likely is it that you would
recommend this co-design
7
session to a friend or
colleague? (average mark
- II was asked to
- To support the Cos4Cloud activities
- To see the project status and which ideas other people have
Why did you decide to attend
about it
this activity?
- Getting to know MOBIS in more detail, and Co-Design as well
- Citizen science is the future
- Because I am part of a citizen observatory
- Novice (0)
Which was your knowledge
- Beginner (1)
about citizen science
- Intermediate (4)
observatories before this
- Advanced (1)
co-design session?
- Expert (0)
- Miro platform methodology
- Organization was very professional
What did you like the most
- Lightweight discussion format
about the event?
- The structure was very good
- Expert interventions
- More time to introduce the service would be useful
- Make the break 15 minutes
What can we improve for the
- More details about the project at the beginning of the session,
next time?
and perhaps also a project timetable
- shorter sessions
- Much too long (1)
- Too long (1)
Was the co-design session too
- About right (4)
short, too long or about right?
- Too short (0)
- Much too short (0)

Very easy Too difficult

Did you find the 'Miro' tool
easy to use? (average mark) 1 2 3 4 5
Average mark: 1,16

Very easy Too difficult

Did you find the 'Miro' tool
adequate for this workshop?
1 2 3 4 5
Average mark: 1,16

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- None
- Assist to a webinar at the end of the co-design process that
summarizes the outputs of all the process
- Receive a document with the co-design session's outputs, Read
the general outputs of the session on Cos4Cloud's blog,
We appreciate your Receive quarterly piece of news with the updates related to the
collaboration to improve service's development
citizen science technologies! - Receive a document with the co-design session's outputs
Please share with us which - Receive a document with the co-design session's outputs, Read
kind of information you would the general outputs of the session on Cos4Cloud's blog,
like to receive from us: Receive quarterly piece of news with the updates related to the
service's development, Assist to a webinar at the end of the
co-design process that summarizes the outputs of all the
process
- Receive a document with the co-design session's outputs

If you answered 'other', please

tell us what which is the
information and format that - No answer
you would like to receive from
us:
- Website (0)
- Family and friends (0)
- Work colleague (2)
- Twitter (1)
How did you first hear about - Instagram (0)
the co-design sessions? - LinkedIn (0)
- Facebook (0)
- Email (0)
- Cos4Cloud's team members (3)
- Other: (0)

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+

Age Range
(2) (3) (1)

- Preschool/Kindergarten (0)
- Elementary/Primary School (0)
What is the highest level of
- Middle/Junior High School (0)
education you have
- High/Secondary School (0)
completed?
- College Degree (Bachelor) (1)
- Post-Graduate Degree (Master/PhD) (5)
Self-evaluation from the facilitators

- We should find a way to motivate all participants to talk and

give their feedback. In one of the breakout rooms, the
What are your main
participants that most gave their opinions were from the
achievements, reflections,
consortium.
takeaways of this session as a
- We should probably give a short training to the technical
facilitator?
facilitators, so that they know how to ask adequate questions
to achieve their objectives and to better involve all participants.

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- We need to work on generating alliances with outside

organizations, to foster cooperation and participation, and to
increase the co-design community.
- Tasks and responsibilities re-defined so that we can plan in
advance and avoid rushes.
- Improve engagement with CoNNect, OU and ECSA teams.
What would you improve? - Align our workshops with the agile methodologies of the
developers so that the information gathered in the co-design
sessions can be given to the service leaders in the most useful
way for them.
- The agenda and structure of the workshop.
What would you keep?
- The Miro board and the methodology.
Feedback from the consortium (coordination team and partners)

- Agree on roles and responsibilities (general and particular to

each workshop), to plan in advance.
- Not to do more than 1 workshop per week.
- Contemplate the possibility of fewer workshops during the
year (Jaume thinks that 15 workshops might be too much).
- We must be able to explain the service in simple words
(infographics needed) before the breakout sessions.
- Karen demands to reinforce the co-design strategy, so that it is
Comments more aligned with the service leaders’ tools, formats and
platforms. If the service leader receives the information in a
format that they are already used to, it will be easier for them
to apply the changes and to give feedback to the feedback.
- We should be able to attract more people from outside of the
consortium, so that we have a real co-design process.
Otherwise, the workshop is just another conversation between
partners.
- Need to deepen involvement with the Engagement team (OU).
Feedback from the service leader

- DDQ said the input was very valuable and that they will work
Are the outputs from the on the different ideas, to study them in depth and be able to
co-design workshop useful for implement improvements or leave suggestions aside.
the improvement of the service - Being the first workshop performed was a challenge. However,
itself? someone had to be the first one (just a fact, not something
that can be improved or anything).
- Roles, tasks and dates.
What would you improve? - Have more participants from outside the project.
- Maybe involve more different profiles in future workshops.
- The length of the session.
What would you keep? - The agenda.
- The methodology of the workshop and the Miro board.
Content - First impression

How would you use this service?

● I don't have anything at the moment - but good to know it's available for future app ideas
where a new-build is required
● Record air quality, humidity and temperature data

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● Biodiversity monitoring
● Systematic sampling protocol
● Create small (short-lived?) monitoring apps to answer just one particular question
● Visualize risks in terms of exposure to airborne pollutants
● Gather info related to some particular goal or question
● Monitoring variables of a citizen observatory
● Observing river basin pollution
● Correlate Information from different sources
● Data clean up
● Analyze trends
● Connect with different services and COs
● Connect to other CS services
● Push notifications
● As a fast CDN (for user entries)
● Identify and contribute
● Transform data into other formats
● Share my home automations sensors datas
● Connect DIY devices to Citizen Observatories
● Connect Multipurpose citizen observatory
● Extract combined results of different type of data/variables

What are the most interesting features? (Strengths)

● Adaptability
● Parse is a strength - Node.js is nice and flexible and fairly intuitive for most devs
● Reusability
● Customization
● Single source of truth
● Plug'n'play existing CO services
● User friendly
● A demo will be good, as we are not sure what the service is about
● One-Click Self Hosting?
● Tooling to deploy in a target environment?
● Data integration and standardization
● Multi Platform architecture (iOS/Android)
● Capability to combine multiple type of data
● 1 location to see status of various data sources
● Potential for future extensibility
● How the different COs and services and data can connect and be used
● Many different types of observations supported (image, text. value, etc.)
● Possibility to combine heterogeneous data in a single project
● Official plug n play integration with Home Assistant.io
● Open source
● Single-stop for all "data-entry" activities
● Low barrier-to-entry
● Extraction/conversion
● Integration of processing

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Would you change anything? (Weaknesses/Opportunities)

● Can't think of anything

● Personal information
● Terms of use
● Choose from kind of (common) use case templates
● The challenge is regarding the information collected (use, storage, gdpr aspects)
● What type of info do we need? Are we gonna keep it? Store it? GDPR issues
● Federated environments
● A script for the user, so that usr knows everything she/he needs to know (notifications, info
required, what is happening with her/his info, feedback channels
● Large Monolithic architecture / Opportunity: Microservices
● Too many small data sets
● Too much abstractions
● Huge API (due to diversity in inputs)
● Depending too much on large service providers (google,...)
● Opportunities: community contribution, making the project a reference
● Exploring new technologies such flutter https://flutter.dev,"https://flutter.dev/"
● Weakness: obscure/not known service
● Opportunities: automatic cross-source relations
● Opportunity: Possibility to include some analytical capabilities based on the data collected

Is there anything missing? (Weaknesses/Opportunities)

● Data quality module

● Big picture of the system Explain along use cases
● I'd need to see the interface for using it in practice for suggestions - usability will be the key
● Where is info stored
● Inclusion of hosting service might be important for some?
● Analytics and crash reporting? I recall that being baked-in with Firebase....
● Make it clear to the user why we are asking for x info and what we plan to do with it
● Ensure that user understands what info is sharing and how it will be used
● Quality assurance procedures
● How is data quality assessed and guarded?
● Good documentation?
● Data collection & how to translate to other languages
● Location-based filters
● How multi language support is planned
● Language flexibility
● Unified user Authentication system
● API Specification model managing all media types, not specific to one project
● Decentralization
● Data sovereignty

How can this service contribute to the quantity and quality of data in Citizen Science
Observatories (Strengths/Opportunities)

● Push notifications to inform user (what is being done with her/his info , eg)

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

● Notify the users that something has happened

● Smartphone users deliver valuable metadata to allow data quality improvements (like
pointing information)
● IT Compliance aspects
● If it enables more functionality for CS to be implemented in practice - and it is interoperable -
that will be brilliant
● GDPR compliance
● Allows to extend the life of CS projects, so it contributes to the quantity of data
● More accessible and thus more used
● User interfaces may facilitate quality assurance
● Quantity: low barrier-of-entry with single-stop app
● Positive feedback loop share data -> motivate
● Increase quality by gamifying the reviews/feedback
● Correlate findings from multiple sources validating conclusions
● Integration with Home Assistant, getting data from camera, weather sensors without any
pain
● Easier to start a CS project (if there are budget/ time constraints)
● Depending of how QA/QC is performed, the service could improve the quality of the data

What could go wrong? (Threats)

● Sustainability
● Availability after project
● Users´expectations. Avoid surprises!
● Will EOSC support with funds for sustaining COs?
● Technology not fit for purpose (ionic)
● Pay for accessing CO APIs
● Non stable CO APIs
● Not being able to inform user properly
● Dependency on API's too high
● Breaking the laws (GDPR)
● Long-term sustainability?
● Not being sustainable (by not complying with the law, eg)
● €€€ to sustain and maintain COs
● EOSC not only does not pay to sustain COs but COs also have to pay for maintaining alive...
So, can this be a threat for COs to survive?
● Bought by an american company
● Updates/patches breaking integrations
● Data loss
● "Unfitness" for concrete use-cases (too general/too complex)
● Interest over time going down
● Data pollution
● Projects not overlapping enough, so no relevant data
● Hack
● Reduced number of engaged people
● Misuse of data
● Data corruption
● Data embargos

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● Covid2021
● Not used
● Personal data shared without authorization/knowledge
● Bad ux
● Too much "work"
● Too complex

Content - Desirability

Functionality

● Sandbox environments
● Integrate alternative/new COs or even arbitrary data sources
● Interfaces to integrate custom functionality
● Interoperability with new COs
● Testing phase
● Notification tools to get notified on particular data events
● Demo applications
● Good practice and how tos
● Export findings
● Gamification
● Demos
● Prototype-website
● Geolocation
● Overlaying data sources
● Tooling to test
● Tooling to deploy
● Language and translation support for comments and data validation
● Multipurpose
● Heterogeneous data sources
● Adaptability

Interface

● Nice user experience

● Privacy statement
● Quick user feedback (measurements)
● Intuitive and simple
● location to report bugs :)
● App: export/share species found in a box
● Join with my community (see what my friends are doing)
● User-friendly
● Earn badges (gamification)
● Configure/limit notification
● Revoke privacy consent
● Aimed towards citizens
● Accessibility testing implemented
● UX
● Automatic and collaborative translation

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

● Back end access on mobile

● Keep the user motivated
● UI that guides the users (for quality assurance)
● Reward is important for motivation
● Make it as easy as possible
● Automatic and collaborative translation

Architecture

● Data storage facility

● Small components that help to ensure data quality
● Comply to standards
● I want to choose the actual host environment of the backend (e.g. I dont want to use google)
● Monorepo
● Monolithic vs Microservices
● Modularize functionalities
● Adaptability to diff. use-cases
● Scalability
● Sustainability
● Assess as project grows

Citizen Science

● User friendly training tools and resources

● Building a community
● Redundancy as a way to ensure quality of data
● Foster participation
● Quality of CS data?
● Smart use of metadata to improve CS data quality (eg pointing information)
● Filter non-sense data
● Feedback loop to improve quality of data
● Redundant set of data (as per design)
● Synergy with species identification
● Bundle and shared data packages which can be referenced
● Realm for all apps of a particular community
● Show probability somehow on the observed data (trust) and offer actions (validation,
comparison, species definition/taxonomies) in case of unpropable observations
● Training
● Learning
● Acknowledgement/ reward
● Privacy
● Community building
● Collaboration
● Engagement tasks
● Events / notifications

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Cos4Bio 2021/03/11
Miro boards:
● Group A: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lSzUIks=/
● Group B: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lQFFJaQ=/

General information of the workshop

Service Cos4Bio
Workshop 01 – Expectations
Date and timing March 11th, 2021
Silvina Frucella (SfC)
Blanca Guasch (SfC)
Facilitators
Santiago M. de la Riva (Bineo)
Marisol Parrilla (Bineo)
General indicators of the workshop

Number of participants (total) 36

Number of participants from
6
the Consortium
Number of internal participants 2
Number of external
28
participants
Number of participants from
10
Academia
Number of participants from
0
Industry
Number of participants from
18
Civil society
Number of participants from
0
Government-Agency
Number of facilitators 4 (not included in the number of participants)
Feedback from the participants

Number of participants that

replied to the post-event 11
survey
Number of participants
(internal or consortium) that
The surveys were anonymous.
replied to the post-event
survey
% of participants in the
30,5%
evaluation
How likely is it that you would
recommend this co-design
8,63
session to a friend or
colleague? (average mark)
- To improve my knowledge of CS potentiality
Why did you decide to attend
- My boss asked me to ;)
this activity?
- Out of curiosity

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- To increase the use of citizen science observatories by citizen

scientists and also have citizen scientists engage in the role of
'expert' identification/notification/comments
- I am member of a Cos4Cloud partner so we are very interested
in developments in Cos4Cloud services
- To have a clearer view on what is cos4cloud and have the
chance to express myself as a citizen and scientist
- Extremely relevant to my work
- I would be very happy to be part of your community and
contribute to your project. I am looking for opportunities to
learn more about Citizen Observatories, and to get engaged in
Citizen Science professionally.
- Interested to assess potentiality of the service
- I wanted to have the opportunity to share my opinion
regarding Cos4Bio and also give a helping hand (if possible) to
the design of the service. I feel that more events like this one
should be carried out to develop a service that is relevant and
useful for the public.
- To learn more about developments in other European
countries

- Novice (1)
Which was your knowledge
- Beginner (3)
about citizen science
- Intermediate (5)
observatories before this
- Advanced (2)
co-design session?
- Expert (0)
- The different background of the participants
- People are very nice!
- The web tools you have used
- The interactive nature - Miro was great once I got the hang of
it!
- Online collaborative brainstorming activity in miro tool
- The interactive tools (miro), and the nice organisation (with a
What did you like the most break ! :) )
about the event? - The clarity (everything was clear)
- It was inclusive (welcoming all levels of expertise), it was
informative, engaging, easy to contribute to, while it was also
relatively short.
- I like MIRO tool to get independent perceptions
- The facilitation and the use of Miro as the central tool to
provoke discussion and obtain feedback about Cos4Bio.
- The wealth of presentations
- More input to conversation
- Have a real physical meeting with coffee and croissants
- Allow more time for the presentation of the new tool and more
comments about the objectives
- Have the other website screens available to view. I struggled to
What can we improve for the
remember what all the pages looked like as I could only access
next time?
the 'Home' page. Also have a descriptor about each section of
the group work to enable people to work quickly and be
targeted
- I think that smaller groups (4-5 people) would be better if it is
possible to have more breakout rooms

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Maybe give more informations ahead about the program and

tools that we will use
- Perhaps adding a timer in Miro for each weal sub-section (not
sure, though)
- There were many links shared during the presentations in the
chat - maybe it would be useful to include some of these links
in one of the communications emails. (I ended up missing the
link for Slack, for example.)
- to have detailed info of the meeting would be ok
- I think the second round of the co-design session did not work,
it was supposed to invite participants to discuss, but there was
only silence and a conversation between the facilitator and the
person representing Cos4Bio. I felt that this person did not
know in advance the dynamics of the session, and that would
have definitely helped the session to run smoothly and avoid
those silent spaces. I missed more discussion among the
participants!
- Nothing to improve

- Much too long (0)

- Too long (0)
Was the co-design session too
- About right (11)
short, too long or about right?
- Too short (0)
- Much too short (0)

Very easy Too difficult

Did you find the 'Miro' tool
easy to use? (average mark) 1 2 3 4 5
Average mark: 2

Very easy Too difficult

Did you find the 'Miro' tool
adequate for this workshop? 1 2 3 4 5
Average mark: 2.36

- Receive a document with the co-design session's outputs (5)

We appreciate your - Read the general outputs of the session on Cos4Cloud's

collaboration to improve blog (2)
citizen science technologies!
Please share with us which - Receive quarterly piece of news with the updates related to
kind of information you would the service's development (5)
like to receive from us:
- Assist to a webinar at the end of the co-design process that
summarizes the outputs of all the process (2)
If you answered 'other', please
tell us what which is the
- Other opportunities to participate in workshops and
information and format that
sessions
you would like to receive from
us:

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Website (1)
- Family and friends (0)
- Work colleague (2)
- Twitter (3)
How did you first hear about - Instagram (0)
the co-design sessions? - LinkedIn (1)
- Facebook (1)
- Email (1)
- Cos4Cloud's team members (2)
- Other: (0)

Age Range 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+

(3) (3) (5)

- Preschool/Kindergarten (0)
- Elementary/Primary School (0)
What is the highest level of
- Middle/Junior High School (0)
education you have
- High/Secondary School (0)
completed?
- College Degree (Bachelor) (0)
- Post-Graduate Degree (Master/PhD) (11)
Self-evaluation from the facilitators

- Good variety of participants’ profiles.

- Good interaction between the participants and the service
What are your main leaders in the breakout rooms.
achievements, reflections, - Most of the service features were understood by participants.
takeaways of this session as a - Good number of participants in the main room, but too many
facilitator? participants in the breakout rooms. Next time perhaps we
should have more breakout rooms so that people could
participate and interact more.
- Better control of the presentations’ length. Both the
introduction to Cos4Cloud and the introduction to the service
were too long.
- Dedicate more time to explaining the Miro tool and the
methodology – there was no time left after the two previous
presentations went too long.
What would you improve? - Have a longer workshop so that participants can interact more
between them. The discussion was probably too short.
- Rethink the second Miro wheel, as it was maybe too broad to
address as a whole.
- 15 min break instead of 10 min.
- We should have more breakout rooms when the audience is
greater than expected.
- The agenda of the session.
- The 1st Miro wheel.
- The idea of having separate discussions in breakout rooms.
What would you keep?
- Miro as the main interactive tool of the workshop.
- Working with design thinking methodologies.
- The variety of participants’ profiles.

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Feedback from the consortium (coordination team and partners)

- Good number of external participants and good interaction

between them, the facilitators and the service leaders.
- Valuable feedback received.
- In general, the workshop and its facilitation was good, but the
Comments previous process of organisation and recruitment of
participants was a bit of a rush and the communication team
went against the clock from the beginning.
- There could have been more coordination with the CoNNect
group to promote the event and recruit participants.
Feedback from the service leader

Are the outputs from the - Bineo considers that the feedback was valuable.
co-design workshop useful for - It is okay that the discussion did not end at the end of the
the improvement of the service session, so that the community can keep discussing on some
itself? important topics asynchronously through Slack.
- Have more time to discuss.
- We think that the second wheel should be managed in another
meeting, because the first wheel requires a deep analysis. So
we think that it could be better to have more time to talk and
What would you improve? comment during the first meeting about the results of the first
wheel or invest more time in the workshop.
- We don't think that it’s necessary to spend more time
explaining how miro works. We think that it’s a very intuitive
tool.
- The detailed presentation of the service, which was very well
understood by the audience.
What would you keep? - We think that it’s very important to spend the necessary time
to explain the service perfectly, to be sure that the people
understand the service correctly before starting the practice.
Content - First Impression

Group A

a.i. How would you use this service?

- Accessing biodiversity data from different observatories

- Provide identification of citizen observations and validate them
- Communicate with citizen scientists about their observations
- Get inspiration for my own CS project tools and standardization
- Download and analyze data collected based on location
- To my personal research
- Could be used in training activities as well
- Provide identifications and/or validations to the different retrieved observation
- Build a community of observers/identifiers
- To make identifications easier
- To comment that would go back to the citizen observatory
- Do quick survey on particular species observations available
- To identify quicker
- To help COs

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- To build communities of observers

- Get recognition for my expertise
- Connect observers through their observations
- Improve the quality of the data collected by citizens
- Manage and improve the data from CS collected in my institution
- As a way to coordinate my efforts contributing to identifying biological observations across
COs
- Integration with my CS project

a.ii. What are the most interesting features (Strengths)

- Access to data for research

- User recognition by visual/pictorial
- Standardisation of (some) data collection
- Comments by experts back to individual observatory
- Validation & identification by experts
- Possibility to access to different COs without being member of each of them
- The ability to feed back to the different COs
- Feedback loop
- Search and automated access
- The ability to collate a number of citizen observatories
- Possibility of integrate data from different observatories
- Only one log-in
- As an expert, I do not have to navigate through different COs
- Capability to make possible that one expert is helping many different COs in data
identification
- It increases the possibility of a more structured, unified database of quality data
- Slick UX
- Language
- My identifications will be seen by multiple COs and users
- Communication possibilities for people using different platforms
- Reusability (by many COs)
- The comment section giving a space for discussing on an observation
- The number of project/platform involved (that is to increase later)
- One place!
- Integration of different observatories

a.iii. Would you change anything (Weaknesses/Opportunities)

- Option to easily invite members

- Informations on the ecology/distribution (obtained from the observations) of observed and
(supposedly) identified species to make sure it fits the data
- An alert service for new things I am interested in
- More complex data structure
- Summarized information/introduction of the different platforms integrated
- Link to AI
- Home page - search by species - a hover help menu explaining what is meant by species
- Access control to experts (how to decide who is an expert?)
- When experts make a comment are they identified?

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Languages
- Possibility of integrate data from some other platforms/apps?
- How many COs can be realistically integrated?
- User friendliness?
- Interoperability?
- Maintenance /sustainability after the end of COS4CLOUD
- Tests for qualify experts
- Advanced search not just a filter

a.iv. Is there anything missing? (Weaknesses/Opportunities)

- Building a deployment guide

- Give feedback to users
- Shared dashboard among different experts?
- Double check to ensure quality?
- How is recognition of citizen scientist input made public and also made to the individual and
the citizen observatory
- Privacy policy for citizen scientist contributors
- Dashboard (interactive and reactive)
- Email notifications for new observations matching chosen fitlers
- Table view
- Clarification about observations (e.g. if cultivated plant observations are valid)
- Data visualization system so the citizen have access to the results of a CS project with precise
research question
- Statistics about your own observations ? (maybe I've missed it)
- Showing collaboration opportunities based on expert interest/ data
- Reputation system?
- Offering automatic summary report options

a.v. How can this service contribute to the quantity and quality of data in Citizen Science
Observatories? (Strengths/Opportunities)

- Have data on participant progress on identifications skills to study the teaching potential of
CS
- Mobile phone app with offline functionality
- Standardized an aggregator data quality checks
- More communication opportunities in citizen science
- One validation serves multiple COs
- Great design and user friendly interface, as simple as possible
- Improve attitude of citizens regarding the subject of the CO
- Understanding the research protocol
- Instigating a higher quality APIs of observatories
- Data field standardization
- More experts to identify
- Increasing the data flow among different experts, possibility to speed up scientific
production
- Experts more willing to contribute, as they can help many with just one identification

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Increase citizen scientist engagement by providing educational tutorials about the structure
-1) that collates their data 2) increased knowledge that a citizen scientist can use multiple
platforms to provide data
- It encourages/motivates experts as well as observers to participate
- Single source of diverse data that can be used to train automatic identification systems
- Provide more experts and a more reliable identification
- It could clarify what qualifies someone to be an expert
- When standardising data are there any citizen scientist or public indicators used? i.e. What it
means for citizens?
- Opens up opportunities for less tech-savvy users
- Increase the volume of data validated by experts
- Have data on participant progress on identifications skills to study the teaching potential of
CS

a. vi. What could go wrong? (Threats)

- Lack of privacy structures - ensuring that citizen scientists consent to their data (of any type)
being collected and shared/used
- Papers written omitting citizen contribution
- Citizens not seeing themselves as 'experts'
- Lack of understanding on how to use the platform effectively
- How are the experts selected? is itself selection or are there some screening/oversight
- Local deployment + forking of the codebase
- By interconnecting so many platforms -> risks of lag/crash ?
- Wrong data citation
- Dissemination of the service
- Interface might not be as friendly as it should
- Lack of support can compromise the project in future years
- Mix of different user names on the different platforms
- Lack of participants
- Not many experts finally engaged
- COs that don't want to integrate
- Lack of clearly defined policies
- Non-experts get too much influence on different platforms
- A 'dependency hell'
- Problems on integrating the information flow in different COs
- Problems to integrate with different COs

Group B

a.i. How would you use this service?

- Research tool
- Research tool and personal use
- Just navigate for curiosity
- Validation improvement
- As a wider learning tool
- Learning
- Research (e.g. at university level -> Bachelor's, Master's thesis)

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Improving surveyors identification skills

- Common data platform for multiple data sources
- If I am a member of any of the observatories to find data uploaded to other observatories
that I am not aware of.
- Improving surveyors identification skills
- To get data for scientific research
- Repository
- look for specimens
- Research and collaborative database - repository
- It would be used like a reference portal to download citizen information from different
observatories
- Identify areas of interest for biodiversity preservation
- A school tool little by little
- Following discussions on identifying species
- Filter data spatially
- Investigate common wrong identifications
- Verify my observation to make by checking ongoing discussions
- Data for research and shared research ventures
- Connecting with other COs and viewing different observations
- Look for valid images of species
- Educational tool
- Contribute with identifications
- Get images about specific species (like frogs)
- Pica pica!
- Upload images about species I don’t know

a.ii. What are the most interesting features (strengths)

- Features to recognize participants for their contributions at different platforms

- Integrating multiple COs
- Discussion on identifications
- Search options
- Explore different opinions on identification (are there repeating patterns?)
- Connectivity
- The integration with the source observatories
- Get a custom database about certain species
- Learn about species I observed in nature
- Interactivity
- Login with Authenix
- Cooperative work
- Access to a lot of data (that is validated by professionals)
- Use a federated authentication system
- Backchanneling identification to origin CO
- Search by latin name using a common taxonomy backbone
- Meta-app
- Accumulation of data
- Download functionality, be able to download the information from different observatories
- I really like map to locate the observation and accreditation observer- motivation

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- A wider data source of validated Observations and IDs

- Standardization of all information

a.iii. Would you change anything (Weaknesses/Opportunities)

- [X] Add more filters

- Did not see the export functionality
- Simplicity
- Multimodality
- UX, navigation through the App could be improved
- Maybe languages equivalent apart from latin identification
- Where is the map (spatial filter)
- Geo filter using a map
- Making it as simple as possible to start a session/login/create user....
- Statistics?
- Check if the same sp. is present in the other platforms
- User engagement
- Temporal & spatial info observation
- As researcher I would like to know how the data was collected and validated (if there is any
difference between observatories)
- Include distribution info sps, eg. from GBIF to improve validation

a.iv. Is there anything missing? (Weaknesses/Opportunities)

- [X] Search by common names

- [X] See people who participate
- A general map where we could see the origin of all the observations. This is a good one! I
agree
- Geographical identification
- Export/share my search
- Konami code
- Adding fields: I would add over what type of soil
- Extent my Profile
- Answer to a particular discussion entry
- Compare taxonomies used by different COs
- Get support on estimate probability
- Relevance to environmental management
- See my contributions and statistics
- Earn badges (gamification)
- Package related observations which have been verified and upload to common data
repository (GBIF) .. to make them referenceable for reproducible science
- Why download data from here and not from GBIF? any doi to follow the data set?
- Could it generate duplication? of information id it is uploaded to gibif by the apps and
researchers?
- More interactivity
- Flow of information
- Locate duplication of information & "clean"
- How complicated is it to integrate other platforms?
- Subscribe to email notifications when someone reviewed / commented my data

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a.v. How can this service contribute to the quantity and quality of data in Citizen Science
Observatories? (Strengths/Opportunities)

- Motivation of citizens to get observations

- Citizens would get a quick and accurate response to their observations
- Offer comparison possibilities
- Data filtering
- Data cross- evaluation
- Offer validity
- Data sharing
- Single entry point to different APIs
- Signposting to learning and resource links
- Add kind of a trust label
- Quality: through experts validation
- Who is an expert?
- Gamification
- Data sharing widens data sources for research
- Generate certificates to citizens, to increase motivation
- Generate more identifications from the experts
- Simplify the task of verifiers
- About quantity, It's the join of all portals, More data for researcher
- Reduce the time during the identification process in the CO

a.vi. What could go wrong? (Threats)

- People pretend to be experts but give erroneous feedback

- Names of species are wrong (common names or synonyms)
- Collaboration opportunities are missed
- Wrong IDs..an expert that makes mistake
- Uneven distribution of data as to be useful for research
- Everything! it happens!
- Aliens invade Earth
- EU collapses
- The engagement with other Citizen Observatories
- There are no people who wants to use the service at all
- No one visits the site
- Misuse to spam CO backend services
- Only most recent data is reviewed because of too high amount of data
- Ransomware attack
- Data duplication
- Incapability of matching same data
- Users want to stay at their origin community
- COs revokes to allow accessing their data
- Not having a core of experts big enough able to contrast data
- Data center catches fire
- Low quality of pictures
- Santiago breaks his leg

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Too much data, too little experts contributing their time

- Process of validating data may be time-consuming

Content - Desirability

Group A

b.i. Interface

- Table view
- Internal review system (experts sign up)
- Filter by identification quality (more or less confirmed by experts)
- Appropriate for low vision users
- User friendly
- With a clear section where find information on how to use it
- More sophisticated filtering
- Light
- Filter by taxonomic criteria higher than sp
- Notifications and alerts
- Filter by species, region, date
- Interface that shows rates of identifications per expert (ranking)
- Interface that has similarities to social media interfaces that everyone is familiar with
- Easy to navigate and understand
- Customizable personal space

b.ii. Citizen Science

- Facilitate inclusive partnerships

- Ensure that data incorporates indicators that matter to citizen scientists . This can be done
via free text options
- Suggest using the terms citizen scientist and non-citizen scientist under the umbrella of
Experts. Citizens are experts in their own experience
- Quality ranking system
- A feedback loop to project manager + statistics
- Possibility to link published articles to observations
- TDWG's standardized data quality checks
- Include schools as much as possible
- Synchronisation with other data quality projects
- Taxonomic verification tag + statistics
- Comm between citizens and experts
- Training opportunities for observers
- Possibility to generate overview on ecosystems per location
- Recognize active citizens (not only experts) and potential promotion to the status of expert
(even with no credentials)
- Internal journaling/publishing options for easily digestible/ distributable content generation
- Possibility to interact in some cases directly with citizens (specific comments ?)
- Possibility to give feedback to citizens
- Possibility to use data also for citizens
- A first step to control for the quality of the picture taken

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Feedback to citizens
- Recognize citizens as CSExperts to reinforce the data collection
- Experts ranking and citizens ranking
- Give feedback to the citizens. A place for citizen to express what they learnt
- Provide a standardize protocol allowing citizen to build their own questions/project
- Community-evaluation of level of expertise

b.iii. Architecture

No answers.

b.iv. Functionality

- Provide 'experts' with a collation of the data they have identified and verified
- A public ist of the papers that have been produced using CO data
- Ability for citizens to have an audio description option of the tile that they 'click' on
- A bar where we can see the experts (photo, credentials, etc)
- AI tag
- Information about day and time the picture was collected
- Understanding the workflow of the scientist task and use those stages to give the expert the
set up and filters and conditions she/he needs
- Remember already downloaded observations
- An expert map
- An expert pipeline side menu
- Have as much environmental information as possible (climate, soil, vegetation...) for a
located observation
- Provide a guidance for how to take proper picture, for example with scale
- General statistics
- Integrate data as meteorological at the date of register one record
- All the observatories logos in the footer
- AI-identification propositions
- Options to announce/ communicate new or ongoing projects - inviting observers based on
their activities / preferences
- Be able to gather all data regarding a specific species and search by species
- Highlight changes in ecosystem information
- Easily accessible and understandable, live statistics /automatic feedback on observations
- Allow but differentiate cultivated plant observations
- Experts should know /filter observations depending on the initial status in de COs (already
validated, controversial, ...)
- Mismatch identification filter

Group B

b.i. Interface

- Filters by environmental variables (litoloty, sol tupe, clmate, soil use)

- Extent my Profile
- Geo filter using a map
- Gamification

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- It's very important but is it really relevant?

- Maybe it is more linked to the COs, not to Cos4Bio
- Ask experts
- share my current search
- [X] See people who participate

b.ii. Citizen Science

- Evaluate users' identifications

- Generate more identifications from the experts
- Create a ranking (0-5 stars) => community trust label
- Enhanced expert profiles - badging
- Collaborations across individuals communities and countries
- Persistently reference observations or observation bundles/packages

b.iii. Architecture

- Add an API to use the service without the UI

- Make it Open Source
- Extend my profile
- Statistics?

b.iv. Functionality

- Subscribe to email notifications when someone reviewed / commented my data

- How to identify the experts
- Subscribe to email notifications when someone reviewed / commented my data
- Show me the probability of my observation
- Temporal & spatial info observation
- Find common species observed in a spatial extent
- [X] Add more filters
- [X] Search by common names
- Reach an agreement with the observatories
- Find similar or even duplicate observations (location and time) over multiple COs
- Educational tool
- Signposting to learning and resource links
- Interactivity
- Simplicity

Mobis #2 2021/04/22
Miro boards:
● Group A: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lICUJoo=/
● Group B: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lICSGoc=/
● Group C: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lICS1Qk=/
(Group C was merged into group B at the second dynamic. Therefore, the results from both
groups are shown together in this document)

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

General information of the workshop

Service MOBIS
Workshop 02 – User Stories
Date and timing April 22th, 2021
Ángela Justamante
Sonia Liñan
Facilitators and co-hosts Karen Soacha
Blanca Guasch
Norbert Schmidt

General indicators of the workshop

Number of participants (total) 26
Number of participants
8
(consortium)
Number of participants
0
(internal)
Number of participants
18
(external)
Number of participants
14
(academia)
Number of participants
7
(industry)
Number of participants (civil
5
society)
Number of participants
0
(government-agency)
Number of facilitators (not
3
quantified as participants)

Feedback from participants

Number of participants that
9
replied to post-event survey
Number of
internal/consortium
0
participants that replied to
post-event survey
% participation of external
participants in post-event 50%
survey
Recommendation of the
8.7
session (average mark)

- Curiosity about how co-design is done.

- Get to know more about Cos4Cloud and MOBIS.
- Knowledge.
- Out of interest for citizen science tools.
Why did you decide to attend
- Prof Salman Raza World Renowned Zoologist.
this activity?
- To learn and connect with others in the field.
- To learn more about the services.
- To support the development of your amazing tool I can't wait
to try.

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- By interest to be introduced to citizen science. The interactive

workshop, as a process of bringing people together was
interesting. I think that this kind of procedure can a priori
intimidate people, as to make it work one needs to be able to
follow some instructions and use tools. The easier the better
for the outcome. The present one was very well operated, so
that I find here the opportunity to say thank you to the team
that managed it.
- Novice (1)
Which was your knowledge
- Beginner (4)
about citizen science
- Intermediate (0)
observatories before this
- Advanced (2)
co-design session?
- Expert (2)
- 2 hours with good interaction and great input.
- Well-organized.
- The process of creating an avatar and building a user story.
- Blanca was a great host and MOBIS was a fun platform and
What did you like the most
having the camera off was a nice change!
about the event?
- Working together in Miro - I really liked the way you designed
and moderated it.
- Very fresh.
- Biological Sciences.
- Interaction among participants in between filling out the Miro
boards.
- Talk through all the MOBIS apps not just focus on the air one
- I was just wondering how the session would go if the
What can we improve for next
participants were sent into rooms based on their
time?
roles/goals/profiles. It's very interesting to get to know other
profiles and their views, though!
- Maybe a video-demo of how to use Miro.
- Innovation.
- About right (6)
Was the co-design session too
- Too short (2)
short, too long or about right?
- Too long (1)
Have you learned useful
information about how to - Yes (8)
apply co-design to citizen - No (1)
science?
If yes, is this information - Yes (7)
valuable to your job? - No (1)
Very easy Too difficult
Did you find the 'Miro' tool
1 2 3 4 5
easy to use?
Average mark: 2

Very easy Too difficult

Did you find the 'Miro' tool
1 2 3 4 5
adequate for this workshop?
Average mark: 1,89

Please share with us which - Receive a document with the co-design session's outputs (7)
kind of information you - Receive quarterly piece of news with the updates related to
would like to receive from us the service's development (2)

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

- Assist to a webinar at the end of the co-design process that

summarizes the outputs of all the process (4)
- Read the general outputs of the session on Cos4Cloud's blog
(1)
If you answered 'other',
please tell us what which is
the information and format - Innovation Research Based Technology
that you would like to receive
from us
- Cos4Cloud's team members (2)
- Email (1)
How did you first hear about - The Blue Research & Innovation Days event (1)
the co-design sessions? - Twitter (1)
- Website (1)
- Work colleague (3)
- 25-34 (2)
Age Range - 35-44 (4)
- 55-64 (3)
What is the highest level of
- Bachelor (3)
education you have
- Master/PhD (6)
completed?
Do you want to subscribe to
our newsletter to be updated
- Leaves name and email (4)
about our upcoming events,
- Answers she/he is already subscribed (1)
activities, and news? If yes,
- Leaves name / intention to subscribe but no email given (2)
please share with us your
- Blank answer (2)
name and email or register
here: https://bit.ly/3dzjDw0

Self-evaluation from facilitators

No. facilitators that replied 3

the facilitators survey

- Differences in level of engagement between groups.

- All kinds of profiles (technical or non technical, people who
had or hadn't used COs, etc.) were comfortable with the
methodology.
- Extracted user stories were too general or were applicable to
other services within Cos4Cloud. Better user stories probably
require more training and deeper knowledge. A list of “no-no”
What are your main examples in user stories could help improve.
achievements, reflections, - The service leader is not necessarily in the dynamics; groups
takeaways of this session as can work without a technical person.
a facilitator? - In our group, the participants weren't active. It was difficult to
encourage them to participate, maybe because they didn't
know citizen science beforehand or because of the language
barrier. We could plan some strategies to make it easier for
them to participate.
- One group was not comfortable or able to talk, but was
actively writing on the Miro board. Probably a language
barrier (reading/writing OK, speaking KO).

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- The first dynamic could be done in less time.

- We could dedicate more time to the second dynamic, so that
participants have enough time to think, write, and then
comment on their contributions. Some of them had doubts
that couldn't be solved because of the lack of time.
- To know the profiles who are attending the session
beforehand to adapt the language we use.
- Someone in my group moved all the sticky notes and we
What would you improve? couldn't place them in the right place, so it was confusing for
the participants to fill the Miro. Hopefully, Blanca helped me.
It could be a good idea to have someone just in charge of the
logistics of Miro.
- Some participants had serious difficulties using Miro, maybe
we should think about having a basic guideline
demonstration at the beginning of the workshop.
- Have a little rehearsal or a series of tips for the facilitators to
smooth the workshops and boost the participation.

- The "information" blocks within the miro board, so that

facilitators have all the information in front of them while
performing the session.
- The information about the service and the infographics within
the Miro board, so that participants can check it while they
build user stories.
What would you keep? - I like the users' stories methodology. I think this way the
activity is more enjoyable! Also, people give their opinions
from their own needs, which I think is valuable to the service
developers.
- Info about the agenda, methodology, etc. to guide the
facilitators during the workshop.
- Info about the service in the Miro board.

Feedback from the internal evaluators

No. internal evaluators

that replied the internal 1
evaluation survey

The experience was friendly and aided in extracting useful

What are your main guidance in designing the different services. The ratio of useful
reflections and takeaways insights vs less valuable data is, IMHO, good enough to confirm
of this session as an
the validity of codesign methodologies as a valuable tool to
internal evaluator from the
Cos4Cloud consortium? fine-tune the backlog without precluding professional
developers from applying their expertise and criteria.

Language barriers from many participants lead to think that

the recruitment process brought some people that were not
What would you improve?
correctly qualified in advance.

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The engagement level of participants can vary greatly between

different groups, and different persons of the same group.
Taking "not fully engaged people" somehow into account in
methodology would be advisable.

Miro is a powerful swiss knife for online workshop

What would you keep? development and is brilliantly leveraged by the methodology
designers.

Feedback from the service leader

Are the outputs from the

co-design workshop useful
Yes, they are. And they are needed.
for the improvement of the
service itself?

The time needed to evaluate, and people need to have the

What would you improve? chance to give comments on their input. The session was too
short and a form of discussion would be very valuable.

I like the format with the icons/avatars, and I am very

What would you keep? interested in someone's interests, citizen scientists seem to
have a broad interest and involvement.

Content - User stories

I want… ...so that…

As a...
I have the need to... ...in purpose of...

We know how research

Citizen To support researchers
process work

Know how this app can be Every student at a university

Geology researcher
used for geology projects can use all the data altogether

Evaluating and identifying

Collect all the places that occur
Geology researcher them as geothermal fields or
geothermal indication
not

Get informed / engaged in

Citizen Help our community
environmental activities

Data may be extracted for

Researcher Install a user friendly app
future researches

Add more functionalities like Having a more complete set of

Researcher
radiation detection tools and datasets all in one

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Monitor coastal ecosystems -

getting data on marine animals
found dead on seashore,
Citizen scientist Be part of broad community
assess water quality, educate a
community on coastal
biodiversity

Get data in ways that can be

Researcher integrated with more standard -
scientific collections

Allowing citizen lead and

Enable users to have a say in
Researcher community-needs based
the development of the project
projects

Communicate with other Building a community based

Citizen scientist
Citizen scientists on interests

Understand the value of my

Citizen scientist Know how my input is helping
participation

Have access to Data, while

Help develop knowledge in
Researcher being sure that the privacy of
various fields
users is secured

Use the platform to educate

Educator Inspire transformative learning
younger pupils

Quickly implement and

Platform that is easy to modify
Project designer disseminate with emergent
for use for different purposes
issues

Video Tutorials on how to use

Student I can use new apps easily
an app

I can learn about

Student Try lots of different apps environmental monitoring and
the apps themselves

Busy person Simple interfaces and actions I can make quick observations

Aesthetically pleasing
Arty person User experience is nice
interfaces

The app to remember me /

Person with many accounts I don’t have to reset passwords
single sign on for multiple apps

Community interactive boards

Find interesting stories for
TV researcher / news boards / important
news / be inspired to use
updates pinned at top

Apps to work without internet I don’t forget to upload myself

Rural person
and automatically upload later (regular reminders to

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observation when I get take observations also good)

internet back

I know I’m not wasting my

time, know what my work is
General user Regular feedback
being used for, motivate me to
keep contributing

To know why the project is Justify time spent on it / make

General user
important you feel good for contributing

Know where my data goes and

how it is protected e.g. location
General user (especially if open source and I feel safe using it
taking observations around
home)

Explanation of extra
equipment, what costos might
Student with low income be involved / do the extra -
sensors need to be posted on
me?

App developer Grab code from the internet Speed up my development

See instant feedback about my

Citizen science app user I can use it as a handy tool
environment

I can see what is going on and

Researcher Have a dashboard
reach out to my users

Test for leaks and privacy The data transmission and

Cybersecurity researcher
issues storage is safe

Sustain community and app The app and its users are
Sponsor
development, hosting available after project finish

Maintain the code in github The service platform gets

Open source community
repositories updates and add-ons

To connect to MOBIS in a well Join the platform with our

Hardware interface developer
defined way hardware/sensor

A visible, well designed app Have a great sustainable

Outreach / scicomm
with possibilities to hook up a starting point for community
coordinator
community building and scicomm

Generate sustainable business My company can grow and I

SME owner by providing (open source) can attract wonderful people
service and hosting that stay

Be sure that all personal data Make sure people own their
Privacy officer
conforms to the GDPR data

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

standards

Knowing how the research

Citizen Support researcher
processes work

Create interfaces/things eg.

Designer So that the love coming back
users like to use

I have the need to get access

Developer to raw data and code of the CS I can use the data flexibly
Apps

I would like to be informed

I can better understand the
Citizen scientist about the progress of the
relationships
project

I want to be sure the apps I

Other researchers can also
use are open source and
- work well with the collected
collecting data considering the
data
FAIR principles

I want to be informed if new I can check out how can I

Citizen
good CS Apps are published support them

Collect environmental data Share it to whoever is

Citizen scientist
easily interested in it

Revisit my own data and Learn from it and oversee the

Citizen scientist
compare it with others’ changes over a period of time

Share my mission with my Encourage eg. my neighbors to

Member of my community
community participate in the same project

Know the different types of

Make informed decisions on
Mobile phone user data I can collect with my
what I want that data for
phone

Make sure that the technology

Designer of a collaborative The participants energy is not
supporting my project is easy
learning experience lost on learning a new tool
to use

They are confident in

Designer of a collaborative Support the community
participating and taking
learning experience throughout the project
actions

Extract and use the data I Use it for improving my natural

Citizen scientist
collect easily and / or social environment

Gain data on both the

Visualize the potential of
ecological
improved human-nature
Designer of a CitSci project importance/eco-services of
relationship in urban areas on
cultivated native plants and
biodiversity
the people-plant interactions

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e.g. habits & emotions (using

synced devices)

Take notes and Keep track of interesting

Citizen scientist
geolocate/timestamp them sightings

Access a timeline of
Understand the evolution of
Citizen scientist contributions made per a given
such area
geographical area

Quickly access a list of apps Better choose and increase my

Citizen scientist that are built on top of the level of contribution to the
service many available initiatives

Report sightings of species

Contribute to the reporting
that are considered
Citizen scientist and containment of such
invader/dangerous in my geo
negative phenomena
area

Filter contributions made by

Extract reliable subsets of data
Researcher citizen scientists by level of
for reports/evidence building
consensus/reliability

I won’t lose an opportunity to

Get easy access to a support
make contributions and/or
Citizen scientist service when a problem arises
lose engagement for any
using the app
technical reason

Report any paper of scientific Give credit and promote the

Researcher work I have made using data use of this apps in the
from the app research community

Set rules for alarms based on Have a surveillance apparatus

Researcher thresholds and trend changes for a given topic I perform
in reported data research in

Researcher Define the parameters I want So I will be able to set up

to measure (by the volunteers) different citizen science
projects

Researcher Obtain rich metadata for each Facilitate data quality

observation procedures

Researcher Be able to define to ensure that the volunteers

measurements protocols are collecting the data in the
(visual guidelines) right way (particularly useful
for relatively complex
protocols)

Researcher Provide feedback to the users Engage them, improve the way
users collect data if we detect
any error

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Researcher Broadcasting messages Notify particular messages to a

broad communities (for
example: let's measure all
tomorrow !)

Researcher Statistics for App use While preventing user's

privacy, it may help to estimate
the time users dedicate to
observations (good for
advanced statistics and
observational effort
estimation)

Biologist and science Very user-friendly apps, which So that I will be able to engage
communicator working in the are available in many more participants, create a big
citizen science field languages and which are community and don't lose this
sustainable in time (they don't community
'die' after some years)

Biologist and science Cutting-edge apps that update So that I will be able to keep
communicator working in the their technological capacities my community engage
citizen science field frequently

Biologist and science Several measurements options So that we enrich citizen

communicator working in the in the same app (air quality, science communities by joining
citizen science field biodiversity). efforts among different
projects.

researcher communicate with the society our project results to become

known

researcher communicate and interact with to use the research results

people

citizen communicate with citizen express my thoughts,

science experts perspectives and expectations

citizen communicate with other to discuss similar problems

people and possible solutions

Citizen ...know how to make the best ... other people can send more
use of the data collected data to have a comprehensive
result

Citizen ... understand in a fast and to make informed decisions

simple way the results

Citizen ... know how my collected data feeling safe when sending to
will be used the app the data related to my
location.

Researcher I want to measure the level of so I can evaluate if the

engagement to an App engagement strategy is being

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

effective or not

Citizen I want to be able to upload a so I don't have to upload the

picture or data when I'm in a data when I arrive home
natural environment without
wifi

Researcher I want to broadcast a message so I can inform them about

to the users events, activities and updates
of the CO/App

Citizen Easy and user friendly App so I can use it with my little
daughter or my
non-technological parents

Naturalists I want to log in one single time so I don't have to remember

and use differents Apps different passwords and log in
several times

As a citizen I want data to be saved even

without internet connection

As a citizen I want to provide me a so that to be user friendly

manual/guidelines, to be user
friendly

Researcher I want to see the associated I can understand the "nature"

information to the data of the data, and their potential
available in the mobile app fitness for use
like: methodological approach,
context of the project

Naturalist I want to connect my Gaining a better

observations of plants with understanding of the
information about their environmental status of the
altitude, particular matter in biodiversity that I like
the location

Citizen I want a nice looking tutorial to Learn to use and take the most
use the app, with short and of the app very fast.
useful information, ideally
some examples

Citizen scientists I want a board where I can see To follow my performance

all my observations from
differents apps, to see
consolidated numbers

Cos4Bio #2 2021/05/18
Miro board used in workshop: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lG2LwQk=/

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General information of the workshop

Service Cos4BIO
Workshop 02 – User Stories
Date and timing May 18th, 2021
Co-design facilitators: Blanca, Alex, Sonia, Ángela.
Facilitators and co hosts Internal evaluators: Janice.
Technical facilitators: Santiago, Marisol.

General indicators of the workshop

Number of participants (total) 9
Number of participants
7
(consortium)
Number of participants
0
(internal)
Number of participants
2
(external)
Number of participants
1
(academia)
Number of participants
1
(industry)
Number of participants (civil
0
society)
Number of participants
0
(government-agency)
Number of facilitators (not
6
quantified as participants)

Feedback from participants

NOTE: Participants showed a low level of engagement and acknowledged juggling between the many
events inside CitSci Virtual’s “bundle”. No attendant did it until the end of the workshop, so no
feedback from participants could be gathered.
Number of participants that
0
replied to post-event survey
Number of
internal/consortium
0
participants that replied to
post-event survey
% participation of external
participants in post-event 0%
survey

Content - User Stories

I want… ...so that…

As a...
I have the need to... ...in purpose of...

Researcher Store searches Quickly access to the results

Community builder Store comment threads and Build community around a

conversations attached to group of researchers/users
searches

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Researcher Get new alerts based on Perform surveillance on a

trends, rules, etc. given zone or type of species

Researcher Have a customised app It is locally relevant and

developed by citizen scientists specific to the goals of the
project

Co-manager To have diverse stakeholder I am collecting as much data as

groups represented possible that may have
relevance to the conservation
problem

Project manager The citizen scientists Everyone has equal access to

participating in our project to contribute information and
find it easy to report local/traditional knowledge is
sightings/findings regardless of effectively included
their access to technology

Wildlife advocate Data collection to be as The welfare of flora and fauna

non-invasive as possible is not compromised simply
because of data collection

Researcher Access biodiversity information I will save time if I can search

without having to search the information from a single
different observatories place

Citizen interested in CS I need you to help me identify Scientists will be able to

the species that I identify species quicker from a
photographed single location

Biologist I need to have all the I save time looking for this
information data from information and organizing it
different CS apps in a
standardised format

Scientific communicator I need to have user-friendly I can engage people to use

citizen science tools’ interfaces them

Data scientist Download all the information Save time

in the same format from a
single point

Citizen I want my observation to have I learn more about biodiversity

more identifications

Expert To have one place in which I I save time during this process
could contribute with the because I don’t have to access
species name of the the different CO’s
observation from different
Citizen Observatories

Expert See the amount of I can demonstrate and use this

identifications that I do during kind of effort/values to the

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

all time in the different CO’s community and also for me CV

Data scientist Use Cos4BIO to download all I could do my studies and

the information that I want analysis
from different CO’s

CS project manager Be able to find experts from My project participants can get
different species groups to information they need more
help with identifying easily
observations from my project
participants

Amateur naturalist Be able to get help from others I learn from others in an online
who may know about the community space
species I am observing

FASTCAT-Cloud and FASTCAT-EDGE 2021/06/30

Miro board used in workshop: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_l83Y2FM=/

General information of the workshop

Service FASTCAT Cloud and FASTCAT EDGE
Workshop 02 – User Stories
Date and timing June 30th, 2021
Ángela Justamante
Karen Soacha
Blanca Guasch
Facilitators and co-hosts
Alex Amo
Frederic Fol Leymarie
Kai Waddington

General indicators of the workshop

Number of participants (total) 20
Number of participants
1
(consortium)
Number of participants
1
(internal)
Number of participants
19
(external)
Number of participants
0
(academia)
Number of participants
1
(industry)
Number of participants (civil
0
society)
Number of participants
0
(government-agency)
Number of facilitators (not
6
quantified as participants)

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Content - User stories

I want… ...so that…

As a...
I have the need to... ...in purpose of...

farmer/conservationist/scientis identify if animals are so that i can take preventative

t diseased/injured measures

As project manager eliminate the blank images to to promote learning and

focus in wildlife image participation e.g behaviour of
animals

As project manager eliminate the blank images to to promote learning and

focus in wildlife image participation e.g behaviour of
animals

Citizen Easily obtain information from I can have a clar idea of which
the pictures obtained animals inhabit near my village

Data analyst Process many thousands of I can support local recording

images and identify which groups and help monitor
contain an animal species populations in the UK

As a camera trap user capability for capturing to know about the diversity
different types of animals
(birds, small or mammals, etc)

as a researcher a better quality image to be able to identify small

(day/night) from the Raspberry animals (ex : ants)
cam trap I am currently
developing

camera trap user to record video but not have to keep a record of species at a
wade through every video to site and collect interesting
identify species video for some visits

as a scientist i need easy access to datasets I can work quickly on research

gathered from traps while the situation evolves

Citizen science manager Relieve the burden of They stay more engaged
classification on participants

Geek Explore hard and software: i can learn something out of

how does it work, and does it curiousity
do it job well

As a cameratrap user (or I want cameras with wider so I will increase the survey
researcher) detection zone effort with the same number
of cameras

Camera Trap User Define privacy zones within the I can point the camera in my
field of vision of the camera garden without compromising
the privacy of my house or my

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neighbour's hosue

Student Cheap products I can afford to use these in uni

research projects

As a researcher spatio-temporal information for monitoring and developing

models

as a developer of a soil citizen a low cost and easily I can built lots of cam trap with
science project reproductible system people involved in my project

conservation project manager get volunteers to maintain assessing population density

cameras and log (and pass on) (formal surveys) and to target
records of species/individuals locations for conservation
of interest (and record action
metadata accurately)

as a non-technical hobbyist capture and upload data easily contribute easily without
feeling discouraged

Citizen science manager Get data classified as rapidly as They have impact as quickly as
possible possible

Sensor developer/integrator Look at how the camera trap i get an idea of how de data is
data flow is organized processed, what standards are
used in order to get maximum
interopability

As a cameratrap user (or I want better quality pictures so I can increase the precision
researcher) when individually identify
animals to apply
capture-recapture methods

Researcher Increase efficiency when I can install camera traps at

identyfing a big amount of many sites simultaneously
camera trapping data

(none) Use images of animals to I can provide a new data

classify them source to calculating models of
species trends throughout the
UK

Camera trap user clear good quality pictures and I can enjoy and share images
video and video

as data manager increase knowledge about ""

distribution an reduce logistic
cost

As a park ranger higher number of good quality for planning conservation

images captured activities and interact with
local communities.

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as a researcher get video sequence once a to help me with species

invertebrate is detected identification (based on the
movment )

conservation project manager get volunteers to pass on so we can go back later view
images collected on their and share images
cameras in a format that
allows images to be filed
bylocation/date/species

as a farmer identify species predatory to so that I know when my crop is

my crop threatened

Citizen science manager Weed out pictures of humans To avoid privacy issues

Curious (citizen ) scientist Explore what animals are living i can hopefully see some wild
in my neighbourhood and the animals that are hardly visible
woods near my house (eg badgers)

As a cameratrap user (or frequent firmware updates to improve camera trap

researcher) performance and avoid
malfunctions

Non-tech literate person Clear, easy to follow I can set up the camera trap
instructions, and access to and use the service on my own
FAQs/tech support

camera trapper identify devices and reduce (none)

stolen devices and survey
efficiency

as a cam trapper a solar power I can let my cam trap several

days on the field

mammal researcher set up long-term monitoring to track population change

using camera traps over time

scientist I must know geographical so that I can take this into

location of images account in research

Camera trapper To access pictures from my See who stole / vandalised the
camera trap without having to trap!
retrieve the SD card

Software developer Contribute to the project using improve the software (if
Github/lab needed at all :)

As a camera trap user (or useful and helpful software to manage camera trap
researcher) pictures. Especially when
working with people from
other countries

Student Species ID with level of I can write up results with

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

certainty provided confidence in accuracy of ID

reduce human effort Citizen science manager People not to throw away
"bycatch"

Because, just because one Maker Make the trap waterproof,

species might not be solar powered and encased
someone's target, the data are with a 3D model (stl)
still useful for biodiversity
recording

I can deploy the trap remotely As a camera trap user (or and App to set camera and
without fear of getting soaked researcher) check memories and batteries
or stolen from home

camera trap user clear guidelines on local laws I can use camera traps legally
for using cameras and data and safely
protection

Researcher Tell how far from the camera Estimate abundance

the subject was

Software developer Look at the possibility to Add all kinds of geolocation

integrate with mobile (eg look and climate/weather/moon
at pictures, but also enrich phase for example
with GPS /other metadata)

Researcher Have multiple species Because people are poor at

classified in a single image or seeing background species if
video there's one in the foreground

Hardware integrator Add common raspberry pi The dataset gets enriched with
modules for enrichment of valuable metadata
data (eg temperature,
humidity, gps)

Researcher Count the number of Calculate frequency of capture

individuals in a camera trap
image

(none) Use bat call data to identify (none)

species of bats

(none) Use acoustic data to find bat Monitor bat populations

calls in audio data

Cos4Env 2021/11/20
Miro board used in workshop: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_ltr61v8=/

General information of the workshop

Service Cos4Env
Workshop 01 – Wheel

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D5.1 Co-Design service platform for citizen observatories Cos4Cloud #836463

Date and timing November 20th, 2021

Ángela Justamante
Blanca Guasch
Facilitators and co-hosts
Alex Amo
Santiago Martinez

General indicators of the workshop

Number of participants (total) 10
Number of participants
2
(internal)
Number of participants
8
(academia)
Number of participants
0
(industry)
Number of participants (civil
0
society)
Number of participants
0
(government-agency)
Number of facilitators (not
4
quantified as participants)

NOTE: Spanish was native language of all attendants. Spanish inputs were allowed. They are
reproduced literally as in the rest of the reports.

Content - Other Citizen Observatory leaders’ feedback

What is your platform / How does it work?

Toma informes de usuarios que perciben el olor

No utiliza sensores externos (solo la nariz)

Observatorio de olores

Plataforma abierta de datos de calidad del aire Movil y fijo

Recoge la percepción del olor del usuario

Los participantes contestan encuestas y toman fotografías

Los datos se validan con ayuda de un especialista con las

fotografías

Gamificación con arrastrar y soltar elementos sobre el paisaje

Monitoreo de calidad del hábitat acuático

Elementos de gamificación y educativo-ambientales

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What types of data does your Citizen Observatory gather?

Intensidad (relacionada con la concentración) Escala del 1 al 6

Siempre: Fecha, hora. Siempre: Alguna o varias de estas variables ambientales:

PM2.5, CO2, Humedad y Temperatura. Opcional: Latitud / Longitud.

Tipo y subtipo- relacionado con el tipo/s de molécula que produce el olor

Tono hedónico (consideración subjetiva del olor, agradable o desagradable) Escala

de -4 a 4

Se recogen los datos móviles que se comparten públicamente por Firebase. Los
fijos usando una pagina web o la API de influxDB

Se recogen por la percepción del usuario

Agua / Presencia de vegetación acuática y calidad Agua / Color Agua / Olor Agua /
Velocidad (cuali)

Hábitat de ribera / Cantidad de vegetación (árboles) Hábitat de ribera / Presencia

de especies invasoras Hábitat de ribera / cantidad y calidad de residuos (basura)
Usos del suelo / Uso predominante Usos del suelo / Presencia y cantidad de
ganado

Variables (todas cualitativas y subjetivas al participante)

Agua/Fosfatos Agua/Nitratos

Hidrología / Fondo del río Hidrología / Pendiente de las márgenes Hidrología /

Alteraciones antrópicas (dragados, etc.)

How is data processed after gathering?

Analisis de las tendencias temporales y distribución espacial

No tenemos validación

Validación con meteorologia/retrotrayectorias

Validación con sensores químicos y narices electronicas

Necesidad de características comunes de protocolos de datos

Los datos se validan con ayuda de un especialista con las fotografías

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Validación en campo por muestreos de especialistas

How is data processed after gathering?

Analisis de las tendencias temporales y distribución espacial

No tenemos validación

Validación con meteorologia/retrotrayectorias

Validación con sensores químicos y narices electronicas

Necesidad de características comunes de protocolos de datos

Los datos se validan con ayuda de un especialista con las fotografías

Validación en campo por muestreos de especialistas

Content - Other Citizen Observatory users’ feedback

What would you use Cos4Env for?

Generar metadatos a los datos, para mejorar el sistema global de datos

Poder determinar las fuentes – detectar zonas donde ubicar sensores. Tener
diferentes capas de información trabajando conjuntamente

Funciones : Que se puedan cruzar datos con capas ambientales como viento

Tener acceso a más datos para investigaciones doctorales

Funciones : Auto calibración de los datos

Para Que ? Para comparar con otros observatorios si mis datos son consistentes

Facilidad de unir informaciones (por ejemplo, olor + contaminación del aire)

Extender la información, poderla usar con mayor facilidad

Tener una documentación/ guía para el usuario de uso del servicio: cómo
funciona, qué significa cada función, cómo se descarga, etc.

Documentacion

Para que ? Para determinar fuentes de contaminacion del aire

Para que ? Empoderar y sensibilizar a los ciudadanos sobre el aire que respiran

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Funciones que se puedan usar datos en formatos diferentes

Un espacio donde se permitiera a los usuarios "crear" análisis. Por ejemplo,

seleccionar 10 observaciones y ver cómo se relacionan, similar a cuando puedes
comparar productos en algunas páginas web

Crear un puente entre agua y olor, pues son dos áreas muy relacionadas – pensar
cómo el servicio podría aportar en esto

Poder descargar en un formato amigable la información

Revisar la calidad de los datos

Comprobar si los datos son fiables

Validación

Controlar comportamientos atípicos – más parte de los observatorios que del

servicio Cos4Env

No tanto validar, sino más bien comentar

Varias opciones de descarga

Es importante el formato en el que se encuentren los datos

Pequeño foro en la propia observación

Poder comentar las mediciones ambientales, para explicar un poco más el

contexto y/o comentar entre expertos

In what way could Cos4Env be related to the Citizen Observatory that you
use?

Comentar las observaciones

Estandarizar tambien las unidades de medida en las observaciones cuantitativas

Registros Históricos

No descartar la posibilidad de enviar datos de vuelta a los observatorios

Exportar los datos a un formato estandar, el que sea

Visualizaciones de datos

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Permitirme acceder a los datos de mi observatorio original SIN entrar en él (solo

desde Cos4Env)

Identificar community champions

What do you think the User Interface of Cos4Env should be like?

Geolocalizacion

Que la información esté en un mapa, no en una base de datos (como primera

visualización al entrar en la plataforma)

Diferentes capas y mapas

Content - Other Citizen Observatory leaders and users together

Information structure that Cos4Env should have (env. Variables)

"eventos extraordinarios" (mortandad de peces, floraciones de algas,

etc.)

Color / Olor del agua

índice calidad del aire

Especificar cómo se está midiendo esta calidad del aire

PM2.5

PM10

Intensidad de olor

Uso del suelo

Contaminantes visibles (aceites, espumas)

Temperatura del aire

Humedad

Dirección del viento

Velocidad del viento

CO2

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Carácter (olor)

Tono hedónico

Cobertura vegetal

Índice de calidad agua

Temperatura del agua

Calidad de la vegetación

Residuos

Interesting potential interactions between Cos4Env and your Citizen

Observatories

Incluir IA y algoritmos

Tener tus datos en Cos4Env te da visibilidad

Divulgación

Tus datos trascienden más

Confianza en los datos y en las aplicaciones/ observatorios

Tener los datos allí puede hacer surgir nuevos proyectos y cooperaciones
internacionales

Construir know-how

Reportar quienes/cuantas personas han descargado datos

Annex VI: Co-Design strategy presentation

Remaining pages of this deliverable are a Co-Design Strategy presentation that has been manually
merged to the original PDF.

84
Cos4Cloud Co-Design Strategy
[01] Experts’ Portal
Developed by Science for Change
Co-Design Principles
Co-Design Principles
Co-design is an approach to creative practice that enables a wide
range of people to make a creative contribution in the formulation
and solution of a problem.

Co-design is often used as an umbrella term for:

● Co-creation
● Open design process
● Participatory design process
● Design thinking process

Co-design reflects a fundamental change in the traditional

designer-client relationship. It goes beyond consultation by building
and deepening equal collaboration between citizens attempting to
resolve a particular challenge.

Source: http://designforeurope.eu/what-co-design
Co-Design Principles
Co-design, or co-creation, is defined as the practice of collaborative
product or service development. INNOVATION DESIGN

It has also been defined as the joint creation of value. It involves the
participation of stakeholders and end-users in the product/service
design and development processes to find a solution that suits their
context. There are four factors always present in a co-creation
workshop:

● Innovation.
● Design.
● Values and social considerations.
● Participation and democratization.

VALUES AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND

CONSIDERATIONS DEMOCRATIZATION
Co-Design Principles
In a co-design process, the users are considered “experts” of their
own experience and their needs and concerns become central to the
design process.
FACILITATOR
In any co-design process, a facilitator is needed. Their role is to
provide ways to communicate, be creative, share insights and test
out new ideas.

A wide range of tools and techniques are available to support the

co-design processes.
DESIGN PROCESS

Source: http://designforeurope.eu/what-co-design
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
Co-Design Principles
There are three terms that help describe a co-design process:
DESIGN THINKING
● DESIGN THINKING: an approach to designing that supports
innovation and intelligent change. It is a human-centered
approach which is driven by creative and analytical thinking,
customer empathy and iterative learning.

● DESIGN PROCESS: a systematic problem-solving strategy,

with criteria and constraints, used to develop many possible
solutions to solve or satisfy human needs or wants and to
DESIGN PROCESS
narrow down the possible solutions to one final choice.

● DESIGN METHODS: procedures and techniques for

designing. There are hundreds of methods that a designer
might use within a design process. Since co-creation was
created, design methods are the tools that designers use to
externalize the design process, to let anyone be a designer.

DESIGN METHODS
Co-Design Principles
UNDERSTAND
So design thinking would be the big umbrella under which a design
or a co-design process can be defined, using design methods and EMPATHIZE DEFINE
techniques.

The design thinking approach is described by a challenge or need

as starting point, a final implementation of the solution, and 5
stages in between:
EXPLORE
● EMPATHIZE (know the context and the users).
● DEFINE (frame the needs/ challenges/ objectives). IDEATE
● IDEATE (think of possible solutions).
● PROTOTYPE (select an idea, prototype, validate, repeat).
● TEST (evaluate the prototype).

The first two stages help understanding the situation, the third one
helps exploring possible solutions, and the last two help MATERIALIZE
materializing the selected solution.
PROTOTYPE TEST
Co-Design Principles
By using co-design methods, we seek to achieve innovation in the
conceptualization and design of the services that will be developed Analysis
within the COS4CLOUD project, while aiming to fulfill the
technological, business-related and human-related interests: TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS
Feasibility & Viability &
Sustainability INNOV- Effectiveness
● Technological interests: feasibility and sustainability. ATION
● Business-related interests: viability and effectiveness.
ity Em
● Human-related interests: usability and desirability. a tiv pa
thy
Cre

Through the use of technology and considering human values we

achieve creativity. With technology and business in mind, we can
perform a detailed analysis. Finally, considering viability and
effectiveness together with human values, we achieve empathy.
These are the three pillars of innovation.
HUMAN VALUES
Usability &
Desirability
Co-Design Principles
We find it crucial to follow the quadruple helix model for stakeholder
engagement in the co-design process – so as to promote dialogue
and a collaborative journey involving key actors including: Local Governments, Public Citizens,
Institutions, Environmental Associations, NGOs,
Authorities CSOs
● Governments and public authorities.
● Citizens, associations, CSOs and NGOs.
● Industries, SMEs, local businesses and clusters.
● Academia, experts and scientists.

The objective is to find a common agenda to walk towards specific

objectives to advance in the process. With this model, the main
protagonists of innovation-generating processes interact for
accelerating the transfer of research and innovation results and
increase growth in society.
Industries, SMEs, Academics, Experts in
Local Businesses, Citizen Science and
Clusters Co-Creation, Scientists
Citizen Science through
Co-Design for Cos4Cloud
Experience and
documentation of
SCIENCE CITIZENS POLICY users’ needs
CITIZEN SCIENCE

Requirements and
HOW? common challenges
faced by COs
OBSERVING QUESTIONING PLANNING ANALYZING COMMUNICATING

Work sessions within

the co-design
community

CONNECTING COLLABORATING CREATING

Service Description:
Biodiversity Experts’ Portal
Service Description
The experts’ portal is an online platform that allows to download
and validate observations from multiple citizen observatories. BIODIVERSITY

The experts’ portal is an online platform that integrates observations

on biodiversity or environmental monitoring from different citizen
observatories that are of interest to the expert community,
potentially an enormous number of observations.

We will first focus on the development of the biodiversity experts’

portal, which will include the data of the following observatories:
iSpot, Artportalen, Natusfera and PlantNet. On a second stage, the
environmental monitoring observatories will be included: Freshwater ENVIRONMENTAL
Watch, Odour Collect, iSPEX, KdUINO and CanAir.io. MONITORING

Keywords: Platform, Citizen Observatories, Identification,

Observations, Environment Variables, Experts, Portal.

Source: https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-multiple-citizen-observatories/
Development & Functioning
The portal will allow citizen-science experts to view and validate all
observations in one place. Once validated, the identified observation EXPERTS VALIDATION
returns to the citizen observatory portal where it was reported.

Additionally, on the expert platform, users will be able to search

observations from all the citizen observatories included, with the
main goal of identifying and downloading them for their research.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based automatic-validation tools, will also CITIZEN

OBSERVATORY
play an important role. This will help the citizen-science experts who
validate the observations on the experts’ portals identify the
observation.

ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Source: https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-multiple-citizen-observatories/
Innovation for COs
Benefits:

● Reduce the time that citizen science experts spend on the REDUCE
identification process and therefore on citizens
observatories.
● Allow users to download observations from one portal
without forgetting that the platform will recognize and notify
each observation’s authority.
● Train much better algorithms than if we have separate
databases with only the partial information of a single citizen DOWNLOAD OPTIMIZE
observatory.

Currently there aren’t any similar services, such as an aggregate

citizen observation system that allows experts to spend less time
searching, identifying and researching

TRAIN
Source: https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-multiple-citizen-observatories/
Service Description:
Other Services to Co-Design
Service Description
The platform for interactive pre-processing camera trap
CAMERA TRAPS
The service will be able to (1) automatically filter out most (if not all)
unwanted pictures from camera traps and (2) propose the species
name.

The idea is to create a Graphical User Interface that allows users to

view the proposed species name. If they accept the suggested
classification from the system, the picture is uploaded to any of the
FILTER TAG
chosen biodiversity citizen observatories (iSpot, Artportalen,
Natusfera, etc.) with the proposed identification name.

ACCEPT & UPLOAD

https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-
multiple-citizen-observatories/
Service Description
Mobile interface for apps
User-friendly
Valuable data Smartphones
The service “Mobile interface for apps” will offer a nice user-friendly interface
interface to get valuable data from smartphone sensors and images.

For example: you can take air-pollution measurements using iSPEX

(a smartphone add-on to ‘see’ aerosols in the sky’) and a ‘normal’
picture of lichens using the same app. This means that this
innovative service will allow citizen scientists to customize their own
Sensor Data User Data
project by collecting and combining all sorts of useful information
from photographs or from low-cost sensors linked to a mobile
website or a native app platform, depending on the needs/wishes of Measurements Images
the scientific and citizen community.

Feedback to the users Analysis by scientists

https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-
multiple-citizen-observatories/
Service Description
Video stream processing service
VIDEO STREAMS
This service will allow automatic pre-processing of video streams
(or regular snapshots) coming from any of the various devices that
might be used in citizen science projects (e.g. mobile phones,
camera-traps, personal drones, etc.).

Similar to the ‘The platform for interactive pre-processing camera

trap service for individual images, but adapted to video streams. It
will (1) automatically filter most (if not all) unwanted images from FILTER TAG OPTIMIZE
video streams with even more importance given to data reduction
than with camera traps and (2) propose the species name.

ACCEPT & UPLOAD

https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-
multiple-citizen-observatories/
Service Description
Data use notification
DATA USE
The ‘data use notification’ service is an innovative system for
data-use tracking and rewards. TRACKING REWARDS

This reward system will be useful not only for participants, but also
for the research institutions involved and other stakeholders, as a
method to evaluate the scientific contributions linked to
citizen-observatory data. So, both individual users and citizen
observatories will be able to see the impact their contribution has on
conservation, scientific knowledge and policy.
INDIVIDUALS INSTITUTIONS

https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from- IMPACT NOTIFY DATA AUTHOR

multiple-citizen-observatories/
Service Description
MECODA data analysis package.
ANALYZE VISUALIZE
MECODA (ModulE for Citizen Observatory Data Analysis) will be a
service available in Python to facilitate analysis and viewing of
citizen science data.
CITIZEN
SCIENCE DATA

Open source Adaptable &

package scalable

Customizable User-friendly
https://cos4cloud-eosc.eu/services/experts-portal-to-download-and-validate-observations-from-
data control access
multiple-citizen-observatories/
Co-Design as a Service for the
Cos4Cloud Partners
Co-Design as a Service
Within the development of the project, we will create a service or
platform to facilitate the planning, documentation, and monitoring of
the co-design process.

INTERACTION CO-CREATION
This service needs to have three main pillars:
CO-DESIGN
● Documentation. A place where the partners of the project AS A SERVICE
can share and store all the documents being developed and
the different versions of the services being developed.
● Interaction. A place where the partners can easily give and
receive feedback, as well as establish dialogues on the
design of the services.
● Co-creation. A place where the co-design community can
perform an online workshop for each service, so that we can DOCUMENTATION
gather their opinions on usability, desirability, and general
improvement of the service.
The Co-Design Platform
The digital tools that we are going to use to perform the co-design
phases are:

● Confluence: for documentation. FOR INTERACTION FOR CO-CREATION

● Slack: for interaction.
● Miro: for co-creation. THE CO-DESIGN
PLATFORM
Through them, we will create a co-design platform for all the
partners of the project.

Science for Change will be the facilitators of the co-creation

sessions (Miro), while anyone will be able to freely use Confluence
and interact in Slack to easily contribute their opinions and
resources. FOR DOCUMENTATION
Workflow & Data Collection

1. 2. 3.

a. Upload a file to be reviewed. b. Set the focus of the feedback needed. d. Perform a co-creation workshop.
c. Receive and apply feedback. e. Share the results of the workshop in Slack.
Workflow & Data Collection: Example

1. 2. 3.

Santiago uploads an improved version of the Santiago shares the Confluence link where the Once Santiago has had some impressions and
service being developed, the biodiversity new version of the service can be found in the feedback from the partners (agile prototyping)
experts’ portal, to be reviewed. Slack channel dedicated to the biodiversity but there is still time to make changes, SfC
experts’ portal (there will be a channel for each performs an online workshop for the co-design
of the 10 services). community (partners included) in Miro, to work
on usability and desirability.
Santiago adds then a short description, as well
as the kind of feedback that he needs, and the 3 to 5 days later, SfC shares the main results of
day by which he needs to receive that feedback. the workshop with the partners (through Slack).

The other partners share their impressions,

opinions, suggestions and thoughts.
(After the co-creation session, any participant
Santiago asks for clarification if needed and can send further feedback via email, so that the
applies the changes. partners share it in Slack)
Workflow & Data Collection: Deliverables

1. 2. 3.

In terms of co-design, Slack is the platform

where all the information from Confluence and
Miro will be conveyed and discussed.

Therefore, it is the platform that SfC will use to

collect all the data needed for developing the
two deliverables related to co-design:

D5.1 Co-designed services for COS4CLOUD

report.

D5.2 Co-design service platform for citizen Miro will also be used to develop one
observatories: methodological guide for scheme for each technique used in the
implementing co-design in citizen co-design process (the methods and
observatories, including a set. techniques are described later in this
document)
A User-Centered Approach
In all the phases of the co-design process, we will consider the When involving users in any design process, we need to bear in
users’ requirements as the basis and starting point, as well as a mind that there will be very specialized users, and very nontechnical
source of possible improvements for the service. Why? ones. Therefore, we have some responsibilities:

● To design for the users and their tasks. ● Reduce unnecessary mental effort by the users.
● To maintain consistency and simplicity by using a natural ● Motivate the users so that they feel valuable.
dialogue with the users. ● Acknowledge any idea as a good idea for co-creation. When
● To receive adequate feedback and therefore implement brainstorming, quantity is better than quality.
adequate solutions. ● Keep the users tuned with future developments of the
● To provide adequate navigation mechanisms and project/product/service, to enhance the community.
consequently maximize usability.

Source: https://www.cognitiveclouds.com/insights/key-principles-of-user-centered-design/
Co-Design Methodology
Co-Design Methodology
The proposed methodology for co-designing the Cos4Cloud services that was defined at the beginning of the project has 7 phases:

These phases can relate to the 5 stages of the design thinking process, encompassed between the launch of a challenge and the
implementation of a solution (see next pages).
CHALLENGE IMPLEMENTATION
UNDERSTAND EXPLORE MATERIALIZE

CHALLENGE EMPATHIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST IMPLEMENTATION

CHALLENGE EMPATHIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST IMPLEMENTATION

For each of these stages, there are common methods and techniques from the field of design that can be used.
Some of them are more analytical while others are more creative, and some help brainstorming and opening to
new possibilities while others help narrow the options to specify a solution. So, each method has a different
purpose and it is important to select the right one for every stage so that we can achieve the proposed objectives.

We have chosen one, two, or up to five methods for every one of the phases that will help us co-design the
biodiversity experts’ portal. These methods are explained in the following pages.
CHALLENGE EMPATHIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST IMPLEMENTATION

1. Surveys 1. Surveys 1. Five Ws and 1. SWOT Analysis 1. Surveys 1. Dialogue

One H Sketchnoting
2. AEIOU 2. Evaluative 2. Six Thinking 2. Desirability
Research 2. Brainstorm Hats Testing
Graphic
3. Stakeholders Organizers 3. Mind Map
Map
4. Image Board

5. User Journey
Map
01 METHOD 1/2. Surveys
CHALLENGE Collection of self-reported information about thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, behaviors, or attitudes.

● This is an efficient tool for collecting a lot of versatile data in a

short time frame, with results that can be analyzed statistically.
● Survey questionnaires can be either self-completed or read to
participants and completed by the researcher.
● Interviews can be conducted in person, by phone, or through
In this first phase we will try to understand the context, challenges various communication technologies.
and issues related to the specific COs being studied, aspects of ● Like any self-reporting, surveys may not accurately reflect true
improvement and growth perspectives, to better understand the thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or behaviors.
● Surveys should therefore be carefully designed and administered
service to be co-designed.
and paired with complementary methods such as observations or
contextual inquiry.
Minimum Viable Ecosystems (MVE) is a basic requirement, so we ● There are various types of questions: closed/open,
will analyze key aspects, such as interoperability, end users’ general/specific, factual, hypothetical, judgmental, and
perspective, open data, participation strategies and access comparative.
mechanisms. ● Questions should avoid leading to an answer or blaming the
participant as wrong or at fault.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
01 METHOD 2/2. AEIOU
CHALLENGE A framework for structuring field observations.

● This can be used to guide any ethnographic or observational

method, corresponding to five interrelated elements:
● Activities are goal-directed sets of actions or the pathways that
people take toward the things they want to accomplish.
● Environments include the context in which activities take place,
including the atmosphere and function of individual and shared
In this first phase we will try to understand the context, challenges spaces.
and issues related to the specific COs being studied, aspects of ● Interactions are the routine and special exchanges between people
improvement and growth perspectives, to better understand the and between people and objects in the environment.
● Objects are the key elements of the environment, sometimes put to
service to be co-designed.
complex or even unintended uses.
● Users are the people whose behaviors, preferences, and needs are
Minimum Viable Ecosystems (MVE) is a basic requirement, so we being observed, including their roles and relationships.
will analyze key aspects, such as interoperability, end users’
perspective, open data, participation strategies and access
mechanisms.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
02 METHOD 1/2. Surveys
EMPATHIZE Collection of self-reported information about thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, behaviors, or attitudes.

● This is an efficient tool for collecting a lot of versatile data in a

short time frame, with results that can be analyzed statistically.
● Survey questionnaires can be either self-completed or read to
participants and completed by the researcher.
● Interviews can be conducted in person, by phone, or through
In this phase, we will analyze which is the platform used within the various communication technologies.
analyzed COs and other existent platforms available. ● Like any self-reporting, surveys may not accurately reflect true
thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or behaviors.
● Surveys should therefore be carefully designed and administered
We will evaluate current TRL status and TRL goal for the service to
and paired with complementary methods such as observations or
be co-designed, and we will also identify the gaps in EOSC contextual inquiry.
constraints (technical, human, political aspects) in order to search ● There are various types of questions: closed/open,
for new opportunities. general/specific, factual, hypothetical, judgmental, and
comparative.
● Questions should avoid leading to an answer or blaming the
participant as wrong or at fault.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
02 METHOD 2/2. Evaluative Research
EMPATHIZE Testing of prototypes, products, or interfaces by users of a system in
design development.

● This gauges human expectations against a designed artifact,

determining whether something is useful, usable, and desirable.
● Testing should collect performance measures such as task speed
and accuracy and preference measures such as aesthetic and
emotional response.
In this phase, we will analyze which is the platform used within the ● Research of existing and competing products may be useful in
analyzed COs and other existent platforms available. early stage design research, to inform new product development.
● Testing may be conducted in a lab setting or by people using
products or prototypes in real-world context.
We will evaluate current TRL status and TRL goal for the service to
● New crowdsourcing opportunities afford online testing by
be co-designed, and we will also identify the gaps in EOSC volunteers to assess how users are engaging with prototype
constraints (technical, human, political aspects) in order to search interface designs and wireframes.
for new opportunities. ● Some forms of evaluation research such as cognitive walkthrough
and heuristic evaluation use expert evaluators to assess products
and interfaces.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
03 METHOD. Stakeholders Map
EMPATHIZE A visual representation of key constituents of a design project.

● Stakeholder maps provide a visual reference point for the design

team, setting the stage for user-centered research and design
development.
● Include people who will benefit from the project, those who hold
power, those who may be adversely affected, and even those who
may sabotage designed outcomes.
At this stage, we will analyze who are the key stakeholders we ● Stakeholders can be identified by general roles (e.g. nurses),
should consider and involve in the co-design strategy, following the specific roles (e.g. chief of surgery), or by actual people (e.g. Linda,
quadruple helix model. We will establish how to address them (their resident physician).
● From an initial sketch or list using whiteboards, cards, or paper, the
motivations, risks, barriers, mitigation strategies, and recruitment)
map evolves into a structure with hierarchy and key relationships
and what incentives/recognition for participating we should use.
between roles or people.
● Stakeholder maps can take on a variety of forms, with a mix of text,
Some questions we should ask in this phase: Are all the quadruple photos, and graphics and use of scale, line, and proximity to
helix stakeholder represented? Is this needed in the specific case? express relationships.
How are they going to be involved and engaged? Are they all
participating in all the phases? Why?

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
04 METHOD 1/2. Five Ws and One H
DEFINE A way to summarize and clarify the purpose of a project.

● The method of the five Ws (or five Ws and one H) is born from the
interrogative pronouns in English “who, what, when, where and
why”, to which normally the sixth pronoun “how” is added, too.
● This methodology serves to ask and answer the most basic
questions in the face of any situation, challenge or problem: who
(or for whom), what, when, where, why and how.
This stage will be dedicated to clarifying the needs from the users’ ● It is used in many disciplines, from journalism to design, and is a
point of view as well as from a technological perspective, well-known formula for responding to all the necessary
considering all the information gathered in previous stages. information about a news story, product or situation using the
minimum of words or instructions.
● Any project, research or product that answers these questions in a
We will specify what has to be done within the development of the simple and direct way will have a good communication and will
service and why, in which context (where and when), by who and for therefore be understood more easily.
who, and how. For this purpose, we will organize the information
gathered in the surveys conducted in the COs and set our goals
according to them.

Source: Hart, G. (1996). “The five W’s: An old tool for the new task of audience analysis”.
Technical Communication, 43(2), 139–145.
04 METHOD 2/2. Brainstorm Gr. Org.
DEFINE Visual structures of new ideas and concepts.

● Brainstorming creates a judgment-free zone to express creative

ideas and explore new concepts.
● Widely accepted rules include “quantity over quality”, “withhold
judgment and criticism”, “build on each other’s ideas”, and
“welcome oddity”.
● Graphic organizers, or visual representations of knowledge, are
This stage will be dedicated to clarifying the needs from the users’ sense-making frameworks that facilitate teams as they brainstorm
point of view as well as from a technological perspective, unconventional alternatives within a domain.
considering all the information gathered in previous stages. ● There are different ways of organizing the knowledge:
● Brainstorming Webs help develop a central concept or question,
identifying its characteristics, supporting facts, and related ideas.
We will specify what has to be done within the development of the ● Tree Diagrams communicate hierarchy, a classification system, or
service and why, in which context (where and when), by who and for relationships between main and supporting ideas.
who, and how. For this purpose, we will organize the information ● Flow Diagrams document a sequence of events, represent the
gathered in the surveys conducted in the COs and set our goals actions or processes of different actors in a system, or show cause
according to them. and effect of interrelated elements.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
05 METHOD 1/5. SWOT Analysis
IDEATE PROTOTYPE A strategic planning technique for assessing a product and finding new
opportunities.

● SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and

Threats, and so a SWOT Analysis is a technique for assessing
these four aspects of a business, product or service.
● Strengths (S) and Weaknesses (W) refer to internal factors, which
are resources and experience readily available (e.g. financial
resources, facilities, equipment, human resources, etc.).
In order to give input to IT developers, two strategies will be
● Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) refer to external factors that may
implemented: (1) We will have a team of users of the experts’ portal influence and affect the product or service, and so it is important to
that will give information about their experiences and needs through note and document them. They are typically things that the
a set of methods combined in an online workshop. (2) During the company or person in charge cannot control (e.g. market trends,
agile methodology process, we will ask some of these experts to economic trends, funding, demographics, relationships with
test and evaluate the successive stages of the developments. partners, political regulations, etc.).
● In a typical SWOT Analysis, these four factors are placed in a grid
and any participant can contribute with any inputs, until the grid
MVE will be the basis of the co-design process: design should be
reflects the reality of the company or product at the moment.
open, interoperable, integrable and accessible.

Source: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html
05 METHOD 2/5. Six Thinking Hats
IDEATE PROTOTYPE A technique for collecting inputs from all the possible perspectives.

● This method for group dynamics uses six hats of different colors
to represent six different ways of thinking.
● Participants should wear the hat in one color (literally or
figuratively) and make any contributions they deem appropriate,
focusing on the color characteristics of the hat they are wearing.
● These are the different colors and their respective characteristics:
In order to give input to IT developers, two strategies will be ● (a) Blue, focused on processes, planning, and organization.
implemented: (1) We will have a team of users of the experts’ portal ● (b) White, focused on facts, objectivity and neutrality.
that will give information about their experiences and needs through ● (c) Red, focused on feelings, intuition, and emotions.
● (d) Green, focused on creativity, innovative ideas, alternatives and
a set of methods combined in an online workshop. (2) During the
possibilities.
agile methodology process, we will ask some of these experts to
● (e) Yellow, focused on benefits, utility and the positive side of
test and evaluate the successive stages of the developments. things.
● (f) Black, focused on caution, difficulties, dangers, and risks.
MVE will be the basis of the co-design process: design should be
open, interoperable, integrable and accessible.

Source: de Bono, E. (1985). “Six Thinking Hats”. Little, Brown and Company.
05 METHOD 3/5. Mind Map
IDEATE PROTOTYPE A visual thinking tool to organize and understand the complexities of a
problem space.

● Mind maps can help generate ideas and develop concepts using
the following steps:
● (1) Identify a themed focus question to draw in the center.
● (2) Label extensions with simple verb-noun pairs or noun clusters.
● (3) Connect primary and secondary connections with lines to
In order to give input to IT developers, two strategies will be create meaning.
implemented: (1) We will have a team of users of the experts’ portal ● (4) Continue free associations until all relevant information is
that will give information about their experiences and needs through represented.
● (5) Before declaring the map complete, reflect for a while.
a set of methods combined in an online workshop. (2) During the
● The map provides a nonlinear means of externalizing the
agile methodology process, we will ask some of these experts to
information in our heads so that we can interpret, consolidate,
test and evaluate the successive stages of the developments. communicate, store, and retrieve it.
● The map allows us to summarize and test assumptions, make and
MVE will be the basis of the co-design process: design should be break connections, and consider alternatives while we shape data
open, interoperable, integrable and accessible. into themes and patterns.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
05 METHOD 4/5. Image Board
IDEATE PROTOTYPE A collage of pictures, illustrations, or brand imagery to visually
communicate aspects of design intent.

● Image boards are used to visually convey an essential description

of design aesthetics, style, audience, or context.
● Images convey the particular styles, colors, products, brand, and
environments associated with the designer’s interpretation of a
given aesthetic.
In order to give input to IT developers, two strategies will be ● A user-based image board portrays a target audience, conveyed
implemented: (1) We will have a team of users of the experts’ portal through their clothing, preferred brands, environments,
that will give information about their experiences and needs through transportation, and social interests.
● An environment-based image board visually shows sample
a set of methods combined in an online workshop. (2) During the
interiors, furniture, lighting, fixtures, and conveys color palettes and
agile methodology process, we will ask some of these experts to
atmospheric tone.
test and evaluate the successive stages of the developments. ● The creation of image boards can serve internally as a consensus
artifact for design teams, representing an agreed-upon version of a
MVE will be the basis of the co-design process: design should be design aesthetic or context.
open, interoperable, integrable and accessible. ● Externally, image boards are powerful tools for communicating
design intent to clients, or clarifying an aesthetic direction.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
05 METHOD 5/5. User Journey Map
IDEATE PROTOTYPE A visualization of human interactions with a multi-channel product or
service.

● The journey map tells a visual story about an individual’s actions,

feelings, perceptions, and mindset as they interact with a product
or service.
● It should be an honest representation of an experience, including
moments of indecision, confusion, frustration, delight, and closure.
In order to give input to IT developers, two strategies will be ● The journey map allows each moment of an interactive experience
implemented: (1) We will have a team of users of the experts’ portal to be evaluated and improved by design.
that will give information about their experiences and needs through ● Multiple maps are usually created alongside personas and
scenarios, each heavily informed by direct contact with customers
a set of methods combined in an online workshop. (2) During the
who use the product or service.
agile methodology process, we will ask some of these experts to
● The journey map can shift an organization’s focus from an
test and evaluate the successive stages of the developments. operational, system-centered view to the larger, real-world context
in which products and services are used.
MVE will be the basis of the co-design process: design should be ● The map should be a living document, with reviews by the design
open, interoperable, integrable and accessible. team offering questions, ideas, and suggested improvements.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
06 METHOD 1/2. Surveys
TEST Collection of self-reported information about thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, behaviors, or attitudes.

● This is an efficient tool for collecting a lot of versatile data in a

short time frame, with results that can be analyzed statistically.
● Survey questionnaires can be either self-completed or read to
participants and completed by the researcher.
● Interviews can be conducted in person, by phone, or through
In this phase, the co-designed service will be in place, offered to various communication technologies.
users and open to feedback. This feedback will be collected so that ● Like any self-reporting, surveys may not accurately reflect true
the IT developers can make improvements if necessary. thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or behaviors.
● Surveys should therefore be carefully designed and administered
and paired with complementary methods such as observations or
Both the functionality and the desirability will be tested, considering contextual inquiry.
aspects such as quality, usability, appearance, ease of use, ● There are various types of questions: closed/open,
motivation and speed. general/specific, factual, hypothetical, judgmental, and
comparative.
We will also test EOSC constraints and register the service in the ● Questions should avoid leading to an answer or blaming the
EOSC portal to see if there are any problems. participant as wrong or at fault.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
06 METHOD 2/2. Desirability Testing
TEST Gauging first-impression emotional responses to product and service
designs.

● This explores the affective response that different designs elicit

from people based on first impressions.
● Using index cards with positive, neutral, and negative adjectives
written on them, participants pick those that describe how they feel
about a design or prototype.
In this phase, the co-designed service will be in place, offered to ● It can focus attention on responses from end users, instead of on
users and open to feedback. This feedback will be collected so that personal opinions that often leave teams at an impasse.
the IT developers can make improvements if necessary. ● When the process is applied repeatedly, the team can begin to
compare and cluster the words that are most frequently chosen
and visualize the results.
Both the functionality and the desirability will be tested, considering ● The method helps focus the design team efforts on shaping the
aspects such as quality, usability, appearance, ease of use, exact emotional response they want people to have while using
motivation and speed. their products.
● It can be conducted using low-fidelity prototypes or on products
We will also test EOSC constraints and register the service in the already in the public domain as a baseline before the team
EOSC portal to see if there are any problems. embarks on a redesign.

Source: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2018). “The Pocket Universal Methods of Design”. Rockport.
07 METHOD. Dialogue Sketchnoting
IMPLEMENTATION A visual technique for organizing ideas creatively.

● Sketchnoting is a way of taking notes in a visual format that

facilitates organizing concepts and extracting the most relevant
information.
● It allows transforming any type of information in any format
(videos, texts, lectures, conferences, etc.) into a graphic
representation which combines text and images/icons in one only
Once the final service is designed and launched, we will discuss the page or workspace.
outcomes, gather the lessons learnt and list the conclusions of the ● In this case, we are going to work on a partners’ dialogue as the
experience of co-designing. basis to create this organized map of relevant concepts, outcomes,
lessons learnt and conclusions.
● After a dialogue session, the visual result is shared with all the
partners involved.

Source: Akoun, A., Boukobza, P., & Pailleau, I. (2017). “Travailler avec le sketchnoting. Comment
gagner en efficacité et en sérénité grâce à la pensée visuelle”. Groupe Eyrolles.
Who does what?
CHALLENGE EMPATHIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST IMPLEMENTATION

1. Surveys 1. Surveys 1. Five Ws and 1. SWOT Analysis 1. Surveys 1. Dialogue

One H Sketchnoting
2. AEIOU 2. Evaluative 2. Six Thinking 2. Desirability
Research 2. Brainstorm Hats Testing
Graphic
3. Stakeholders Organizers 3. Mind Map
Map
4. Image Board

5. User Journey
Map
CHALLENGE EMPATHIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST IMPLEMENTATION

1. Surveys 1. Surveys 1. Five Ws and 1. SWOT Analysis 1. Surveys 1. Dialogue

One H Sketchnoting
2. AEIOU 2. Evaluative 2. Six Thinking 2. Desirability
Research 2. Brainstorm Hats Testing
Graphic
3. Stakeholders Organizers 3. Mind Map
Map CSIC, Bineo & SfC
4. Image Board (to do)

CSIC, Bineo & SfC 5. User Journey

(done/ongoing) Map

Co-creation workshop
(Miro)
What needs to be done now:

● Create and share the Stakeholders Map.

CHALLENGE EMPATHIZE DEFINE ● Design a digital flyer for engagement so that all the partners of
the project can attract participants for the co-design community
(engagement methodology with Janice).

● Organize all the information that we have (using the techniques

1. Surveys 1. Surveys 1. Five Ws and
described in the scheme) to make it useful.
One H
2. AEIOU 2. Evaluative ● Extract the information on the surveys performed with the Citizen
Research 2. Brainstorm Observatories and use it.
Graphic
Organizers ● Create the co-design platform (access to Slack and Miro) and
3. Stakeholders
start using it to implement the new co-design workflow of the
Map
Cos4Cloud partners.

● Gather more feedback in the following experts’ meetings so that

CSIC, Bineo & SfC Bineo can keep making progress on the service development.
(done/ongoing)
Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Annex IV: D6.5 Intermediate deliverable: Design and

evaluation of school-based citizen science activities

164
Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the EOS-
Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

Deliverable 6.5 - Design and evaluation of

school-based citizen science activities
Interim report
27 January 2022

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos,
etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open. X

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant

Agreement

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R0.1 1-12-2021 Outline of the D6.5 interim report Maria Daskolia (NKUA)

R0.2 29-12-2021 Contributions from NKUA team Maria Daskolia, Evi Kakaroucha,
Naya Grillia, Dimitris Gkotzos,
Anna Trigatzi, Matrona Pappa,
Zacharenia Daskalaki (NKUA)

R1.0 15-1-2022 Co-authoring of first draft version Maria Daskolia, Evi Kakaroucha,
Naya Grillia, Dimitris Gkotzos,
Anna Trigatzi, Matrona Pappa,

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

Zacharenia Daskalaki (NKUA)

R1.1 16-1-2022 Submission of first draft report for Maria Daskolia (NKUA)
internal (NKUA) review and
revision

R2.0 27-1-2022 Revised report submitted for Maria Daskolia (NKUA)

internal project review and
approval

Final review of draft report and

internal approval

Final submitted interim report

Authors:

NKUA: Maria Daskolia (lead author), Evi Kakaroucha, Naya Grillia, Dimitris Gkotzos, Anna
Trigatzi, Matrona Pappa, Zacharenia Daskalaki

Citation
This document is in an internal deliverable. It should not be cited in public reports. For internal
documents this report can be cited as:

Daskolia, M., Kakaroucha, E., Grillia, N., Gkotzos, D., Trigatzi, A., Pappa, M., Daskalaki, Z.
(2020). Deliverable 6.5 - Interim Report: Design and Evaluation of School-based Citizen
Science Activities. Project funded by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020
Programme GA #863463. Available in: http://www.Cos4Cloud-eosc.eu/

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

Executive Summary
This is the interim report of Deliverable 6.5 “Design and Evaluation of School-based Citizen
Science Activities”, the final version of which is formally due on M36. D6.5 reports on work
conducted within Work Package 6 (WP6) and more specifically under Sub-Task 6.4.2 (Set-up
and evaluation of innovative school-based citizen-science activities). The NKUA team who
is responsible for authoring and submitting D6.5 is also the leading partner in Sub-Task 6.4.2.
D6.5 reports on the work being carried out under Sub-Task 6.4.2. This work involves a set of
interrelated and mutually contributing actions that have been conceived to form the strategy
(general design model) for facilitating, supporting, implementing and evaluating school-based
citizen science activities and projects that make use of the Cos4Cloud CO platforms. These
actions, which are aligned to the Cos4Cloud project‟s goals to support the widening of current
citizen science practice through the engagement of new target audiences, school
population in particular, build on the following:
 the design, organization and implementation of an online training course for Greek
teachers and key educational stakeholders involved in or coordinating the school
practice of Environmental Education/ Education for Sustainability (EE/ESD)
 the creation of an educational network of primary and secondary schools/ teachers/
educational stakeholders, not only eager to participate in co-design activities for the
Cos4Cloud technologies and new services, but also willing and competent to support the
integration of citizen science into the regular school practice and the engagement of
school students and communities
 the development of a set of educational scenarios, i.e. educational designs for
implementing citizen science activities and projects in schools that make use of selected
Cos4Cloud CO platforms
 the coordination and implementation of a range of case studies of educational
activities and projects in primary and secondary schools with the collaboration of
school teachers and other educational stakeholders,
 the evaluation of the school case studies in terms of their learning potential and
educational impact in cultivating an environmentally and scientifically literate and active
citizenry based on the analysis of qualitative data
 the compilation of the evaluation findings into a meaningful evidence-based input for
European and national policy-makers about a new citizen science paradigm aligned to
the EOSC idea and implementation.
In the current interim version of D6.5 we report on the work carried out from M4 to M26 we
regards to the design, coordination and implementation of the actions mentioned above.

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

Index
Executive summary 3
1. INTRODUCTION 6
1.1. Outline of Sub-Task 6.4.2 and Deliverable 6.5 6
1.2. Citizen science and education as two parameters of open science 8
1.3. Citizen science and education: affinities, opportunities and challenges 9
1.4. Developing synergies between environmental education, science education 11
and citizen science
1.5. The Cos4Cloud project‟s proposed model of integrating citizen science in 12
school-based education
2. THE ONLINE TRAINING COURSE 14
2.1. Introduction 14
2.2. The online training course in brief 15
2.3. Design, organization and development of the online training course 15
2.4. Participants 16
2.5. Methodology of the online training course 17
2.6. Expected learning outcomes 19
2.7. The online course‟s training materials 20
2.8. Support and facilitation of the co-design process 22
2.9. Online course evaluation methodology 23
2.10. Examples of evaluation tools used and their results 25
2.11. Overall appraisal of the online training course 30
3. THE SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL NETWORK 32
3.1. Introduction 32
3.2. Establishment of the first educational network 32
3.3. Communication activities to open up the educational network 33
3.4. Towards a nationwide educational network 34
4. EDUCATIONAL SCENARIOS 36
4.1. Introduction 36
4.2. Methodology for the co-design of educational scenarios 36

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

4.2.1. The educational scenario template 37

4.2.2. The educational activity template 37
4.2.3. The criteria for the selection of the citizen observatories 38
4.2.4. The co-design process of the educational scenarios and activities 39
4.3. The six educational scenarios 39
4.4. The evaluation of the six educational scenarios 42
4.5. Synthesis and a reflective comment on the six scenarios 46
5. IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF SCHOOL-BASED CITIZEN SCIENCE 47
EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
5.1. Introduction 47
5.2. Case study methodology for reporting and evaluating the case studies 47
5.3. Qualitative data collection on the case studies 48
5.4. Report and evaluation of the 5 case studies based on the teachers‟ narrative 49
accounts
REFERENCES 75

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Outline of Sub-Task 6.4.2 and Deliverable 6.5

This is the intermediate version of Deliverable 6.5 “Design and Evaluation of School-based
Citizen Science Activities”, the final version of which is formally due on M36. D6.5 reports on
work conducted within Work Package 6 (WP6) and more specifically under Sub-Task 6.4.2
(Set-up and evaluation of innovative school-based citizen-science activities). The NKUA
who is responsible for authoring and submitting D6.5 is also the leading partner in Sub-Task
6.4.2.
WP6 (Networking, Training and Capacity Building) aims (a) to ensure that the Cos4Cloud
project‟s model addresses and fulfils the needs of different target populations and stakeholders;
and (b) to facilitate, support and document engagement with and for the project‟s citizen
observatories based on the co-design and implementation of new tools, services and initiatives
that advance networking, knowledge exchange, capacity building, training, and education. The
ambition is that all these new tools and initiatives become components of an integrated
approach to citizen science across the network of the Cos4Cloud project‟s citizen observatories
that scales up across Europe. Moreover, insights and evidence-based input to be developed
from the implementation of these actions will be highlighted as best practice and proposed as
useful background knowledge for European and national policy-makerswithin the EOSC Hub
and across Europe.
Overall work under WP6 (coordinated by the OU) is carried out through a range of integrated
tasks and subtasks, with mainly OU, CSIC and the NKUA leading on their delivery and/or
contributing to them. The current report (D6.5 “Design and Evaluation of School-based Citizen
Science Activities”) informs about work conducted under 6.4.2, which is a subtask of Task 6.4
(Evaluation of citizen engagement, educational learning methodologies and citizen-
science impact). Task 6.4 aims to build a framework for monitoring and evaluating citizens and
stakeholders‟ engagement in activities, the impact on citizens and communities engaged in such
activities, as well as learning through citizen science, in both formal and informal contexts.
Within Task 6.4 citizens‟ engagement methodologies will be proposed and evaluated with
regards to their impact on the community. New partnerships, with school communities in
particular, will be set up and evaluated as to their learning potential, by making use of both
quantitative metrics but mostly soft evaluation data to assess the effectiveness of the adopted
engagement strategies in enhancing citizen participation. The outputs from the evaluation will
inform the final model for long term, large-scale engagement in citizen science by the
Cos4Cloud project as part of the EOSC Hub.
Sub Task 6.4.2 (Set-up and evaluation of innovative school-based citizen-science
activities) is led by and delivered by NKUA with contributions from OU, CSIC, and other
partners). It is premised on the idea that citizen science creates a nexus between science,
public participation and education, which, when coupled with digital technologies, can widen the
opportunities for and impact on research, the citizens‟ active involvement and learning to open
science and education. In particular, we claim that environmental community-based citizen

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

science monitoring which makes use of the citizen observatories technologies, tools and
services as integrated to the EOSC Hub based on the proposed Cos4Cloud project‟s model,
can facilitate and contribute to scientific knowledge transfer from citizen science organisations
and stakeholders to European school populations, and vice versa. It can also support innovative
and integrative teaching and learning approaches and outcomes in the school communities and
other formal education contexts towards sustainability.
Work as outlined in the project‟s Grant Agreement to be conducted under Sub Task 6.4.2 is
specified in relation to a range of actions to be led and coordinated by the NKUA, including: “to
set up a network of (a) primary and secondary schools and (b) teachers and other educational
stakeholders, on a European level, to test the COS4CLOUD project‟s objectives and services
and how they can support the widening of current citizen science practice and the
democratisation of procedures through the engagement of new target audiences, school
population in particular. A range of school-based CS designs making use of the CO platforms
will be implemented and evaluated with the collaboration of local partners. Training seminars
will be organised, educational material will be developed and online support will be provided to
all those involved in the implementation of the activities (students, teachers and other
educational stakeholders). Finally, all activities will be evaluated to provide evidence-based
input to European and national policy-makers about their learning potential and educational
impact in cultivating an environmentally and scientifically literate and active citizenry. To this
end, evaluation will be based on the collection and analysis of qualitative data and the in-depth
examination of specific case-studies so that rich and meaningful evidence is available to inform
a new citizen science paradigm better aligned to the EOSC idea and implementation.” (p. 37).
Following the rationale and specifications for Sub Task 6.4.2 and in line with the general
objectives and ambitions as set out for WP6, Task 6.4 in particular, the NKUA proceeded with
the development of a general design model and an implementation approach, which are
reported under D6.5 (Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities)
(“This report will present the general design model and the implementation approach of the
school based CS activities”, Project‟s Grant Agreement, p. 38). In more detail, the NKUA
developed a strategy (general design model) for and an approach to facilitate, support,
implement and evaluate school-based citizen science activities that make use of individual
citizen observatories participating in the Cos4Cloud project. This strategy and approach
comprise a range of integrated actions, which are aligned to the Cos4Cloud project‟s goals to
widen current citizen science practice to European school communities and foster the students‟
learning and general educational impact of citizen science in line with the Cos4Cloud project‟s
model. These actions, which were conceived as interrelated and mutually contributing, build
on the following:
 the design, organization and implementation of an online training course for Greek
teachers and key educational stakeholders who are directly involved in supporting the
school practice of Environmental Education/ Education for Sustainability (EE/ESD);
 the creation of an educational network of primary and secondary schools/ teachers/
educational stakeholders, who will not be only eager to participate in co-design activities
for testing the Cos4Cloud technologies and new services, but also willing to support the

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integration of citizen science activities into regular school practice and the engagement
of school students and communities;
 the development of a set of educational scenarios, i.e., educational designs for
implementing citizen science activities and projects in schools, which make use of the
technologies and tools of selected citizen observatories (CO) participating in the
Cos4Cloud project;
 the coordination and implementation of a range of case studies of educational
projects and activities in primary and secondary schools with the collaboration of
school teachers and other educational stakeholders;
 the evaluation of the school case studies in terms of their learning potential and
educational impact in cultivating an environmentally and scientifically literate and active
citizenry based on the analysis of qualitative data;
 the compilation of the evaluation findings into a meaningful evidence-based input for
European and national policy-makers and in order to a new citizen science paradigm
better aligned to the EOSC idea and implementation.
The main work in relation to all the above mentioned actions in Sub Task 6.4.2 is led and
carried out by the NKUA with the contribution and cooperation of OU, CSIC, INRIA, Science for
Change, CanAir.io and all partners.

1.2. Citizen science and education as two parameters of open science

In the Recommendation on the Open Science signed by the UNESCO on the 23 November
2021, the United Nations Assembly recognizes the urgency of addressing complex and
interconnected socio-environmental challenges, including loss of biodiversity, climate change,
natural resource depletion and land degradation. It also acknowledges that science, technology
and innovation (STI) can respond to these challenges by providing solutions to improve human
well-being and environmental sustainability. Open Science defined as an array of favourable
conditions, infrastructures and practices aiming to make scientific knowledge publicly available,
accessible and reusable for all people; to reinforce the sharing of information for the benefit of
both science and society; and to open the processes of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation
and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community, offers
considerable potential for building progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and more resilient communities and economies.
Open science can be enabled in many fields and enhanced through many ways. Two of them,
citizen science and education, are integral to the very idea of open science and contribute to
its practice. Citizen science shares a lot of common ideas and principles with open science. As
adequately stated by Smallman (2018), citizen science is both an aim and an enabler of open
science. Open science‟s approaches are at the roots of current citizen science‟s practices while
they inspire many of its ongoing and future concerns and developments (ECSA Working Group
on citizen science and open science). Likewise, citizen science is considered an important
aspect in the conceptualisation of open science in terms of how research opens up to more
contributors along the sequence of stages and procedures, and how science relates to wider

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societal goals. As stated by Hecker, Haklay, Bowser, Makush and Vogel (2018), citizen science
contributes to open science by engaging citizens in research and opening the process of
creating new knowledge through participation. In turn, this leads to greater understanding of
science by open information and communication and can stimulate active participation in policy-
making. It is obvious that citizen science is not only in line with the principles of open science,
but can be greatly enhanced by open science‟s practices. Therefore, citizen science
organisations and practitioners should be encouraged to adhere to open science principles and
practices. This is why EU policy (European Commission, 2016) that strongly supports open
science practices highlights citizen science as one of the 8 central ambitions in the EU‟s Agenda
for Open Science (European Commission, 2019).
Opening scientific research procedures and sharing scientific knowledge to the wider public are
just two parameters of open science which are closely linked to education. Education and
training are important steps to establish awareness and familiarization with open science
practices not only among traditional and amateur (citizen) scientists but also for students across
all educational levels (Schönbrodt, 2019). The same applies to the availability of appropriate
teaching and learning materials (i.e., handbooks and online educational resources), to expand
open science skills not only among researchers but also beyond them to various educational
stakeholders (Mendez et al., 2020). Open science can also contribute to and enhance many
aspects of teaching and learning, such as by promoting open education processes, making both
data and publications openly accessible (Ross-Hellauer, 2017), or through open educational
resources (Anderson, 2013). Many educational policy-makers as well as lecturers and teachers
have already endorsed open education and open science processes in their regular courses,
including open content, open teaching and learning and open educational resources (Mendez,
et al., 2020). Moreover, there is growing evidence of efforts to integrate open science into
educational scenarios for students in higher education (Garde-Hansen & Calvert, 2016),
although practices such as these are still very limited (Bossu & Heck, 2020) and certainly not so
much applied to school education audiences.

1.3. Citizen science and education: affinities, opportunities and

challenges
Citizen science and education are highlighted by the European Commission‟s “Science with and
for Society” work programme (European Commission, 2017) as areas that share many affinities
and interconnections and which need to be further explored along with open science and public
engagement to the benefit of European societies. In particular, education meets citizen
science at many points of intersection. Education is among the public policy issues, along
with environmental protection, health and innovation that are promoted by many citizen science
projects. It is also one of the sectors that benefit the most from the knowledge generated by
citizen science. Moreover, education is highlighted as an important mechanism to be used to
ensure that citizen science receives publicity in a wider context and expands beyond the
individual volunteers already motivated and existing projects (Roche et al., 2020).

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On the other hand, citizen science serves various educational goals in addition to purely
scientific purposes (Kieslinger et al., 2018). All those involved in some kind of citizen science
activity contribute to important scientific processes, such as the collection and analysis of
information, while also engaging in some kind of learning process that has to do not only with
the acquisition of the content knowledge and skills necessary for citizen science per se, but also
with the development of scientific literacy. This is related to a deeper understanding of scientific
concepts and processes (Brossard et al., 2005; Jordan et al., 2011; Saunders et al., 2018),
which is why citizen science is very often linked to science education and science learning
(European Commission 2016; Bonney et al., 2016).
However, there are many more learning outcomes and educational impacts for those
involved in citizen science projects and initiatives (Roche et al., 2020), related to different
types of literacies and competencies, which renders the integration of citizen science in
education a central point of interest for educational research and evaluation. Among other
scholars, Edwards et al. (2018) argue that the benefits of participating in citizen science go
beyond improving scientific and topical knowledge and developing knowledge about scientific
inquiry to include the development of a range of competencies and skills, such as critical
thinking and environmental citizenship Children‟s participation in citizen science activities
appears to be positively correlated with improved understanding of science and/or commitment
safeguarding nature and the environment (Makuch & Aczel, 2018). Fostering stewardship and
empowerment as much as science literacy adds a more societal perspective to the learning
potential and educational impact of citizen science to raise a range of „literacies‟ and
„competences‟ in the context of engaging people with science-related activities and science-
related outcomes, including learning (Edwards et al., 2018).
All the aforementioned provide substantial evidence for the need to further explore and
strengthen the synergies between citizen science and formal education and learning
(Roche et al., 2020). How can citizen science as a concept and practice be integrated into the
curricula of formal educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities? How can
such integration overcome various barriers and constraints and create learning spaces for a
fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship? How can students be motivated to participate in
school-based citizen science activities and how can their engagement be sustained as a
continuation of that participation? What is the learning potential and broader educational impact
generated from different models of integrating and implementing citizen science in formal
education procedures and settings? Can citizen science enhance learning at different ages and
educational stages? And, how should the opportunities offered through primary, secondary and
higher education as well as through teacher training be used to reinforce the citizens‟
knowledge and participation in science?
These are some of the questions raised, which argue for the need for more experimentation and
better evaluation of different models of integrating citizen science in different educational
contexts and situations. The role of teachers and other educational stakeholders, as key
mediators between citizen science and school practice (Weinstein, 2012) also needs to be
addressed and supported through networking, the development of appropriate background
materials and educational and training resources, and the sharing of successful stories

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and methodologies (Bonney et al., 2009; Bonney et al., 2014). In the Cos4Cloud project we
argue that the outcomes of such efforts will help address the challenges and strengthen the
opportunities to integrate citizen science into formal education (Harlin et al., 2018) for the benefit
of the students‟ learning, the empowerment of the school communities, and the advancement of
scientific research and the sustainability of local environments.

1.4. Developing synergies between environmental education, science

education and citizen science
Current environmental issues, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental
pollution, are placing a significant burden on life and quality of life on a global scale, by affecting
human and ecosystem health and activity and by undermining the function and cohesion of local
communities. As a response to this urgent call, education draws on existing practices, develops
synergies and search for new opportunities to engage people with learning about and for
dealing with these issues commonly referred to as „sustainability challenges‟.
Environmental Education (EE) and Science Education (SE) are two educational areas that
both seek to construct and facilitate people‟s engagement in learning about these issues, albeit
each from a different perspective. SE focuses primarily on teaching fundamental scientific
concepts and content knowledge and skills that enable people to observe and understand
phenomena (Wals et al., 2014). On the other hand EE, without downgrading the acquisition of
scientific knowledge and skills, emphasizes the cultivation of values and competences that feed
processes of individual and collective inquiry and the active and critical construction of
knowledge as prerequisites to democratic participation for more sustainable futures (Jensen &
Schnack, 1997; Breiting & Mogensen, 1999). Thus, for example, SE may focus on teaching
fundamental scientific concepts and skills in relation to, e.g., how to measure water quality and
understand the technologies that can reduce pollution, while EE is primarily interested in helping
students to identify and analyze the overall conditions and human practices in particular that
cause water pollution in general or are behind a particular such incident or outbreak, and to
seek alternative ways to address the problem in cooperation with the local community, policy-
makers and other stakeholders (Wals et al., ibid).
As for citizen science, much of its current practice focuses on engaging people in science and
action on specific environmental issues and topics, in collaboration with scientists and local
stakeholders (Bonney et al., 2014; Dickinson et al., 2012). Environmental citizen science
involves and promotes community-based monitoring of the local environment with the use of
customized digital devices and technologies for data collection and sharing. In doing so, it aims
to increase scientific and environmental literacy and develop global citizenship through the
active participation of citizens in local issues. Education and learning may not be among its first
and explicit goals; however, there is an inherent link between participation in environmental
citizen science projects and environmental learning.
Although citizen science is differentiated from EE, there is alignment in the way both see their
role, namely emphasizing active participation in individual and collective processes of
inquiry on current environmental and sustainability issues. The involvement of people in

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actions related to local environmental and sustainability issues seems to be common in the
ambitions and practices of the EE, SE and citizen science. The concept of an environmentally
active and responsible citizen is a central tenet for both citizen science and EE and a key tool
for promoting sustainability. Environmental awareness and participation in policy-making are
also expected outcomes together with the development of a sense of place. However, as noted
by Wals et al. (2014), despite the fact that there are so many common grounds, there have not
yet been significant efforts to bring them together. They also argue that creating synergies
between citizen science, SE and EE can be of benefit to science, local communities and
educational processes and can certainly enhance social sustainability efforts.
Responsible and active citizen engagement and informed participation to achieve sustainability
are at the core of citizen science (Hecker et al., 2018; Tauginienė et al., 2020). On the other
hand, EE departs from engaging with science in the traditional way and opens up new ways to
learning emphasizing experience, intrinsic motivation, self-directed engagement and
collaboration in an effort to explore and address local sustainability issues and concerns
(UNESCO, 2020). To this end, a pedagogy that includes challenge-based, interdisciplinary and
action-oriented learning and participation in authentic learning situations that can take place in
formal and informal education contexts (UNESCO, 2019) is promoted to empower young people
to become active and responsible citizens (UNESCO, 2017).
To this end, Wals et al. (2014) propose the creation of synergies between EE, SE and citizen
science using digital technologies and tools. These synergies would act as a mechanism to
enhance public engagement and socio-ecological learning on current environmental and
sustainability issues. They would also promote new opportunities and forms of learning based
on the collaborative production of knowledge and towards empowering people, especially
youths, to address current environmental problems and sustainability challenges with a broader
perspective.
Another point also discussed by Wals et al. (2014) that could further enrich the synergies
between EE, SE and citizen science, comes from recent developments in EE research and
evaluation on learning. As they point out, the focus is not so much on measuring specific
learning outcomes in terms of content knowledge and skills acquired, but rather on the learning
processes involved and the general competences developed in relation to the issues engaged
with. The emphasis is on learning potential and the overall educational impact on students,
the school and the local community. This requires a better understanding of students‟ and
teachers‟ cognitive and emotional responses to the environmental issues and challenges and a
focus on how their belief systems are associated with their personal and place identity
(Stevenson & Sterling, 2010).

1.5. The Cos4Cloud project‟s proposed model of integrating citizen

science in school-based education
In the Cos4Cloud project we argue that citizen science, SE and EE are not only congruent and
complementary to each other, but there is great potential to integrate them into school
educational practice. We believe that such integration launches an emerging 'paradigm' of

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educational practice that opens up diverse opportunities towards learning and empowerment
for sustainability. We also suggest that we contribute to this goal by adopting a broader
perspective on integrating citizen science into school EE practice and promoting the
collaboration between researchers, citizen scientists, science educators and environmental
educators.
We therefore designed and implemented a model of integration that builds on a symbiotic
relationship between citizen science, SE and EE, making use of the technologies, tools and
services of the Cos4Cloud citizen observatories. This model (see Fig. 1) promotes the co-
design and co-creation of learning situations and supports their implementation through
different mechanisms. In short, the model has been designed along the following three
interrelated axes:
(a) the creation of an educational network of school teachers, educators, educational
stakeholders and schools that are willing and able to support the integration of citizen science
through school EE projects and activities,
(b) the provision of teacher training programs and resources to assist teachers in integrating
citizen science into their EE teaching practices; and
(c) the design and implementation of a range of educational projects and activities in
schools and the evaluation of their learning potential and educational impact.
Furthermore, all actions arising from this model aim to empower learners, practitioners and
other educational stakeholders to think critically and creatively when organizing, conducting,
participating, learning and evaluating their engagement with environmental issues in their local
environments as part of an active citizenship towards sustainability.

Figure 1: The General Design Model of integrating citizen science in school education

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2. THE ONLINE TRAINING COURSE

2.1. Introduction
One of the first actions led by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) under
SubTask 6.4.2 was the design and implementation of the online training course “Environmental
Education for Sustainability and Citizen Science”. This training program was designated as
a strategic action to pave the way for the initiatives and actions to follow (see Fig. 2). It therefore
held a pivotal position in the Cos4Cloud project‟s general design model and approach to set-
up school-based citizen science projects and activities, as laid out in SubTask 6.4.2 and
described in D6.5 (“Design and evaluation of school-based CS activities”).
The course was designed to pursue several interconnected goals, starting from (a) the selection
of a core group of Greek teachers and school education stakeholders from the areas of
Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD) as the target
audience to be trained to get involved in (b) the design, implementation and evaluation of
school-based citizen science educational projects and activities that would make use of the
Cos4Cloud project‟s Citizen Observatories (CO) technologies.

Figure 2: The strategic position of the online teacher training course in the General Design Model

Participants in the course were to (c) form a community of learning and practice and become
the first educational network to integrate citizen science practice in Greek schools based on (d)
the co-design of a set of related open educational resources (educational materials and
learning scenarios for school use), that would serve as guiding frameworks for introducing
citizen science and the project‟s technologies into their personal teaching practice as well
inspire and support other teachers‟ practice too. The teacher training course was conducted
online with the use of (e) appropriate open training materials and learning experiences

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formats that were purposively designed by the NKUA team to be both informative and engaging
as well as open to adaptation and reuse in the context of new or similar training courses.
The rationale and methodology for the design and implementation of the online training course
were shaped through a reflective and spirally evolving process following a co-design
approach: the NKUA collaborated with other Cos4Cloud partners to determine the main
aspects of the course. Co-design was a core element of many processes and outcomes
inherent to the course: i.e., the NKUA team collaborated with the course‟s participants to design,
try out, evaluate, adapt, revise and/or re-design their educational scenarios as well as the
implementation and evaluation of their school projects. To this end, the NKUA elaborated and
used a set of „templates‟ to scaffold communication, exchange and collaboration with the
trainees and to foster creativity and reflection in educational design and evaluation. In the
following sections we give an outline of the main elements and phases of the online course and
the methodology underpinning its design and implementation.

2.2. The online training course in brief

The 100-hour online training course took place from July to December 2020. It was designed,
organised and run by the Environmental Education Lab of the NKUA with the technical
support of the NKUA‟s Centre for Continuous Education (CCE). It was hosted on the CCE‟s
Open eClass platform (https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/courses/CCEHUMAN121/). Twenty-three (23)
participants were invited to enrol, of whom 22 completed the course successfully and received a
Training Certificate and a Europass Certificate Supplement (total ECVET points: 4).
The course‟s main objectives were:
(a) to introduce key agents of the EE/ESD school practice (teachers and other educational
stakeholders) to the emerging field of citizen science, the role and status of citizen observatories
(CO), and the aims of the Cos4Cloud project, as well as to explore the affinities between citizen
science and EE/ESD.
(b) to train them in the collaborative design of educational projects and activities, that are
conducive to the aims of the Cos4Cloud project, but also go beyond that, in offering an
innovative pedagogy with multiple learning benefits for the students, in terms of their scientific
and environmental literacy and the development of their citizenship.

2.3. Design, organization and development of the online training course

The decisions and steps taken before the implementation of the training course were essential
for its successful organization and delivery. The initial idea and proposed rationale of an
online training course for teachers and educational stakeholders belongs to the NKUA, who
discussed it with the project‟s coordinators (CSIC), the WP6 leader (OU) and other project
partners (e.g., INRIA, ECSA, Trébola, Science for Change) in two online meetings and more
email exchanges. All parties approved the idea with much enthusiasm and offered useful
suggestions on the course‟s outline, objectives, target audience and ways of implementation.

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Following that, the EEL/NKUA team consisting of Maria Daskolia, Naya Grillia, Evi Kakaroucha
and Dimitris Gkotzos, proceeded in a series of preparatory actions:
 They first explored alternative options with regards to the mode of implementation
most convenient and appropriate for the training course (face-to-face vs. distance/online
training, synchronous vs. asynchronous learning, etc.), taking into consideration the
special circumstances and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and how it
has affected the education sector.
 An official application form was prepared and submitted to the NKUA‟s Center for
Continuous Education (CCE) requesting permission and technical support for the
creation and delivery of the course on the CCE‟s online educational platform (eClass
platform). The application included the rationale and aim of the course, and a detailed
description of the modules, the expected learning outcomes, the prerequisites for
selecting the trainees, and more information data. The CCE Board approved the request
and granted access rights to the eClass platform and full technical support.
 The EEL/NKUA team set out to prepare the training materials, i.e., the necessary
educational resources that would accompany and support the trainees‟ learning. The co-
design and collaborative writing of the training materials were based on a thorough
literature review conducted by the EEL/NKUA team that led to the production of 5
modules and a range of learning activity sheets. The criteria that guided this process
were that the training materials should include all necessary and accurate information as
well as engage participants in constructive reflection, active and collaborative learning
and critical discussion on the topics to be covered in the course.
In the meanwhile, the formal announcement of the online course was released together with
personal invitations that were sent to selected teachers and other educational stakeholders,
the profile of whom met the criteria for participation in the course. The announcement/ invitation
outlined the purpose, plan, and duration of the course, the terms of participation and
commitment and the type of certificate to be issued upon completion of the course, the deadline
dates for applying and the relevant link to express their interest (tinyurl.com/cos4cloud). Having
collected all applications the NKUA team preceded to the selection procedure. The results were
announced to all successful candidates together with instructions on how to register on the e-
learning platform. Prior to the course‟s commencement and the scheduled first online meeting
the participants were asked to complete a “Introductions and Get-To-Know Questionnaire”.

2.4. Participants
From the twenty-three selected to participate in the online training course twenty-two
successfully completed it. More specifically, the course‟s participants were:
 Six primary education teachers
 Five secondary education teachers
 Three primary and secondary environmental education project coordinators
 Nine environmental educators and teacher trainers based in Environmental Education
Centers
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Eighteen participants were women and five were men. They were all experienced environmental
educators or in other long-tenure positions serving school-based EE/ESD. With regards to their
scientific background and other professional qualifications, they had all completed
undergraduate, postgraduate and/or doctoral studies in the following areas:
• Education (7 trainees)
• Greek Language and Literature (3 trainees)
• English Language and Literature (2 trainees)
• Agricultural/Geology/Environmental Sciences (4 trainees)
• Architecture/Engineering (2 trainees)
• Mathematics/Biology (4 trainees)
In terms of their personal incentives to participate in the course, the trainees completed a
questionnaire constructed and administered via the eClass platform before the start of the
course. Based on their responses:
 8 were interested in exploring new perspectives in their EE/ESD practice
 6 said they were looking for professional development opportunities to come across new
ideas, methods and tools and to get inspiration for their teaching practice
 8 answered that they wanted to better understand the connection between citizen
science and EE/ESD
 4 participated out of interest to gain new experiences and for networking.

2.5. Methodology of the online training course

The initial plan was that the training course would be based on a blended training model,
combining face-to-face meetings and asynchronous distance education. This model would allow
trainees to actively participate, each at their own pace and according to their preferred learning
style as well as offered many opportunities for collaborative work. However, due to the
measures enforced to limit the spread of Covid-19, the course was run entirely online hosted on
the NKUA‟s CEE asynchronous education platform (open eClass) (https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr /
courses / CCEHUMAN121 /).
The NKUA has a long-standing tradition and experience in lifelong learning and training. For
over 20 years now, it designs and delivers formal and non-formal education and training
programs in more than 400 thematic fields. The NKUA‟s Open eClass platform
(https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr) has all necessary technical characteristics to ensure compatibility
with all browsersand a customizable user interface. Moreover, it complies with all e-learning
standards and offers many functionalities for the creation and management of educational
content, the allocation of different user roles, the use of various communication, collaboration,
feedback and evaluation tools, etc.

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The implementation of the Cos4Cloud project‟s online course “Environmental Education for
Sustainability and Citizen Science” (Fig. 3) comprised the following two categories of
learning activities:
a) asynchronous learning activities, including individual study of the training materials,
participation in discussion forums, the completion of questionnaires and self-assessment tasks,
and the co-design of educational scenarios and activities.
b) synchronous learning activities, including the online scheduled meetings in the plenary for
feedback, evaluation and debriefing, online collaboration meetings within the working groups
and participation in dedicated webinars, such as the “Tackle odour pollution with OdourCollect”,
“Monitoring plant biodiversity with Pl@ntNet”, or “Create your own air quality sensor with
CanAir.io!”,

Figure 3: The online course in the NKUA‟s eClass platform

The online kick-off meeting was synchronous and took place in early July 2020. At the onset
the trainers‟ team presented the Cos4Cloud project and its ambitions. They described the
course outline, its aims and rationale, and demonstrated the use of the eClass platform and how
the course will be run on it. They also gave guidelines on how to study the training materials
developed for use in this course, how to participate in the various learning activities, the
expected learning outcomes, the types of coursework foreseen and the trainees‟ assignments.
The course was designed to follow a sequence of three phases:
 Phase Α: Guided weekly tutorials on the platform that covered 4 theoretical modules
and were accompanied by a set of proposed tasks and exercises for the participants
(duration: from July to August 2020).
 Phase Β: Organization of two webinars, the first webinar on how to use Pl@ntNet (with
Inria) and the second on how to use OdourCollect (with ScienceforChange). The
purpose was to demonstrate the use of two Citizen Observatories and explore their

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potential for school use and learning as an intermediate step before participants proceed
to the last phase. Phase B concluded with a synchronous online meeting where all
trainees were invited to share their experience and evaluate their learning so far, as well
as in order to discuss with them the next steps and goals (duration: from September to
October 2020).
 Phase C: A practice-oriented module (5th module) where the trainees were invited and
mentored to co-design and develop their educational scenarios. This phase concluded
with a final synchronous online meeting in which trainees presented their scenarios and
received feedback from their trainers and co-trainees (duration: November - December
2020).
Upon successful completion of all three phases of the online course, participants received the
Training Certificate and the Europass Certificate Supplement (total ECVET points: 4).

2.6. Expected learning outcomes

The expected learning outcomes achieved which are featured on the Europass Certificate
Supplement granted to all participants who successfully the completed the course related to
the development of content knowledge, skills, attitudes & behaviours. More specifically,
participants were expected to develop:
a) Content knowledge in the following areas:
 Citizen science as a concept and practice
 The common features between Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable
Development and citizen science
 The main characteristics of the Citizen Observatories (CO) for biodiversity and
environmental quality protection and their field of actions
 The main CO platforms, applications, and tools of the Cos4Cloud project
 Ways in which citizen science contributes to the 17 Goals of Sustainable Development
 Teaching and learning goals to foster citizenship in students of different educational
levels and grades
 Teaching and learning objectives to foster the students‟ participation and engagement in
scientific research processes
 Teaching methods that can be employed in the integration of citizen science into
EE/ESD projects and activities
 Pedagogical design of citizen science school-based activities
b) Skills in relation to
● The transfer of theoretical knowledge about citizen science into educational practice
● The design of citizen science school-based activities within the context EE/ESD projects
● The use of the Cos4Cloud‟sCO platforms, tools, and applications for biodiversity
recording and identification

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● The use of the Cos4Cloud‟sCO platforms, tools, and applications for environmental
quality monitoring
● The transfer of educational design theories into the co-design of educational resource
aiming to integrate citizen science into school-based EE/ESD practice
c) Attitudes/behavioural dispositions related to
● Personal engagement in school-based citizen science activities within the context
EE/ESD projects
● Becoming agents of change with a multiplying effect for expanding school-based citizen
science in the wider educational community
● Becoming agents of change for sustainability in the local communities through school-
based citizen science
● Advocate the idea of open science and public participation through citizen science
● Promote the Sustainable Development Goals through citizen science participation

2.7. The online course‟s training materials

The training course was structured in five modules. For each of them the NKUA team co-
created relevant training materials. More particularly, the training materials included:
(a) For each of the four theoretical modules, a customized introductory text („chapter‟) for
reading was co-authored by two members of the NKUA team. Each „chapter‟ set the general
conceptual frame, defined the basic concepts and presented different approaches to the topic it
dealt with and related issues. The aim of each „chapter‟ was to gradually introduce the topic of
each module to the trainees by covering a range of perspectives and progressively build on a
fundamental theoretical knowledge necessary for the design of the educational scenarios. The
content of each text was based on an extensive literature review. Suggestions for further
reading and information sources (research studies, articles, legislative texts, websites, etc.)
were listed at the end of it.
(b) The final, practice-oriented module was based on the knowledge acquired in the previous
theoretical modules. Through appropriately designed learning activities it attempted to engage
the trainees in the collaborative design of the educational scenarios as the guiding frameworks
for educational practice.
More specifically, the five modules covered the following topics:
Module 1: Introduction to basic concepts, approaches, and practices of citizen science
In this module, we aimed to define and delineate the field of citizen science. We presented
various definitions of citizen science, reviewed its historical course, presented diverse ways
through which citizens are involved in its practice, and highlighted the factors that motivate
citizen participation. We also discussed the benefits from citizen science practice, its guiding
principles and, attempted to frame its affinities with education.

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Module 2: From citizen science to citizen observatories - supporting environmental protection in

practice.
This module aimed to highlight the organic connection between citizen science and Citizen
Observatories (CO) in the context of biodiversity monitoring and environmental quality, the two
main fields of citizen science practice promoted by the Cos4Cloud project. We analyzed the
concept, the scope and the basic dimensions and features of modern COs and listed a
range of prominent COs in Europe. We finally discussed how citizen science and the COs
serve as valuable tools for biodiversity monitoring and for environmental conservation and
protection.
Module 3: The Cos4Cloud European project: Addressing the challenge of open science through
citizen science.
In this module we presented the European project Cos4Cloud. We started from discussing
„open science‟ as an idea and practice that promotes the democratization and facilitation of
scientific research and we went on with the contribution of citizen science to open science. The
Cos4Cloud project and how it attempts to meet the challenge of open science was then
presented. We described the project‟s vision, its objectives and main axes of action and
highlighted the benefits from integrating Citizen Observatories (CO) into the European Open
Science Cloud (EOSC) through networking and the development of new services. We also
introduced the project‟s partners and participating Cos and outlined the role and contribution
of the NKUA to the project.

Figure 4: Page extracts from the Modules‟ texts.

Module 4: Citizen science and school educational practice in the context of environmental
education/ education for sustainable development
The aim of this module was to explore the relationship between citizen science and education,
by focusing on its synergies with Environmental Education (EE) and Education for

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Sustainable Development (ESD). To this end, we identified the fields where citizen science
meets EE/ESD, as well as their common characteristics. Possible ways of integrating
citizen science into the school practice were examined and the learning and other gains from
such integration were considered. The prerequisites for an effective and meaningful integration
of citizen science into school practice were also suggested. Finally, discussion focused on the
impact of incorporating citizen science into school-based EE/ESD school practice. The module
concluded with various examples of citizen science projects implemented in schools and one
school case study which was based on the use of Pl@ntnet.
Module 5: Co-design of educational scenarios for the integration of citizen science into school-
based EE/ESD practice.
In this final module, participants were invited to take the role of „educational designers‟ and co-
design educational scenarios and activities that aimed to integrate citizen science and EE/ESD
into school educational practice. To this end they were handed an „educational scenario
template‟, which was constructed by the NKUA team. Then they were divided into six groups of
three to four persons. Their task was to co-create an educational scenario that makes use of
either Pl@ntnet (three groups) or OdourCollect (three groups). Three groups worked on
educational scenarios appropriate for use with students in primary education school level and
the other three groups for students in secondary education school level.

2.8. Support and facilitation of the co-design process

Throughout the online course the NKUA team offered continuous support to the trainees
through the eClass platform and its various tools. More specifically, support and facilitation
were provided through the following platform‟s areas:
 Announcements - A total of 50 announcements were posted by the trainers‟ team.
 Asynchronous forum discussions - In total, forum discussions were commenced and
carried out over 7 topics, through which the participants uploaded a total of 114 posts.
 Questionnaires - through which participants had the opportunity to express their
preferences, share evaluative comments, etc. In total, 98 completed questionnaires on 6
topics are recorded.
 Exercices and assignements - Trainees were invited to take part in self-assessment
activities of their comprehension and application of the knowledge gained from the
various modules.
 Documents - In total, 31 files were uploaded in shared folders including the training
materials and more proposed readings and other resources.
In addition to the eClass online platform, the trainees received support from the trainers‟ group
on the following occasions:
- during the synchronous online plenary meetings (the kick-off meeting: 1/7/2020, the mid-term
meeting: 23/10/2020 and the debriefing meeting: 19/3/2021

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- through the electronic communication exchanged between the trainers and the members of
the 6 working groups, that offered personalised support to the co-design processes
- through the feedback the trainers provided to the working groups in the form or ppt
presentations during the debriefing meeting. The presentations are available here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14e4UBC67-UwgGF-ByNKeTXjQ-Bw0KL7i?usp=sharing
- through the organisation of webinars to introduce and familiarise the trainees with selected
COs of the Cos4Cloud project. In particular, the following webinars were organised in
cooperation with other project partners:
a) "Tackle odour pollution with OdourCollect", on 30/9/2020 (17.00 - 18.15p.m.) in
collaboration with Science for Change
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTb6Y_7eSnA&t=7s )
b) "Monitoring plant biodiversity with Pl@ntNet", on 12/10/2020 (17.00 - 18.30 p.m.) in
collaboration with INRIA and CIRAD
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv-3Qf_4KEE&t=3130s )
c) "Create your own air quality sensor with CanAir.io", on 18-11-2020 (21.00 - 22.15
p.m.) in collaboration with SciStarter and CanAirIO
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5ZzWJP9PJs&t=2017s )

Figure 5: Screenshots from the webinars organized

2.9. Online course evaluation methodology

Evaluation was an internal part of the design and implementation of the online course "Citizen
Science and Environmental Education for Sustainability". The multi-dimensional nature of
citizen science and EE/ESD and the complexity of the goals they set forth, often pose various
challenges to the designers of training programs and materials at different levels, including their
evaluation (Granit-Dgani, Kaplan & Flum, 2017; Stern, Powell & Hill, 2014; Brody & Storksdieck,
2013; Carleton-Hug & Hug, 2010). Evaluation is a key tool for ensuring the quality of the
education provided and the associated learning (Bray, 2008). It also aims to better understand

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and improve educational practice by matching it to the goals and intended outcomes (Zint,
Dowd & Covit, 2011; Birnbaum, 2010; Jenks, Vaughan & Butler, 2010).
Monroe & Jie-Li (2013) describe three types of evaluation in non-formal adult education and
training programmes, based on the timing and duration of the evaluation in relation to the
course delivery. These include the front-end, the formative and the summative evaluation. Of
the three, they single out formative evaluation as the type of evaluation that can provide
meaningful feedback on various aspects, thus increasing the chances for the evaluated training
program or materials to meet the standards on which they have been designed.Formative
assessment is particularly useful as it prevents training course designers to deviate from their
predefined goals and objectives. Moreover, it facilitates the follow-up of the course's progress
and adds to its improvement while it‟s been implemented by engaging participants in reflection.
More specifically, the online course‟s formative evaluation was carried out at two levels:
1) At a first level, it was based on an internal ongoing process of reviewing and updating
the design of the online course and the supporting training material. The NKUA team who
designed the online course and the training materials was mainly involved on this level. The
data collected was qualitative in nature and were extracted from the following two sources:
a) The discussions within the trainers' team, which served as a space for reflection and
sharing on the design and organization of the training course and the training materials.
These discussions took place throughout the co-design process and formed the baseline
for planning and carrying out all training activities.
b) The electronic messages exchanged between the trainers. These messages
complemented their communication in between their regular meetings and provided a
second space for exchange and reflection on the progress of the design process.
In relation to the evaluation of the educational material, the approach taken was based on the
one developed by Russo & Olvitt (2006) for the design and evaluation of "quality" educational
material, using as criteria some "general principles", which guided the training team not only for
the design of the educational materials, but also as a rationale behind the design process of the
training course as a whole.
2) At a second level, formative evaluation was carried out during the implementation process
to assess whether the course met the design criteria and the expectations of the participants
and to record the participants' individual responses to the various activities.
At this level, qualitative and quantitative data were obtained and analysed from: a) a set of
questionnaires administered and completed by the trainees on the eClass platform at different
stages of the course‟s implementation; and b) the discussions the trainees participated on the
eClass discussion forum. The trainees were invited to provide their responses to close and
open-ended questions about their personal background, their needs and expectations and to
comment and/or reflect on issues related to the course‟s content, the Cos4Cloud technologies
and other topics raised in the course. In addition, the trainees participated in assessment tasks
and exercises designed by the NKUA team to give them a feedback about their degree of
comprehension of new concepts and contested issues and how well they could transfer

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theoretical knowledge into practice based on the knowledge they had gained and the
instructions they had received.
It is worth mentioning that these two levels of evaluation were not isolated and disconnected
phases the one from the other. Instead, they were two intertwined levels of evaluation that
traversed horizontally all dimensions of the online course. They started from the co-design
phase, followed the implementation phase and extended beyond it, to the evaluation of the
learning potential and the educational impact of the course, i.e. by tracking the responsiveness
of the online course to the school reality. In fact, it was a spiral process of evaluation, a central
feature of which is that it is ongoing and reflexive and evolved as follows: design;
experimentation; evaluation; adaptation; revision; re-design.

2.10. Examples of evaluation tools used and their results

Various tools of evaluation were used to collect data on a range of issues over participation in,
responsiveness to and effectiveness of the online training course. For example, online
questionnaires were constructed by the NKUA team and employed for collecting different sets
of data, such as to record and assess the participants‟ profiles and background, the level of
satisfaction from the course and their intention to transfer and apply the acquired knowledge to
their school practice. Results were used in the initial design of the course, to plan next steps
and incorporate new training activities or for redesigning aspects of the course‟s content and
structure. They were also used to compare the teachers‟ level of perceived readiness to engage
with citizen science practice before and after the implementation of the course as an indicator of
the effectiveness of the training and in order to plan the following actions.
For example, the two questionnaires listed below were used at the start and after completion of
the course respectively. Results from the first questionnaire showed that most of the participants
had no previous experience with citizen science at all. Nevertheless, after having undertaken
the course, they all expressed their commitment to get involved with citizen science and
implement the educational scenarios they developed into their school(s) (second questionnaire):
1. Questionnaire before the start of the online training course
 Aim: to record the participants‟ profile (demographic information: gender, age,
education, job position, their previous experience in EE/ESD, their previous experience
in citizen science, etc.), their understanding of citizen science and their views about its
integration into school education, their motivation for participating in the training course
and their expectations from it, their level of familiarization with the open Eclass platform,
etc.
 Number/ types of question items: 29 open and multiple choice questions
 Answered questionnaires: 23
 Link:
https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/modules/questionnaire/pollparticipate.php?course=CCEHUMA
N121&UseCase=1&pid=6

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Figure 6: Screenshots from the online Questionnaire 1 and data analysis graphs

2. Questionnaire on the participants‟ intention to implement the educational scenarios

and activities
 Aim: to record the participants‟ intention to implement the educational scenarios and
activities developed during the training course for the period April-May 2021 and the
school year 2021-2022, as well as their intention to present or inform other teachers
about the scenarios or to collaborate with other teachers to implement them
 Number/ types of question items 19 open and multiple choice questions
 Answered questionnaires: 18
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 Link:
https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/modules/questionnaire/pollparticipate.php?course=CCEHUMA
N121&UseCase=1&pid=16

Figure 7: Screenshots from the online Questionnaire 2 and data analysis graphs

Another example of questionnaire is described below. It was used after the organization of two
webinars, which introduced trainees to the use of two citizen observatories respectively:
Pl@ntNet and OdourCollect:
3. Questionnaire for the evaluation of the two webinars
 Aim: to assess the extent of the trainees‟ satisfaction from their participation in the two
webinars ("Tackle odour pollution with OdourCollect" & "Monitoring plant biodiversity
with Pl@ntNet"), which were organized as part of the online training course, as well as
the degree to which they believe they will be able to use the acquired knowledge for the
implementation of school-based educational activities
 Number/ types of question items 16 multiple choice questions
 Answered questionnaires: 21
 Link:
https://eclass.cce.uoa.gr/modules/questionnaire/pollparticipate.php?course=CCEHUMA
N121&UseCase=1&pid=12

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Figure 8: Screenshots from the online Questionnaire 3 and data analysis graphs

As far as the participants' overall satisfaction with the two webinars, the majority rated them
quite favourably. Both were considered to have the potential to support citizen science projects
and activities. Participants were also asked after attending the webinars to rate their level of
familiarization with the two apps. About two thirds felt quite comfortable with OdourCollect and
Pl@ntNet alike. Finally, regarding the extent to which participants felt the two webinars helped
them implement a relevant project with school students, their preferences for Pl@ntNet had a
relative advantage over OdourCollect.
Data were also collected in the context of specific training activities about the participants‟ use
of the various citizen observatories. In one training activity they had to register and to use
each of the project's citizen observatories. Following this trial use, they were asked to evaluate
them and declare their preferences to using them as teaching and learning tools. The analysis
of their responses indicated that Pl@ntNet was closer to the trainees‟ personal interests and the
one they would be willing to engage with as citizen scientists. It was followed by Natusfera and
Freshwater Watch.

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Figure 9: Data analysis graph on the trainees‟ preferences on the COs.

Pl@ntNet and then Freshwater Watch ranked first in terms of the trainees‟ evaluation of their
appropriateness for pedagogical use in classroom and outdoor educational activities, as shown
in Figure 10:

Figure 10: Data analysis graph on the trainees‟ perceived appropriateness for pedagogical use of the COs

All teachers registered to the platforms of all citizen observatories without any particular difficulty
to a greater or lesser extent. Their registration was most successful regarding Pl@ntNet and
Natusfera. Pl@ntNet was also higher in the teachers‟ expressed intention to attend extra
training seminars.

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Figure 11: Data analysis graphs on the trainees‟ perceived easiness to register and intention to attend training
seminars on each of the COs

Finally, evaluative evidence of a more qualitative nature was also collected in the form of short
videos the participants created and send to the NKUA to talk about and share their experience.
Some of their evaluative statements and digital stories can be found in the following post in the
project‟s Newsletter:”What do the NKUA course‟s participants think about the training on citizen
science? Read the statements and watch the videos!”.

2.11. Overall appraisal of the online training course

Based on the evaluation carried out, the teachers and educational stakeholders who
participated in the online training course had the opportunity to get acquainted with the theory
and practice of citizen science, the Cos4Cloud‟s citizen observatories and their technologies,
and the project‟s goals and ambitions. Through the training materials, their interaction with their
fellow trainees, the NKUA trainers and the other Cos4Cloud partners, the participants realised
the common points of interest between citizen science and school-based EE, as well as the
ways in which the former can be integrated into the latter. They committed themselves to
undertake actions in their schools and fields of responsibility. Their commitment was initiated
through involvement in the co-design of educational activities and projects making use of
selected Cos4Cloud's citizen observatories and tools. Τhe aim was that these scenarios would
become a „roadmap‟ for educational practice, providing inspiration and guidance to the
members of the upcoming thematic Educational Network.

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All facets and steps of the implementation and evaluation of the online training course was
designed and carried out in a way to serve and foster a culture of creativity, teamwork,
collaboration, mutual support and acknowledgment among participants, as well as a feeling of
being part of a community with defined goals, openness and ambition to remain in place well
beyond the completion of the Cos4Cloud project.
Some of the structural elements of success of this training course in terms of how it was
designed and implemented based on the principles and practices of open science and citizen
science promoted by the Cos4Cloud project, are the following:
● the deliberate configuration of a diverse group of trainees, selected to represent
different disciplines, professional backgrounds, personal aspirations and stages of personal/
professional development;
● the creation of ample opportunities for participation in online discussion
forums, that fostered reflection and the exchange of ideas and opinions among trainees;
● the provision for several collaborative and mentoring sessions held in groups
and/or in plenary contexts;
● the organisation of dedicated webinars with the active participation of trainees
to familiarize them with the use of CO platforms and tools, and, most importantly, to build their
readiness to integrate them into school practice;
● the promotion of practice-oriented collaborative learning through the co-design
of educational scenarios and activities;
● the sharing of educational scenarios with other trainees as well as the promotion
of constructive feedback that led to their refinement and alignmentwith the goals of the online
course and the Cos4Cloud project;
● emphasis on direct transfer and adaptation of acquired knowledge into school
practice, with due consideration to the conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic;
● the dissemination of the rationale, results, and applications of the training
course in professional development activities and events and on the social media.

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3. THE SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL NETWORK

3.1. Introduction
The existence of a thematic educational network helps to foster teaching and learning in a
educational area or in relation to a specific topic of interest. It offers teachers many opportunities
to come together, interact and collaborate and to build new insights and skills in their
educational practice. It becomes a context for professional learning and development that
enhances dialogue, partnership and the building of joint activities, including the production of
educational resources and the implementation of educational projects in schools.
In EE/ESD, thematic educational networks provide a communication and collaboration milieufor
students and teachers from different schools and districts to meet and work, as well as the
possibility for setting up an integrated scientific and pedagogical approach to specific
environmental topics. They also support and facilitate the realisation of educational innovations
in schools. In Cos4Cloud project we argue that the creation of an educational network with a
focus on integrating citizen science into EE/ESD offers a range of advantages and adds to its
success. To this end, the establishment of a thematic educational network on
"Environmental Education for Sustainability and Citizen Science" was deemed as an
critical parameter of the Design Model and a constituent part of our approach.

3.2. Establishment of the first educational network

The educational network "Environmental Education for Sustainability and Citizen Science"
was initiated with the call for expression of interest for teachers and other educational
stakeholders to participate in the online training course. The invitation was addressed
specifically to Greek teachers and stakeholders in EE with a long-standing and influential record
as educational practitioners in the field and with previous involvement in partnerships (e.g., with
other teachers, educational researchers, scientists, citizens and representatives of the civil
society, public administration and local authorities, etc.).
With the launch, and more particularly with the completion of the online training course, the first
educational network was established, consisting of 23 members:
 6 primary education teachers,
 5 secondary education teachers,
 3 primary and secondary environmental education project coordinators,
 9 environmental educators and teacher trainers based at Environmental Education
Centers
Because of the small number of members and the homogeneity in their identity as participants
of a professional training course this first network had more the status of a community of
learning and practice. The majority of the members were women, school teachers with a long-
tenure experience in EE/ESD. Most of them had pursued postgraduate studies in education and
other disciplinary fields.
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The Network‟s first meeting took place in the final synchronous online session of the course. In
this meeting the participants discussed about the actions each of them, in person or in
cooperation with others, would be willing to implement in schools and those they could
contribute to attract more teachers and expand implementation of citizen science projects in
schools.

3.3. Communication activities to open up the educational network

Among the efforts to expand the initial community of practitioners and attract new members for
the Network were the communication activities organized by the NKUA to address the Greek
school community of EE/ESD. Indicatively we list the participation of the NKUA‟s team members
in the following events:
1. At the 8th Conference of the PanHellenic Association of Teachers for
Environmental Education, where the NKUA team gave a presentation on "Citizen
Science, European Open Science Cloud and Environmental Education in the
COS4CLOUD project" (12.9.2020). The presentation was attended by more than 180
school teachers, researchers, NGO educators and representatives of local authorities
involved in the practice of Environmental Education throughout Greece.
2. At the teacher training webinar titled "Greening my school, greening my city.
Pedagogical approach and digital tools" organized by the CEE of Elefsina on the
28.1.2021 in collaboration with the primary and secondary environmental education
project coordinators in B and C Athens and Western Attica Education Districts, where
the NKUA team gave a presentation on "CS meets EE/ESD in schools: pedagogical use
of Pl@ntnet in school garden and urban greening projects". The webinar was attended
by 122 teachers.
3. At the teacher training webinar "Medicinal and aromatic plants in our lives",
organized by the CEE of Lavrion on the 30.3.2021 in collaboration with the primary and
secondary environmental education project coordinators in B Athens and Eastern Attica
Education Districts. The NKUA team participated with a presentation on "Recording
aromatic plants and herbs and their stories. Interdisciplinary ideas for EE practice based
on citizen science approaches and tools". The webinar was attended by more than 120
teachers.
4. At the teacher training webinar on: "Cultivating new skills and environmental
awareness in the school garden", organized by the primary and secondary
environmental education project coordinators in B and C Athens Education Districts on
30.11.2021. The NKUA team participated with a presentation on: "Citizen Science in the
school garden. Ideas and suggestions for educational activities with Cos4Cloud Citizen
Observatories". The webinar was attended by 80 teachers.
5. At the teacher training webinar on: "Connect with nature!", organized by the CEE of
Eleftherio-Kordelio & Vertisko and the CEE of Kilkis on the 16.12.2021, in collaboration
with the primary and secondary environmental education project coordinators in B and C

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Athens Education Districts of Eastern and Western Thessaloniki. The webinar was
attended by 420 teachers. In this event the NKUA team announced the establishment of
the thematic school network “Environmental Education for Sustainability and Citizen
Science” and presented its website which is under-development. Interested teachers
were invited to register and join the network after the formal call was released in early
2022.

3.4. Towards a nationwide educational network

The efforts of the NKUA team to promote the school-based practice of citizen science among
the Greek educational community and in line with the Cos4Cloud project‟s objectives begun with
the online course. This is where the first community of learning and practice was established.
The growing interest expressed by more school practitioners on the occasion of the NKUA‟s
dissemination actions strengthened the idea to go beyond the this rather small community to a
nationwide Educational Network on "Environmental Education for Sustainability and Citizen
Science" under the coordination of the NKUA‟s Environmental Education Lab (EEL). The
network‟s mission would be to establish partnerships and to pursue mutual benefit for citizen
science and EE/ESD alike in the school and local community contexts. Moreover, the aim would
be to nurture motivation and foster learning through science and social participation in students
so as to become empowered as young citizens in the face of current sustainability challenges.
To strengthen these efforts for developing this nationwide educational network "Environmental
Education for Sustainability and Citizen Science" (EECSnet), the design, construction and
operation of a website was considered of strategic significance. Among the essential features of
effective educational networks identified by Rincon-Gallardo & Fullan (2016), are adequate
resources, the potential for frequent connection outwards and inwards and the creation of new
partnerships. The development and operation of a website can function as supporting
infrastructure for an educational network, offering all three of these features. It can serve:
 as a repository of educational resources, through collecting, organising and sharing
relevant educational materials that have been developed, tested and evaluated, as well
as best practices,
 as a point of reference for all interested parties by providing easy and immediate online
access for people outside the Network and enabling communication between the
Network‟s members, thus serving frequent connection outwards and inwards,
 as a context for the development of new partnerships.
This decision to create a website for the Network led to a series of actions, including:
1. the quest for and creation of a domain name. This was selected to be based on the
initials of the Network‟s title (eecs-net) and inform about the organization in charge of the
coordination, i.e., the University of Athens (uoa): eecs-net.eds.uoa.gr (http://eecs-
net.eds.uoa.gr/).
2. the choice of a free and open source CMS (Content Management System)
software,which was decided to be WordPress, for constructing it. The selection criteria

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were the software‟s modern aesthetics, ease of use, scalability, user-friendliness in

search engine and the fact that it offers a responsive design for adaptation to any
devices (for tablets, smartphones, wide screens).
3. The first version of the design of the drop-down navigation menu, composed of 5
basic items (webpages) and more sub-items (Fig. 12). The specific items (webpages)
that will be displayed in the main menu are the following:
 The Network: in the options of this drop-down sub-menu users can have access to
webpages containing information about the educational network, the coordinating
organization, citizen science, the citizen observatories and the Cos4Cloud project. The
webpages will further contain links to more websites which are related to the Network.
 Members: In this drop-down sub-menu, users can have access to web pages containing
information about the partner schools, educational districts, NGOs and collaborating
scientific and local actors. The terms of membership are also described and a sign-up
form is provided.
 Educational resources: In this drop-down sub-menu users can have access to the
Network's educational resources, to a Library where additional resources related to the
Network's themes are available; and to Actions, where information about activities and
best practices of the Network's members will be presented.
 The News webpage will feature the Network's latest announcements in the form of
articles or stories, marked with labels and tags for better organization of the content.
 The Contact us webpage will provide all the contact details of the Network as well as an
online contact form.
Finally, through an add-on (plugin) there will be connection with the most popular social
media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and social sharing buttons for sharing posts will be
provided.

Figure 12: Screenshot of the Network‟s website under construction

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4. EDUCATIONAL SCENARIOS

4.1. Introduction
The term „educational scenario‟ is subject to many definitions. According to Khaldi et al (2020),
an educational scenario offers an approach to define and achieve specific educational goals. It
can be considered as a tool for describing teaching and learning activities and how to be
organised and to specify the learning context and resources required for putting them into
action. It also provides room for justifying the rationale for each decision taken.
A scenario is also a means for communicating an educational project to be implemented. Daele
et al (2002) view it as the outcome of a process of designing learning activities that take place
over a given period of time and lead to its implementation. It shares information about a range of
guiding principles and conditions, such as the objectives, the sequence of phases and learning
activities, the timetable, the students‟ tasks, the evaluation methods, all specified as part of the
design process and organized into a coherent whole. According to Pernin and Lejeune (2024),
“a scenario is defined as the description made a priori and a posteriori, of a learning situation
aiming at the appropriation of a set of knowledge, by specifying roles, activities as well as
resources, tools, services and results associated with the implementation of activities”. An
educational scenario specifies the targeted knowledge, the roles of the actors and their activities
as well as the necessary resources, tools and services for implementing these activities.
Khaldi et al. (2020) propose that an educational scenario has four parts: a technical part that
provides information about the learning situation; a part about the objectives and the knowledge
and skills to be developed; a part about structuring and objectification of the learning situation
through proposed learning activities; and a fourth part about transfer of the knowledge and skills
to be developed in new contexts.

4.2. Methodology for the co-design of educational scenarios

An underlying principle that informed the design of the online training course was the
empowerment of the participating teachers to take an active role in promoting the integration of
citizen science into their schools and beyond. We applied this principle by engaging them in a
second-level of learning through Module 5 and inviting them to think and act as "educational
designers" of citizen science projects and activities in schools. The main goal was to build on
the trainees‟ teaching experience in EE/ESD, frame it with new knowledge and skills and involve
them in the collaborative design (co-design) of educational scenarios and activities for school
use making use of selected citizen observatories.
To facilitate co-design processes and achieve a common working basis, detailed instructions
and a set of tools were provided by the trainers‟ team. More particularly, the NKUA designed
two templates as the formats based on which the course participants in groups would design
their educational scenarios and activities. The two templates are briefly described in the
following sections. We also present the criteria for selecting the citizen observatories proposed

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to the educational designers to use in their scenarios and we give an outline of the co-design
process.

4.2.1. The educational scenario template

This template was created by the NKUA team and given to the participants to work on their
educational scenarios. It consisted of two parts and several subfields to fill in, the
specification of which was decided on the basis to invite them to think and share all necessary
information about the rationale, technical details and course of implementation of their proposed
educational project in a comprehensive and codified way. This would make it easy and
transparent to understand, use, re-use or modify, and a useful and practical tool for every
teacher who would like to get involved with the practice of citizen science in schools.
In the first part of the template, participants were asked to present the 'identity' of the scenario,
providing information about: the main idea, what it involved, the students‟ target group, the key
topic/issue it addressed, its duration, the Cos4CloudCO platforms/tools to be used, connections
with the school curriculum, and the expected learning outcomes in terms of a range of
„literacies‟ and competences. In the second part of the template, participants provided a detailed
description of their scenario, phase by phase, with information on: the themes, goals, steps,
time and context, activities and resources involved, etc. Further instructions were given to the
groups of educational designers on how to fill in each subfield and the word limit for the text they
would produce.

Figure 13: The front page and a page sample of the „educational scenario‟ template

4.2.2. The educational activity template

This template was also designed by the NKUA team in a similar way to the „educational
scenario‟ template. The selection of the specific subfields to be filled in was intended to provoke
reflection among participants on the "identity" and the process of implementation of the two
activities they would choose to present. The general outline they had to give for each activity
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comprised: the title/topic, the age group/class of students, the activities‟ goals, the estimated
time for conducting it, the Cos4CloudCO platforms/tools to be used, the rationale for how they
aimed to engage students with citizen science and the possible links with the curricula and the
17 SDGs.
Subsequently, the groups of educational designers had to give a more detailed description of
each activity, making reference to how they would organize the classroom, how they had
envisaged the role of the teacher, the necessary infrastructure/ equipment, the supporting
learning materials/ educational tools and resources, the expected learning outcomes and how
they would evaluate the activity. Again, further instructions were given on how to complete each
subfield and the word limit of the text they would produce.

Figure 13: The front page and a page sample of the „educational activities‟ template

4.2.3. The criteria for the selection of the citizen observatories

The selection of the citizen observatories employed in the pedagogical design of the school-
based citizen science projects and activities, which became the subject of several discussions
among the Cos4Cloud project‟s partners during the preparatory phase of the online course, was
based on more than one criterion.
The first criterion was that the selection would be among the partner citizen observatories of the
Cos4Cloud project, at least one representative citizen observatory for biodiversity monitoring
and one for environmental quality. The second key criterion was the issue of language: since
they would be addressed to Greek school students and teachers, the recommendation was to
include only those with a Greek language option. A third criterion was whether a citizen
observatory had been already used with school students and the availability of training and
materials and learning activity sheets.
What also stood out as important criterion for selecting which Cos4Cloud‟s citizen observatories
to use in the co-design of educational scenarios were the preferences of the teachers and

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educational stakeholders themselves, which were collected in the context of specific training
activities. Their personal estimations of the degree each observatory was easy and appropriate
for pedagogical use in Greek schools was also taken into account.
Based on all the above criteria, the following two citizen observatories were selected: Pl@ntnet
and OdourCollect. However, participants were given the option to use any other observatory
they wished from the list of those participating in the Cos4Cloud project. Natusfera was thus a
third choice for some groups who combined it with Pl@ntnet or OdourCollect.

4.2.4. The co-design process of the educational scenarios and activities

The participants were divided into 6 groups of 3 to 4 members. The number of groups and their
synthesis were decided on the criterion to lead to the creation of six individual educational
scenarios as follows:
(a) 3 scenarios for school use in primary education and three in secondary education
(a) 3 scenarios making use of Pl@ntnet and three of OdourCollect.
The two templates were sent to the groups early November 2020. They were all given detailed
instructions about the task, what it involved and how they had to work together and use the
templates to generate the educational scenarios. The first step was to gather, explore and
structure their initial ideas about the educational scenario they had pooled during a previous
stage of their collaboration (October 2020). After that they organised a series of online meetings
(e.g. via Zoom and Webex), since face-to-face meetings were not possible at the time, due to
the Covid-19 pandemic measures and restrictions.
The teams used the two templates and the NKUA‟s instructions as frames for communicating
and structuring their exchanges and co-design. Collaborative authoring was made through
Google Docs. The groups allocated tasks and responsibilities and worked together until the end
of December 2020. The scenarios in their final form were uploaded to the eClass platform by
the end of the first week of January 2021.
In the following section we briefly present each of the six co-designed educational scenarios.

4.3. The six educational scenarios

Educational scenario 1 aims to familiarize students, who are in the last grades of primary
school, with how to conduct citizen science with Pl@ntNet to study plant biodiversity in the field
in two different environments: (a) the suburban forest of Ymittos (in the Attica region), and (b)
their school garden. The students learn to recognize various plant species and distinguish
between endemic and invasive ones; they reflect on the factors affecting the flora biodiversity
(climate change, fires, deforestation, land appropriation, etc.); they create a botanical guide and
a botanical path; and they get in touch with members of the scientific community to build
environmental awareness. This scenario emphasizes engagement and familiarization of young
learners with scientific research. Pl@ntNet is an integral part of the scenario and a tool to foster

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active citizenship in primary education students and open up school education to the local
community.
The environmental issue addressed in educational scenario 2 is odour pollution in the school
and in the neighbourhoods around the school. Primary school students are the target
audience and the focus is on connecting citizen science with EE/ESD. Based on an
interdisciplinary approach and making use of OdourCollect the scenario aims to engage
students with a range of learning activities of a playful and sensory experimentation character.
Students carry out sensory walks, keep odour diaries, create thematic maps and critically
consider the impact of unpleasant odours on people‟s socio-economic life and health, their
interactions with other people and the ways themselves perceive their school environment.
During the implementation of this scenario, students are expected to become „agents of change‟
to promote sustainability in their school and local community. The pedagogical emphasis is on
exploration („experience‟), cognition („awareness‟) and action. The scenario highlights and
draws on the students' emotions and memories of smells in their school/ neighbourhood, to
propose an 'embodied learning' approach to citizen science.

Figure 14: The six educational scenarios co-designed

Educational scenario 3 aims to integrate citizen science into EE/ESD with the use of
Pl@ntNet and OdourCollect. It is addressed to students in the last years of primary
education and invites them to engage in interdisciplinary activities including the creation of
thematic maps, the construction of digital posters and cards and the formulation of their own
proposal for the sustainable regeneration of the former industrial site of the Drapetsona
Fertilizer and Chemical factory. The scenario attempts to link scientific observations and
measurements made with Pl@ntNet for plant identification and with OdourCollect for recording
odours and air pollution incidents, with local history and popular culture perspectives and to

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integrate values and human rights concepts. The scenario can also be adapted and used as
part of a cross-curricular school garden action plan or in the context of an intercultural education
project. The use of tools from two different citizen observatories to „map‟ the quality of the
environment in an urban area of particular environmental concern emphasizes interdisciplinarity,
builds digital competence and an orientation towards action. It also seeks to establish links with
intercultural education through environmental knowledge, local traditions and popular culture.
Educational scenario 4 aims to connect citizen science with EE/ESD through the use of
Pl@ntNet and Natusfera. Through an interdisciplinary approach it engages secondary school
students, teachers, institutions and the academic community in various activities. It turns the
school garden into a learning environment, raises awareness of climate change as a biodiversity
problem, points to individual and social responsibility for addressing it, talks about the need to
create a favourable microclimate in school settings, engages students with designing a green
fence to absorb noise and chemical pollution, initiates a school-based composting project and
raises awareness in the school and the local community. Through a combination of approaches
and types of knowledge, this scenario aims to empower students to address current
sustainability challenges through a scalable model of action that starts at their school. The
school garden serves for experiential and collaborative learning based on the knowledge gained
from using Pl@ntNet and Natusfera.
Educational scenario 5 looks at urban streams and creeks, which it describes as “isles of
biodiversity” in the city. It focuses on the study of invasive/non-native species and the risks of
ecosystemic changes. High school students take on the role of researcher, photograph the
plant species prevalent in a local stream at the Chalandri Creek, identify them via Pl@ntNet,
conduct a literature review search, and take a virtual tour of the area. In addition to raising
awareness of the ecological value of streams, the scenario has a key goal to integrate citizen
science into EE/ESD by promoting practices that generate environmental knowledge and
promote scientific research. It includes a visit to the Environmental Education Centre in
Argyroupoli, which runs a similar educational project on streams (the Pikrodaphne stream). The
scenario combines inquiry and experiential learning, focuses on the study and promotion of
urban biodiversity and emphasises the students' understanding and familiarisation with scientific
research and the cultivation of their critical and inquiry thinking.
Finally, educational scenario 6 attempts to link citizen science with EE/ESD and Oral History,
based on the use of OdourCollect and the International Citizens Observatory for Odours.
Secondary school students, teachers, the local community and other stakeholders are
envisaged to engage in an interdisciplinary project to highlight the problem of odour pollution in
contemporary cities through the collection of oral history narratives.
Besides, students construct a digital sensory map of place-based odours, which they enrich with
local citizens‟ stories. They also develop a sense of their local community‟s odours and become
motivated to take the role of active citizens and identify local environmental problems. The aim
is that students develop a competence to combine different genres of knowledge, such as
measurements of environmental quality (via OdourCollect) with intergenerational stories from
their community (via oral history) and integrate them into a whole to contextualize and pursue
local sustainable development.

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In addition, the students will construct a digital sensory map of place-based odours, which they
will enrich with stories collected from local citizens. They will also develop a sense of the odours
in their local community and become motivated to take on the role of active citizens and identify
local environmental problems. The aim is for students to develop the competence to combine
different types of evidence, such as that from environmental quality measurements (through
OdourCollect) with that from intergenerational stories collected from members of their
community (through oral history) and integrate them into a whole to frame local sustainable
development

4.4. The evaluation of the six educational scenarios

The evaluation of the educational scenarios was carried out on two levels:
(a) the content level of the educational scenario
(b) the process level of the co-design and co-production of the scenario
In relation to the content-level evaluation, thematic analysis was performed in the textual
descriptions of the educational scenarios, looking for common and different themes. Thematic
analysis moves beyond counting words and phrases and focuses on identifying and describing
both explicit and implicit ideas within the data, that is „themes‟. Codes are then typically
developed to represent the identified themes and applied or linked to raw data as summary
markers for later analysis (Guest et al., 2012). Our analysis was based on the following criteria:
 The scenario ID (title, team members, keywords, core theme, central
environmental/sustainability issue addressed, grade /class /age group, total duration/
number of phases, summary)
 The link between citizen science and EE/ESD
 Pedagogical use of the citizen science digital tools Pl@ntnet – OdourCollect
 Pedagogical innovation and added value
 Strengths and weaknesses of the ideas and the scenario‟s deployment
 Activities that can be adjusted and used in the Covid-19 period
 Overall appraisal of the scenario
The analysis was performed by the NKUA team. The participants/ educational designers were
informed about the results of the analysis in the feedback the NKUA team gave to the groups
during the final review meeting of the online training course. This feedback was provided at two
levels: i) in the form of general comments on all scenarios, ii) as individualized comments on
each scenario. A discussion was then held on the designers‟ overall experience of participating
in the co-design process. Based on the feedback they received the groups were given the
option to refine their scenarios. Moreover, some participants tweaked their scenarios after
implementing them in real school conditions.
The process-level evaluation examined the co-design and co-production processes of the
scenarios. The aim was to document the educational designers‟ experience and self-reflection
during the entire process. This evidence was elicited in two ways:

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i) through group-reflection reports the NKUA invited specific educational designers to

produce 6 months after the completion of their scenario; and
ii) via individual interviews conducted with 13 course co-designers of educational
scenarios between 5/1/2022 and 16/1/2022.
Narrative analysis as a qualitative research methodology (De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2019;
Clandinin, 2019) will be used to analyze the narrative accounts (both personal and collective) of
educational designers about their experience of co-designing and co-producing their
educational scenarios. At the time of drafting this report none of the data collected had been
subjected to analysis.
In the following, we present the written reports of group reflections collected from the members
of two "scenario groups": the group of educational scenario 2 and the group of educational
scenario 6.

GROUP REFLECTION on the co-design of educational scenario 2: “Scent of a

school...scent of a neighborhood”
Having gained from my participation in the training course a fairly comprehensive understanding
of what „citizen science‟ is, our involvement in the co-design of the educational scenario was an
opportunity to put this knowledge into practice.
When we came together for the first time as a group, we felt it was a real challenge, because we
were asked to work with people we did not know very well and, in fact, from a distance.
However, our initial embarrassment and any feelings of uncertainty receded almost immediately
the first online contact, as soon as we became familiar with each other and quickly realized that
we shared a lot, such as our passion for EE/ESD and the need to experiment with new ideas
and practices, such as citizen science.
So, right from the start of this project our excitement was already high. However, we needed to
get organised to meet our commitments. We agreed to follow a schedule and proceed step by
step to accomplish one goal after the other. This, of course, was not an easy task, as we had to
balance our personal and professional commitments to allow time for our group meetings at
specific and regular time slots (twice a week).
However, where there‟s a will, there‟s a way. So, from the very beginning we formed the agenda
of topics we wanted to deal with. We distributed responsibilities based on our personal interests,
skills and strengths. We all contributed in our own way, each of us from their own perspective,
each providing something the others had not thought of. And so there was a diversity of views
and ideas. We spoke freely and frankly and exchanged views all the time in an attempt to
produce the best possible outcome. This process was very creative, and we felt there was a
sense of solidarity, mutual respect and understanding. Each complemented the other, we felt
we belonged to a team with a common purpose and vision, and were content with what we had
accomplished.

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There were some moments of disagreement, which we tried to settle right away. It is important
to have mutual understanding and support all the time, since at any moment something
unexpected may happen to change the plans. It is also important to speak our minds bravely,
without hesitating to admit weaknesses or any lack of knowledge out of fear of looking "less
capable" in the eyes of others.
What is needed is a positive attitude, willingness to experiment and openness to new
challenges. These are qualities that were present in our team and have been a driving force
throughout our collaboration. The completion of the scenario made us feel proud of our work,
but also somewhat uneasy at the end, as we realized that another productive collaboration was
coming to an end. Luckily, reality proved us wrong, as our acquaintance and collaboration and
sense of belonging to a community became the springboard for new collaborations thereafter.
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GROUP REFLECTION on the co-design of educational scenario 6: “Our city‟s odours and
their history. Mapping odours with OdourCollect”

Our group created the scenario “Our city‟s odours and their history” which involved the use of
OdourCollect. Our meetings were held online via Webex. The first meeting was in October 2020
just to exchange our initial ideas. These ideas were sharpened in the following two meetings
(November and December 2020), when we were handed thescenario template by the NKUA
team to work on it. The deadline for submitting our scenario was end of December. However,
we asked for an extension until the end of the first week of January, due to an already heavy
workload on this period.
In our first meeting we identified the rationale, the method, and the tools we would use. We
decided to combine citizen science with Oral History (OH) and integrate them both in an
EE/ESD program. The techniques we had agreed on to use for teaching included brainstorming,
the construction of a concept map, conducting interviews, a digital map of the city‟s odours and
their history, the latter serving the dual purpose of a teaching method and as students‟
assignment.
The other two members of our group are environmental educators at the CEE of Elefsina, quite
experienced in the production of educational material and the implementation of EE programs
for schools visiting the Centre. I am a teacher, quite experienced in the implementation of
school-based EE projects.
As we were working out the individual phases of the scenario, we wondered whether to use the
OdourCollect app in each phase and how we could draw connections with the goals set out for
each phase. We were also puzzled about whether both activities should make use of the
OdourCollect app and to what extent OH and citizen science were sharing common things. How
could we design the scenario so that students can learn and work with OH and citizen science
in the same activity for combining different sources of data. Another concern was how to go
about creating specific activity sheets for each of the two activities we had to design and

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whether to include them in the Appendix or attach them as separate files. We finally decided to
go for the latter.
In terms of how to best use the OdourCollect app we revisited the webinar‟s material and the
teaching practices we had worked with (such as the “odour diaries” and the “school
ambassadors”). We carefully studied the tools available in the OdourCollect platform. The D-
NOSES platform gave us access to European laws and studies on odour pollution and the legal
actions filed in connection with the Greek reality. We downloaded the app on our mobiles to
identify diverse odours in our area, recorded the process, documented the terminology used
and incorporated it into our scenario‟s activities, just like we did with the concept map. Having
tested the app ourselves we could guide the students on how to use it as required in the second
phase of the scenario.
Our cooperation was meaningful and intensive. We created a shared document which we
gradually completed, corrected, and commented on. My cooperation with Nadia from the CEE of
Elefsina was very dense. We communicated daily over the last two weeks before the deadline.
Besides the online document we communicated by phone and videoconferencing. We are both
very meticulous and perfectionists. Our collaboration was creative, with some tensions occurring
sometimes but never reaching a tipping point. We especially focused on the final editing of the
content and the consistent use of the terminology.
I collaborated once more with the same scenario group in February-March 2021, to transfer our
Phase 1 in a distance learning program format (on the Webex platform), since we were in the
period of Covid-19 lockdown. We decided to use more digital tools (such as the padlet and
mentimeter), shared documents, breakout rooms and screen sharing. Then we split the tasks.
The CEE educators and I who would implement the scenario with my students at the High
School of Metamorphosi facilitated two of the three online meetings with a group of students. To
coordinate the implementation, we held a preliminary online meeting with the second member of
the teaching team. Then, for Phase 2, I guided my students remotely with presentations I had
prepared and posted on the eClass platform. These presentations showed how to record odours
with the OdourCollect app. I had also created a virtual Google Map, where each student would
document locations where odours were detected and register them on route (e.g., home-
school).
The third time our group collaborated was in May 2021 to present our scenario. This is when the
NKUA team gave us feedback on our work and instructions how to refine our scenarios. At this
stage, we added another activity in Phase 3, where students engaged in OH with old residents
on the history of the city‟s odours. They added these stories to the digital sensory map they had
created in Phase 2with scientists and experts on air pollution, to offer a scientific background to
the oral accounts they had collected. Such an addition was an advantage for the
presentation/dissemination of results (Phase 4). Finally, we incorporated the activity sheets into
the scenario.
If I had to share with you a concluding comment, I would say that the collaborative effortswe
offered to create this educational scenario were one of my longest, most immersive, lively and
creative experiences.

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4.5. Synthesis and a reflective comment on the six scenarios

Each of the six scenarios is unique in terms of the theme and scope employed and focuses on a
different environmental issue. All scenarios have set clearly defined objectives and propose
interesting and innovative methods of implementation. They also put forth a variety of
approaches. They all share a number of common quality features, which are the following:
● They are accompanied by creative, realistic and pedagogically informed activities and
employ a range of integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to learning;
● They promote active and experiential learning and seek to develop critical thinking,
action skills and scientific/environmental literacies;
● They emphasize the use of digital tools and foster creative thinking;
● They aim to engage students with learning and improving their school and local
communities and involve them in addressing issues of local concern.
Regarding the integration of citizen science in EE/ESD practice the six scenarios propose this to
be accomplished at four levels, as illustrated in indicative activities of the scenarios:
a) At a first level, students are introduced to citizen science, with the aim to develop an
understanding of the key concepts, to realize what is about and why we need citizen
science, what are the citizen observatories and their platforms, and to get familiar with
their usage.
b) At a second level, students observe, record and upload field-based data on the
Cos4Cloud project‟s CO platforms, data on plant biodiversity or odours, which they
collect at different areas and settings: their school, neighborhood, local park/ forest, a
former industrial area, an urban creek, etc. They identify changes in the environments or
problems that need to be addressed. This involvement brings up recollections and
emotions which engage students more actively in the educational process.
c) The third level includes the development of specific scientific competences in students.
The students act as research apprentices who participate in the design of field studies in
the natural or social sciences. They also apply more than one scientific perspective and
combine quantitative with qualitative data, i.e. by conducting interviews and literature
reviews, administering questionnaires, comparing cases, etc.
d) The fourth level attempts to achieve a deeper integration of citizen science into the
educational process. It aims at empowering the students to become active citizens and
agents of change, get more actively involved in their local community, highlight real
problems and seek for effective and more sustainable solutions. The students‟
engagement with their local environments is designed to take place in various ways: by
creating biodiversity trails on their school grounds, asking the Mayor to listen to what
they have to say, making concrete proposals how to redevelop their local environments,
rolling up their sleeves and participating in planting activities, writing down the results of
their study and presenting them in community awareness activities.

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5. IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF SCHOOL-

BASED CITIZEN SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS AND
ACTIVITIES

5.1. Introduction
As already outlined in Section 1, the main focus of Sub-Task 6.4.2 is to develop and put into
action a General Design Model of interconnected tasks and initiatives through which “a range
of school-based CS designs making use of the CO platforms will be implemented and evaluated
with the collaboration of local partners”. In the previous sections we reported on the actions that
enabled “the set-up and evaluation of innovative school-based citizen-science activities
making use of the Cos4Cloud project‟s technologies”. In this section we present the
implementation and evaluation of five Greek school case studies that integrated two
Cos4Cloud project‟s citizen observatories: Pl@ntnet and OdourCollect. We also describe the
methodological approach to evaluate the learning potential and educational impact of these
educational projects and present some preliminary results.
These 5 case studies were the follow-up to the online teacher training course and the creation
of the educational scenarios. More particularly, 5 Greek teachers, former participants in the
online course and educational designers of the developed educational scenarios, carried out
citizen science educational projects in their schools in collaboration with other colleagues and
co-trainees. Although at the start of the project we had much higher expectations in terms of the
number of case studies we could have achieved, given the upheaval caused by the pandemic in
all areas of social life and activity, including school education, we are very pleased that these 5
Greek case studies were carried out. The operation of schools and all educational processes
had to comply with public protection measures for a very long time and all teaching and learning
shifted to a distance (online) level. A large number of extracurricular activities that were
regularly organized every school year were suspended. Therefore, the implementation of these
out-of-school curricula during the spring school term 2020-2021 was considered a great
success and an indicator of the quality and effectiveness of our approach.
In the following sections we present the methodology used to evaluate the school case studies.
We also report on the case studies and provide a preliminary analysis of the data collected from
the narrative reports produced by the teachers.

5.2. Case study methodology for reporting and evaluating the case
studies
The approach employed to collect, analyze and evaluate the school case studies is case study
methodology. According to Merriam (1998) this is a qualitative research and evaluation
paradigm that involves researchers in “an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a
bounded phenomenon such as a program, an institution, a person, a process, or a social unit”

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(p. xiii). The distinctive characteristics of this methodological approach are that it focuses on
particular cases; it is mainly descriptive and aims to shed light on better understanding them.
Case study research is mostly or exclusively based on qualitative data and employs data
collection techniques, such as interviews, observations, and document review. It draws data
from multiple sources of evidence to capture the cases under study in their complexity.The
analysis of case studies is a process of „meaning-making‟ of the data collected that “involves
consolidating, reducing, and interpreting what people have said and what the researcher has
seen and read” (p. 178). Narrative analysis is among the methods usually employed for analysis
and triangulation among the strategies to enhance internal validity. According to Merriam
(1998), “the analysis becomes more intensive as the study progresses and once all data are
collected” (p. 155). This is why a preliminary analysis of the data may lead to changes in the
successive phases of the research.
In the Cos4Cloud project, case study methodology will be used for the evaluation of school-
based educational projects and activities, which were designed and implemented to promote
citizen science through EE with the use of Cos4Cloud CO platforms and tools. The focus of
evaluation is on exploring specific facets of their implementation, and more particularly their (a)
learning potential (b) educational impact in cultivating an environmentally and scientifically
literate and active citizenry. Qualitative data will be drawn from more than one sources of
evidence and collected via (a) narrative accounts, i.e, reflective reports on the implementation
of the school educational projects and activities written by the teachers who carried them out,
and (b) interviews with the teachers and other contributors to the implementation of the
projects.
Narrative analysis will be conducted with a focus on illuminating the teachers‟ experience of
implementing the educational scenarios (De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2019; Clandinin, 2019).
We are particularly interested in how teachers as former trainees and educational designers of
the scenarios implemented have transferred their knowledge into practice; and how they assess
the learning potential and educational impact of these projects. Findings will provide evidence-
based input to European and national policy-makers and inform a new citizen science paradigm
better aligned to the EOSC idea and implementation.

5.3. Qualitative data collection for the case studies

The collection of evaluative data will be based on the combination of two sources of qualitative
data: a) teachers‟ narratives accounts; and b) interviews with them.
Narrative accounts of the implementation of the school-based educational projects in the form
of reflective reports are the first source of qualitative evidence to be used. They will be collected
from the teachers who designed and carried out the school projects. To facilitate the teachers‟
reflection and to structure case studies reporting and analysis the NKUA team designed a case
study report and evaluation form which was sent to the teachers. The form asked them to
briefly present the identity of their educational action. This was followed by a short description in
which they had to explain the connection with the educational scenarios or activities created in
the online course, the phases of project‟s development and the pedagogical use of the

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platform/tools used. The teachers' personal reflections were then recorded, focusing on what
they thought the students learned the added pedagogical value of using the CO platform/tools,
the literacies developed and the wider educational impact. Finally, teachers were asked to state
by responding to a short questionnaire what they thought the contribution of the Cos4Cloud
project and the importance of citizen science for education was.
The analysis of the raw data collected from the five case studies reports led to the generation of
a profile for each case study. In addition to the analysis of the reflective reports individual
interviews were conducted with the five teachers between 5/1/2022 and 16/1/2022. Narrative
analysis will be used to analyze the teachers‟ experience based on the interview data. At the
time of drafting this report none of the interviews collected had been subjected to analysis.

5.4. Report and evaluation of the 5 case studies based on the teachers‟
narrative accounts
In this section we present the information collected through the reporting and evaluation forms
completed by the teachers in an organized and structured manner and for each case study
separately. More specifically, the data collected from the teachers‟ reflective narrative accounts
were subjected to a first-level analysis. From this process, the important information for each
educational project that conveys the perspective of the teacher in charge was selected. It is
presented here in a structured, sufficiently informative and concise format.
A common way of presenting this information for each case was adopted, based on the
elaboration and use of a generic template. This shared scheme was intended to make it easier
to identify the points of interest for the evaluation and facilitate a second-level of analysis for
each case thereafter as well as cross-case analysis.
The 5 case studies implemented and reported here are:
1. Exploring the school yard‟s flora with Pl@ntnet
2. Greening the schoolyard with Pl@ntnet as a compass
3. Using OdourCollect to create an olfactory map of the city
4. Walking with Pl@ntnet in the archeological neighborhoods of Athens
5. Walking with GPS and identifying with Pl@ntnet
Four of the case studies have taken place in secondary (2 in upper and 2 in lower secondary)
schools and one in a primary school. Four of them have been based on the use of Pl@ntnet
and one on OdourCollect. Three case studies have used the school itself as the field of
research, implementation and/or intervention, and more specifically the school garden, the
school yard and/or the school neighborhood, while the other two were conducted in the city or
at sites of special interest (e.g. archaeological sites). The use of the CO apps was primarily for
identifying plants (i.e., in the schoolyard or an archaeological site) or to record odours (i.e., in an
urban environment) and connect them with environmental problems. The case studies made
use of 4 of the 6 educational scenarios (namely, 3, 4, 5 and 6)
The analysis of the teachers‟ reflective narrative accounts is still in progress and more detailed
results and discussion will be presented in the final report.
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School Case Study #1

Exploring the school yard’s flora with Pl@ntnet

The case study in a nutshell

Project’s title: "The magical world of plants – Changing the schoolyard with Pl@ntnet".
School: 2ndJunior High School of Melissia
Educational level/ Grade: Lower secondary school (Gymnasium)/ 9th grade
Students age level: 15
Participating students: 14
Teacher in charge: Mrs Christina Kalatha (Math educator)
Subjects: Biology, Geology [plants (definition, parts, function), climate change, biodiversity,
microclimate], Language/Literature [texts & myths, creative writing], Maths [counting plants,
measuring quantities (temperature, distances etc.), distribution, graphical representations],
Social and Civic Education [democratic participation, human rights, urbanization], Computer-
based learning [internet search, collaborative documents], Design [garden architecture],
Visual arts [plant-themed paintings, land art], Linguistics [Latin vocabulary of scientific terms,
English]
Duration: February - May 2021
Teaching hours: 18
Cos4Cloud CO: Pl@ntnet / Educational Scenario: 4

Implementation: the teacher’s review

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The educational project I carried out with 14 students of my school’s Environmental

Education team was based on the educational scenario I collaboratively designed with three
more co-trainees in the context of the
EEL/NKUA online training course. The
scenario was titled "The magical world of
plants as a means of protecting life" and
aimed to engage students in exploring and
studying the flora in their school garden at
different seasons of the year. It was not
limited there, however, but sought to
empower students through scientific
insights to develop their own plan for new
plantings that would both enhance the
beauty of the school grounds and also fit
the Mediterranean climate of our country.
The project started in February 2021, while Greek schools were still in lockdown and all
courses were held online. The students were initially informed about Pl@ntnet in the
meetings I had with them on Webex. Using screen sharing on my computer, I presented the
Pl@ntnet app and how to work with it, providing several examples of plant identifications
based on photographs I had taken myself. I then showed my students how to install the
Pl@ntnet app on their mobile phones. They then did some practice themselves by using the
app on their daily walks to identify plants and trees in their domestic areas, thus providing
new data to the Pl@ntnet platform and sharing information about the area's biodiversity.
We then gathered together and I asked them for their feedback. All the students found the
Pl@ntnet app an exciting and powerful tool to get information about the flora.

Upon the students’ return back to school, I dedicated some teaching hours to work with
them on the idea and practice of citizen science. I also made a more detailed presentation of
the Pl@ntnet platform with a focus on the ways it can help users observe and record plants.
I demonstrated that by clicking on the scientific term of a plant (in Latin) a world map shows
up where one could get a picture of the areas the plant grows. I also explained how one can
find more information about the flowering season of a plant, depending on whether it grows
in the northern or southern hemisphere. The students were then divided into pairs and
worked on a field study. They followed an organized environmental path in their schoolyard,
exploring different parts of the yard, taking pictures of the plants with their mobile phones
and identifying them with the Pl@ntNet app. They made a record of all plants along the path
and categorized their collected data on a database table.On this occasion, I used this as an
opportunity of teach about the math concept of distribution and the construction of curves
to represent a plant’s spatial span across the globe and the seasonal changes in its cycles of
life during the year.
The students were then entered into a discussion about the validity of their identifications.

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They looked on the World Wide Web to find supplementary sources to check the results for
identifying each plant species they recorded through the Pl@ntnet platform. They thus
realized that, first, this is part of a rigorous and collectively built and shared scientific
procedure which Pl@ntnet platform enabled them to have access to depending on the
quality of the photographs uploaded to it, the correct angle of the captured photos and the
density of the photo posts and related annotations by large numbers of the platform’s
community.
The project, still in progress, continues in the current school year 2021-2022 with new goals
and activities.

Evaluation: the teacher’s self-reflection

The three most important learning gains for my students participating in this
educational project are…
1) the development of new digital skills through their engagement with challenging digital
tools, 2) the experience they gained by observing and recording the urban nature in their
everyday environments, and 3) the nurturing of a sense of place and belonging, after
realizing that their life is strongly connected to their city's natural environment and after
recognizing the value of nature in urban spaces.

In terms of environmental literacy, my students were enabled to…

realize that flora is linked to and dependent on the environmental conditions of an urban
area and affected by seasonal and climate changes. They also realised that an area’s flora
and biodiversity can also affect the micro-climatic conditions of the place.

In terms of scientific literacy, my students were enabled to…

learn more about the plants species in their living area and their schoolyard. They were also
trained how to identify them and name them both in Greek and in their formal scientific
term in Latin. Finally, the students realized that scientific knowledge is based on an educated
way of thinking that makes use of a sequence of standard scientific processes and criteria
and that technology may become a powerful tool towards these goals.

In terms of citizenship literacy, my students were enabled to…

develop an active and participatory stance towards recording, studying and improving urban
nature and contributing to the greening of their school environments. This a starting point
for shaping an identity of responsible citizenship towards local sustainability.

The added pedagogical value brought in by the use of the CO platform/app was…
that the students benefited from using a new digital tool for doing science and learning
about nature in their school education. Science became a fun topic to address in outdoor
classroom activities, without losing their focus on the need to ensure rigorous scientific

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procedures should be and how technology may add to it.

Implementing this educational project was a teaching challenge for me because…

It triggered me to apply the knowledge I gained from the EEL/NKUA online training course in
my school practice. It also gave me the incentives and challenged me to work with my
students with fresh ideas and new tools based on digital technologies.

Besides my students learning, the project’s impact on the school community…

On the occasion of this educational activity I carried out, other teachers in my school learned
about Citizen Science and the Pl@ntNet platform and they might use it in their school
practice.

The project’s impact on the local community…

The students have shared with their family and friends the knowledge and experience with
the project in general and especially with Pl@ntNet platform. Therefore, these new ideas
and tools are now spreading in the community.

The project’s impact on promoting sustainability…

I could consider such educational activities essential in promoting sustainability, because
raising awareness on issues of biodiversity in the urban environment is a significant
challenge in our days.

Final notes: the teacher’s appraisal

Support for implementing this school educational project came from…
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

a. Participation in the online Χ

training course run by NKUA
helped me implement this
eductional project.
b. Participation in the Χ
development of an educational
scenario helped me implement
this educational project.

Regarding the integration on Citizen Science and Citizen Observatories in school

education, I believe that…
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

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c. Having an educational Χ
scenario is helpful for a teacher
in order to implement relevant
educationl activities.

d. Citizen Science fits in and can Χ

be integrated in the school
currculum.

e. Citizen Science fits in and can Χ

be combined with
Environmental Education for
the benefit of both.
f. The introduction to the Χ
various Citizen Observatories
and the services they offer a
well as their pedagogical use
needs to be suported through
more training courses for
teachers.

Intention for future implementation

Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

g. I am open/ positively inclined Χ

to implement educational
activities that make good use of
Citizen Science and the Citizen
Observatories in the future.

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School Case Study #2

Greening the schoolyard with Pl@ntNet
The case study in a nutshell
Project’s title: "The magical world of plants as a means of protecting life. In the schoolyard
with Pl@ntNet".
School: 7thSenior High School of Piraeus
Educational level/Grade: Lyceum (Upper Secondary Education)/14th Grade
Students age level: 17
Participating students: 10
Teachers in charge: Mrs Smaragda Kollia (Agronomist)
Subjects: Biology, Geology, Computer science, Design arts, Physical education
Duration: December 2020 - April 2021
Teaching hours: 30
Cos4Cloud CO: Pl@ntNet/ Educational Scenario: 4

Implementation: the teacher’s review

In the tiny courtyard of our school, which rested uncultivated for years and suffocating in the
urban environment, where one could find only small flowerbeds, we had a great challenge,
both environmental and learning, to face: how to engage students in "greening" our daily
school life. I participated in the
EEL/NKUA online training course and
this was what we had in mind when
my team decided on the focus of our
educational scenario we called "The
magical world of plants as a means
of protecting life".
I used this educational scenario as a
guide to carry out this school project
with my students. The main
objective was to create a new
‘learning space’ for the students by actively involving them in upgrading our schoolyard. So,

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with the Pl@ntNet application on their mobiles, the students first identified all existing
plants in the schoolyard. They recorded them and then searched for more information
about them. They considered each of them separately by applying both scientific and
environmental criteria. They also checked whether these plants are suitable for the climate
conditions of our area. Using the same criteria, the students looked for new and more
suitable plants for the schoolyard, while they also addressed the issue of climate change.
Then, based on their search and study, the needs of the school community and the
environmental and climate conditions of the area, the students designed their schoolyard
with their suggested new plantings. In this task my role as agronomist was to guide and
advise them on the different choices they considered.
And we did it! Following these steps and with much personal hard work we managed to
“green” the schoolyard with a variety of plants: flowering plants that bloom and give off
lovely smells (i.e., we created a green fence by a climbing honeysuckle), seasonal vegetable
gardens (such as a small vegetable garden to grow lettuces and onions in winter and
tomatoes, eggplants, zucchinis, okras, peppers, and watermelons in summer), a grove of
trees (with one mandarin, one lemon and one orange tree and two lilac trees), a small
garden with aromatic plants (such as lavender, thyme and rosemary), another one with
some bulbous plants (freesias and crocus), as well as plants such as citronella, a piece of
mesquite for ground cover, and a rose bush. These came to join the Mediterranean redbud,
the flame trees, a moon trefoil tree, and the oleanders.
Our educational project didn’t come to an end and will go on next year. In the long run we
hope to empower our students how to design and build a green space from scratch, not only
a school garden but any other open space in their neighborhoods or local communities. Our
focus is on local sustainability and we aim to contribute to create ‘greener’ cities. We would
like to see our students working to the direction of improving not only the aesthetic part of
their places, but also to take action towards more sustainable solutions in favour of
mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Evaluation: the teacher’s self-reflection

The three most important learning gains for my students participating in this
educational project are…
(a) plants are important elements in our lives in modern cities, (b) not any plants are suitable
for any place, (c) climate change has an impact on the plants that grow in our living places
and vice versa.

In terms of environmental literacy, my students were enabled to…

develop understandings on how we, the humans, and nature are on a symbiotic relationship
and that we need adapt to climate change even in our everyday life and choices, such as
when it comes to select the plants to grow in our schoolyard or even in the balcony of our

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home.

In terms of scientific literacy, my students were enabled to…

to identify plant species as living organisms and ecological factors; and to understand how
they affect and are affected by the environmental conditions around them.

In terms of citizenship literacy, my students were enabled to…

come across new ways of participating as environmental stewards to investigate and
advance the environmental quality of urban spaces in their school and local communities.
They were also enabled to recognize the importance of working towards sustainability by
promoting a harmonious coexistence with nature and by seeking ways to successfully adapt
to climate change.

The added pedagogical value brought in by the use of the CO platform/app was…
that the students had the opportunity to identify any plant they came across using only their
mobile phones. The app also provided them with interesting and useful information and
helped them make their planting choices for their area more easily.

Implementing this educational project was a teaching challenge for me because…

The school is located in an urban area with low levels of vegetation and thus they had no
many plants to identify.

Besides my students’ learning, the project’s impact on the school community…

is that, despite the difficulties, we managed to turn our schoolyard into a green urban space
spot by following on an integrated scientific and environmental approach.

The project’s impact on the local community…

starts from the fact that our school approach and action became an example for the
community. Moreover, our new school grounds are there, greener and welcoming and our
plans are now to change the whole neighborhood by turning it into ‘a green breath of life’.

The project’s impact on promoting sustainability…

it was the experience we gained by working towards sustainability in our city, all the new
sustainable practices we adopted (such as composting) and the fact that we recognized the
value of urban biodiversity and the importance of sustainable coexistence to deal with the
climate change challenges.

Final notes: the teacher’s appraisal

Support for implementing this school educational project came from…
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

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a. Participation in the Χ
online training course
run by NKUA helped me
implement this
educational project.

b. Participation in the Χ
development of an
educational scenario
helped me implement
this educational project.

Regarding the integration on Citizen Science and Citizen Observatories in school

education, I believe that…
Strongly agree Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree disagree disagree

c. Having an educational Χ
scenario is helpful for a
teacher in order to
implement relevant
educational activities.

d. Citizen Science fits in Χ

and can be integrated in
the school curriculum.

e. Citizen Science fits in Χ

and can be combined
with Environmental
Education for the
benefit of both.
f. The introduction to Χ
the various Citizen
Observatories and the
services they offer as
well as their pedagogical
use needs to be
supported through
more training courses
for teachers.

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Intention for future implementation

Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

g. I am open/ Χ
positively inclined
to implement
educational
activities that make
good use of Citizen
Science and the
Citizen
Observatories in
the future.

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School Case Study #3

Using OdourCollect to create an olfactory map of the city

The case study in a nutshell

Title: “The odours of our city and their stories - Mapping environmental odours
with OdourCollect”
School: 1st General Lyceum of Metamorphosis
Educational level/Grade: Lyceum (Upper Secondary Education School) /11th grade
Students age level: 16-17
Participating students: 21
Teachers in charge: Anna Trigatzi (Teacher of Greek Language & Literature) – Alexandra Ilia
(School’s Headmaster and Teacher of Biology)
Subjects: Philosophy (“Humans & Natural Environment”) – Biology (“The ecosystem”)
Duration: March - May 2021
Teaching hours: 8
Cos4Cloud CC: OdourCollect / Educational Scenario: 6

Implementation: the teacher’s review

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During the school year 2020-2021, the educational

activities we implemented in our school are linked to
the scenario we co-designed with other fellow trainees
in the context of the EEL/NKUA online training course.
What we actually did was to put into action Phase 1 of
our scenario and Activities 1and 3 of Phase 2.In
particular, we adapted Phase 1 so as to be carried out
entirely through distance education, because at the
time the schools were on lockdown due to the Covid-
19 pandemic.
More precisely, in our first meeting with the students
(2 teaching hours), we run Activity 1(of Phase 1),
which aims to stimulate the senses, especially the
sense of smell. We used Padlet and Google docs. The
students took a photo of the view from the window or
balcony of their house and posted it on the Padlet with
comments on how they felt about the smells emitted.
Activity 2 (of Phase 1) was about how to connect bad odours with environmental problems
followed by an introduction to citizen science, and Activity 3 (of Phase 1) included a
presentation of the platform of the International Odour Observatory. We implement them
both during our second and third meetings (2 and 1 teaching hour respectively) with the
students. We also invited our co-designers of the scenario, the environmental educators of
the Elefsina Centre for Environmental Education (CEE). In Activity 2 we worked with: (a)
worksheets that included brainstorming about the smells of the city, the results of which
were presented as a word cloud map, (b) a conceptual map about smells, their causes and
consequences as well as the emotions they evoke, and (c)pictures of the city, which the
students -divided into breakout rooms in ‘Webex’ distance learning platform- had to
associate with odours, to characterize and evaluate according to specific criteria and to
present to the plenary session.

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We talked about the city of Elefsina and the environmental problems it faces that are
reflected in bad odours. Playing the song "The nightmare of Persephone" by the Greek well-
known composer Manos Hadjidakis we displayed in the screen typical photos of the city. We
finally used (mentimeter) to create a short questionnaire and asked students to share their
views and reactions as a feedback and evaluate the content knowledge and awareness they
developed. The introduction to the concept of citizen science and the presentation of
OdourCollect (Activity 3) was done by screen sharing the OdourCollect platform's webpage
during our third group meeting.
The Activities 1 and 3 of Phase 2 were assigned to the students through the e-Class.
However, instructions on how to download and use the OdourCollect app to register
uncommon odours in their environments were given when we all met from close, after the
schools’ re-opening. A smaller group of students created with the use of Google Maps an
environmental path that went from home to school, based on which they recorded the
identified odours in the OdourCollect app. Finally, in Activity 3 the students posted on the
digital map they had created a photo of the spot where they registered each odour in the
OdourCollect app and accompanied with a comment on the type of odour.
Apart from the necessary adaptations we brought about to turn the implementation of the
activities to run online, we followed entirely the scenario we created. The two school
teachers worked together with the environmental educators from Elefsina CEE, each of us
taking the responsibility for certain activities. Activities (1, 2, 3) of Phase 1 aimed to get
students to reflect on the connection between odours and environmental problems and to
familiarize them with the terms, concepts and rationale of the OdourCollect platform. In
Phase 2, where we have mainly integrated the use of OdourCollect app, the students who
implemented Activities 1 & 3designed the environmental path, walked around the siteto
inspect the odours and then posted the recorded incidents on the digital map, either each
one individually or in pairs. The project as implemented was presented at the annual school
meeting for environmental education organized by the 2ndAthens Education Directorate.

Evaluation: the teacher’s self-refection

The three most important learning gains for my students participating in this
educational project are…
(a) the awaken of their senses by applying a more-than-cognitive approach to get to know
their neighborhood,
(b) the correlation of odours with environmental quality and
(c) the use of digital tools as an alternative way of learning about environmental issues in
the context of distance education.

In terms of environmental literacy, my students were enabled to…

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connect odours with environmental quality.

In terms of scientific literacy, my students were enabled to…

get in touch with scientific research conducted worldwide and in Greece (the D-Noses
project).

In terms of citizenship literacy, my students were enabled to…

develop new content knowledge and skills (digital and other) to become more actively
engaged in mapping and claiming environmental quality in their local community.

The added pedagogical value brought in by the use of the CO platform/app was…
that the students became aware of how odours can be an indicator of environmental
quality. They also realized how helpful is a comprehensive and descriptive visualization of
various such incidents in the region, such as on an international map of odours.

Implementing this educational project was a teaching challenge for me because…

I had to link the theory of citizen science and COs with the practice of environmental
education in an imaginative and well-structured educational scenario. The fact that I had
to implement the activity through distance learning was a big challenge too.

Besides my students’ learning, the project’s impact on the school community …

wasthat citizen science as a concept and practice was introduced to the school community
and that our school cooperated with a European project that promotes the coupling of
educational practice with educational research and innovation.

The project’s impact on the local community….

is aimed to be, when the project will be completed, the creation of an odour map of the
city. This map will be an important achievement as it will depict the links between
environmental issues and the local oral history.

The project’s impact on promoting sustainability…

is related to the fact that the educational project promotes a holistic view of the
environment and addresses sustainability issues. By making use of an interdisciplinary
approach the project promotes a new understanding of environmental quality and
empowers students to explore and claim the conditions that lead to it in their community.

Final notes: the teacher’s appraisal

Support for implementing this school educational project came from…
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

a. Participation in the Χ

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online training course

run by NKUA helped me
implement this
educational project.

b. Participation in the Χ
development of an
educational scenario
helped me implement
this educational project.

Regarding the integration on Citizen Science and Citizen Observatories in school

education, I believe that…
Strongly agree Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree disagree disagree

c. Having an Χ
educational
scenario is helpful
for a teacher in
order to implement
relevant
educational
activities.

d. Citizen Science Χ
fits in and can be
integrated in the
school curriculum.
e. Citizen Science Χ
fits in and can be
combined with
Environmental
Education for the
benefit of both.

f. The introduction Χ
to the various
Citizen
Observatories and
the services they
offer as well as their
pedagogical use

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needs to be
supported through
more training
courses for
teachers.

Intention for future implementation

Strongly agree Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree disagree disagree

g. I am open/ Χ
positively inclined
to implement
educational
activities that make
good use of Citizen
Science and the
Citizen
Observatories in
the future.

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School Case Study #4

Walking with Pl@ntnet
in the archaeological neighbourhoods of Athens
The case study in a nutshell
Title: «Plants in Athens archaeological sites: the Hill of Nymphs, Ancient Agora, Keramikos”
School: 3rdPrimary School of Korydallos
Educational level/Grade: Primary Education/ 6th grade
Students age level: 12
Participating students: 21
Teacher in charge: Christos Godevas (primary education teacher)
Subjects: History, Geography, Physics
Duration: March – June 2021
Teaching hours: 10
Cos4Cloud CC: Pl@ntNet / Educational Scenario: 3

Implementation: the teacher‟s review

I am a member of the team who created the educational scenario “Using Pl@ntNet &
OdourCollect to explore a former industrial area in the city of Drapetsona” in the context of
the NKUA’s online training course. In the
previous school year, we had collaborated with
my co-designers from the Environmental
Education Centre of Drapetsona in another
project, called “Adopt a Ship”, to design
activities exploring the coastal area of the port
of Piraeus , which I carried out with my
students. In our current collaboration within the
Cos4Cloud project the context of study was a
former industrial space, the Drapetsona’s old
Fertilizer Factory, which has been converted
into a multi-purpose industrial heritage site.
However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and
the difficult situation we experienced
throughout the country and particularly in schools, we did not have the opportunity to

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implement the scenario the way it was initially conceived, except for a small part of it which
was planned to be carried out in specific archaeological sites. So, what I actually did is an
adaptation and modification of the scenario to meet the current conditions.
The educational project was implemented in two phases:
The first phase took place from March to May 2021 and was conducted online, due to
measures imposed to all Greek schools for protection against Covid-19. All the meetings
with students were held online (in Webex). In our first meeting I introduced the Pl@ntnet
Citizen Observatory to my students. I then explained and gave them instructions on how to
use the mobile app and encouraged them to familiarize themselves with it in their free time
by walking around and taking pictures of different plants in the school and their
neighborhood.
The second phase took place in June 2021. Back to school and back to normal teaching
conditions, the students had the opportunity to meet in person, work together. I organized a
series of open air walks with my students in three very prominent archaeological sites of
Athens, the Hill of Nymphs, the Ancient Agora and Kerameikos. In these visits I explained my
students that the task was to record and identify all the plants growing in each of these
archaeological sites with the use of Pl@ntnet app. The students strolled through the ancient
sites, following an environmental trail and they spotted various types of vegetation present
there, took photos and identified the plants using Pl@ntnet. Among the various plants they
recorded and identified there were: the laurel, the oleander, the olive tree, the ivy tree, the
mulberry, the carob, the boxwood, etc. All of them were classified in a table along with their
observations.

Evaluation: the teacher‟s self-refection

The three most important learning gains for my students participating in this
educational project are…
(a) the experience of outdoor environmental learning in the field
(b) their participation in processes of plant identification as a way to contribute to citizen
science and environmental education practice, but also as
(c) an active participation in the community.

In terms of environmental literacy, my students were enabled to…

acquire new content knowledge about the plants and the role of urban green in citizens'
lives.

In terms of scientific literacy, my students were enabled to…

make new observations and to collect and record data with the use of digital tools as an aid
to draw conclusions more accurately.

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

In terms of citizenship literacy, my students were enabled to…

realize that scientific research and data collection procedures area powerful tool to assist
people get to know their environment better.

The added pedagogical value brought in by the use of the CO platform/app was
that it offered an accurate way to identify plants species and helped the students realise
that Citizen Observatories have a lot to do with them personally.

Implementing this educational project was a teaching challenge for me because…

I tried to familiarise my students with how to learn while actively involved in scientific
research processes.

Besides my students’ learning, the project’s impact on the school community …

had to do with the students investigating the plants that make up a green area in their
school, a project that influenced other students too.

The project’s impact on the local community….

has to do with the realization that when we learn about biodiversity in the city and take
action to preserve it, we understand that it’s something that every citizen should be
concerned about.

The project’s impact on promoting sustainability…

is something obvious that both as an action and an educational process goes hand in hand
with the promotion of sustainability, trying to reduce the students’ ecological footprint as
much as possible.

Final notes: the teacher‟s appraisal

Support for implementing this school educational project came from…
Strongly agree Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree disagree disagree

a. Participation in Χ
the online training
course run by
NKUA helped me
implement this
educational project.

b. Participation in Χ
the development of
an educational
scenario helped me

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

implement this
educational project.

Regarding the integration on Citizen Science and Citizen Observatories in school

education, I believe that…
Strongly agree Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree disagree disagree

c. Having an Χ
educational
scenario is helpful
for a teacher in
order to implement
relevant
educational
activities.

d. Citizen Science Χ
fits in and can be
integrated in the
school curriculum.
e. Citizen Science Χ
fits in and can be
combined with
Environmental
Education for the
benefit of both.
f. The introduction Χ
to the various
Citizen
Observatories and
the services they
offer as well as their
pedagogical use
needs to be
supported through
more training
courses for
teachers.
Intention for future implementation

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α

agree agree disagree disagree

g. I am open/ positively inclined Χ

to implement educational
activities that make good use
of Citizen Science and the
Citizen Observatories in the
future.

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

School Case Study #5

Walking with GPS and identifying with Pl@ntNet
The case study in a nutshell
Title: «I walk with GPS and identify with Pl@ntNet»
School: 8thJunior High School of Halandri
Educational level/Grade: Gymnasium (Lower secondary school)/ 8th grade
Students age level: 13 -14
Participating students: 65
Teachers in charge: Fotis Danaskos (Geologist)
Subjects: Geology and Geography
Duration: April - May 2021
Teaching hours: 12
Cos4Cloud CC: Pl@ntNet / Educational Scenario: 5

Implementation: the teacher’s review

The educational activities we implemented in the school are linked to the educational
scenario that we designed with my team in
the online training course organized by
NKUA in the framework of the Cos4Cloud
project. Due to the special circumstances
that had been created by the Covid-19
pandemic at the time, my team
converted a large part of Phase 1 and
Phase 2 so that it could be implemented
remotely. After returning to school in
May 2021, we had the opportunity to
conduct part of Phases 1 and 2 via face-
to-face meetings. Unfortunately, we were
unable to carry out Phase 3, as the timeline was very tight after the schools reopened.

I used activity sheets with instructions how to be used by the students, which I created
having based on examples I got from my colleagues at CEE Argyroupolis. The students,
first via WEBEX and then after they got back to school, they used the Pl@ntNet platform

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

and the Google Earth apps combined.

They initially installed both applications on their smartphones, in order to learn how to
use them at home and in their garden. Then, they worked in groups with Pl@ntNet to
identify the flora in our schoolyard and they used Google Earth to track their exact
location. They then entered the details about each plant and its exact location on the
Worksheets using the built-in GPS and the Google Earth app on their smartphones.
Later, when all the students met in class, they discussed about the results of their work,
how they had had used the tools as well as what particular skills they had acquired. They
expressed their satisfaction that they had learned to search for, record and identify
different plant species and determine their geographical location accurately.

Evaluation: the teacher’s self-refection

The three most important learning gains for my students participating in this
educational project are…
(a) apart from their general use, these specific applications on smartphones also serve
important purposes, such as they can be used in science,
(b) that they got to know about the Citizen Observatories and became familiar with
Pl@ntnet un particular, (c) the contact they had with the flora of the area where they live.

In terms of environmental literacy, my students were enabled to…

develop knowledge about the flora of a certain area and the various species of flora that
grow there.

In terms of scientific literacy, my students were enabled to…

realize that they can seek scientific knowledge using digital applications.

In terms of citizenship literacy, my students were enabled to…

develop knowledge that will enable them to understand that they can use it when they
need to act for the benefit of their community.

The added pedagogical value brought in by the use of the CO platform/app was…
that the knowledge of how the Pl@ntNet platform functions combined with that of the
Google Earth application, serves as tools for students to explore and learn.

Implementing this educational project was a teaching challenge for me

because…
I succeeded in giving my students the opportunity to use two digital applications that are
mostly used by adults in the context of citizen science.

Besides my students’ learning, the project’s impact on the school community …

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

was important because it was the first time that the students had the opportunity to get
to know and use two quite advanced digital applications in the school context and
combine them with scientific thinking processes.

The project’s impact on the local community….

It is based on the fact that students' knowledge of the flora and species that thrive in
their area, both endemic and non-endemic, is expected to reflect a better connection
with their environment in the foreseeable future.

The project’s impact on promoting sustainability…

is somehow self-evident, since both as an action and as an educational process, this
project moves in the direction of sustainability. The fact that the students have become
familiar with the various species of flora in their area is a starting point for developing an
informed interest in it, its protection, and local sustainable development.

Final notes: the teacher’s appraisal

Support for implementing this school educational project came from…
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

a. Participation in the online Χ

training course run by NKUA
helped me implement this
educational project.
b. Participation in the Χ
development of an
educational scenario helped
me implement this
educational project.

Regarding the integration on Citizen Science and Citizen Observatories in school

education, I believe that…
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

c. Having an educational Χ
scenario is helpful for a
teacher in order to
implement relevant
educational activities.

d. Citizen Science fits in and Χ

can be integrated in the

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

school curriculum.
e. Citizen Science fits in and Χ
can be combined with
Environmental Education for
the benefit of both.

f. The introduction to the Χ

various Citizen Observatories
and the services they offer
as well as their pedagogical
use needs to be supported
through more training
courses for eachers.

Intention for future implementation

Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Ν/Α
agree agree disagree disagree

g. I am open/ positively Χ
inclined to implement
educational activities that
make good use of Citizen
Science and the Citizen
Observatories in the future.

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D6.5 Design and evaluation of school-based citizen science activities Cos4Cloud #836463

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Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Annex V: D3.7 Intermediate deliverable: MECODA data

analysis package

165
Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the
EOS-Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

Intermediate report - Deliverable 3.7

MECODA Data Analysis Package
Date, Version 1.0

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc. X

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant X

Agreement

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R1.0 2022/01/31 Creation of the document and Ana Alvarez

inputs

Authors

ICM-CSIC.Ana Alvarez.

Citation
This document is in an internal deliverable. It should not be cited in public reports. For internal
documents this report can be cited as: Cos4Cloud consortium (2021). Alvarez, A. Intermediate report
deliverable 3.7. MECODA Data analysis package.

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.
Executive Summary

This deliverable D3.7 “MECODA data analysis package”, inside Work Package 4 (WP4)
Interactive Service, is aimed to facilitate analysis and viewing of citizen science data. As
part of MECODA, Mecoda-Nat is a Python Library to extract information collected in the
Citizen Observatory Natusfera. The library allows users to query observations from this
platform applying filters to get tidy data and reduce the time invested processing data
from this observatory.

With the aim of facilitating users to make the execution of analytic experiments
user-friendly, we have developed a widget in Orange Data Mining, a powerful platform
to perform data analysis and visualizations without coding.
Index

Executive summary

1. Mecoda-Nat Python Library

1.1 Description

1.2 Installation and use

1.3 Models

1.4 Contributions

1.5 Testing

2. Orange Data Mining Widget

2.1 Description

2.2 Data analysis uses

2.3 Image analysis uses

1. Mecoda-Nat Python Library

1.1 Description

Mecoda-Nat is a Python Library to extract information collected in Natusfera through its

API.

1.2 Installation

The library is available for installation through PyPI. The Python Package Index (PyPI) is a
repository of software for the Python programming language.

Figure 1: mecoda-nat python library in PyPI

1.3 Use

Methods are available to get information from observations and from projects
(collections of observations).

Get observations

With the get_obs method you can extract data from the observations collected in the
API. The function supports combinations of these arguments, which act as filters,
getting the observations in descending order of id, with a maximum of 20,000 (API
limitation):
Argument Description Example

query Word or phrase found in the data of an query="quercus

observation quercus"

id_project Identification number of a project id_project=806

id_obs Identification number of a specific id_obs=425

observation

user Name of user who has uploaded the user="zolople"

observations

taxon One of the main taxonomies taxon="fungi"

place_id Identification number of a place place_id=1011

place_name Name of a place place_name="Barcelona

"

year Year of observations year=2019

For the taxon argument the possible values are:

● chromista,
● protozoa,
● animalia,
● mollusca,
● arachnida,
● insecta,
● aves,
● mammalia,
● amphibia,
● reptilia,
● actinopterygii,
● fungi,
● plantae
● unknown

Example of use:

from mecoda_nat import get_obs

observations = get_obs(year=2018, taxon='fungi')

observations is a list of objects of type Observation.

Get projects

With get_project you can get the information of the projects collected in the API. The
function supports a single argument, which can be the project identification number or
the name of the project. In case the name does not correspond exclusively to a project,
it returns the information from the list of projects that include that word.

Example of use:

from mecoda_nat import get_project

projects = get_project("urbamar")

projects is a list of objects of type Project.

Get count of observations by taxon family

With get_count_by_taxon we can know the number of observations that correspond to

each of the taxonomic families. The function does not take any argument.

Example of use:

from mecoda_nat import get_count_by_taxon

count = get_count_by_taxon()

count is a dictionary with the structure {taxonomy: number of observations}

1.4 Models

The models are defined using objects from Pydantic. Type validation of all attributes is
done and data can be extracted with the dict or json method.

Observation

The object Observation contains the information of each of the observations

registered in Natusfera and has the following attributes:
Attribute Type Description Default
value

id int Observation number

captive Optional[bool] State of captivity None

created_at Optional[datetime] Creation date None

updated_at Optional[datetime] Update date None

observed_on Optional[date] Observation date None

description Optional[str] Observation None

description

iconic_taxon Optional[IconicTaxon Taxonomic family None

]

taxon_id Optional[int] Identification None

number of the
specific taxonomy

taxon_name Optional[str] Name of the None

species observed

taxon_ancestry Optional[str] String of the None

taxonomic sequence
to which the
observation
corresponds, with
identifiers
separated by /

latitude Optional[float] Latitude None

longitude Optional[float] Longitude None

place_name Optional[str] Observation site None

name

quality_grade Optional[QualityGrad Quality grade: None

e] basico o
investigacion
user_id Optional[int] User None
identification
number

user_login Optional[str] User registration None

name

photos List[Photo] Object lists []

Photo, that
include
information about
each photograph of
the observation

num_identification_agreements Optional[int] Number of votes in None

favor of
identification

num_identification_disagreements Optional[int] Number of None

unfavorable votes
to identification

Project

The Project object contains the information of each of the projects registered in
Natusfera and has the following attributes:

Attribute Type Description Default

value

id int Project identification number

title str Title of the project

description Optional[str] Project description None

created_at Optional[datetim Project creation date None

e]

updated_at Optional[datetim Project update date None

e]

latitude Optional[float] Latitude None

longitude Optional[float] Longitude None

place_id Optional[int] Place identification number None

parent_id Optional[int] Identification number of the None

project in which it is included

children_id List[int] Identification numbers of the []

projects it has inside

user_id Optional[int] Identification number of the user None

who creates it

icon_url Optional[str] Link to project icon None

observed_taxa_count Optional[int] Number of observations included None

in the project

Photo

The Photo object contains the information of each photography linked to an

observation and has the following attributes.

Attribute Type Description Default value

int Photo identification number

id

large_url str Link to large format photo

medium_url str Link to the photograph in medium format

small_url str Link to the photo in small format

1.5 Contributions

The library is made to facilitate contributions. In the documentation the steps to make a
contribution are provided.

1.6 Testing

To guarantee the quality level of the code, I have used a set of tests for a 100% coverage
level, composed of unit tests where the response of the server to the API calls is
manually captured and reproduced using mocks. In this way, any change in the code
that is incompatible with the functionality of the current API would be made visible and
could be corrected. However, if there are changes at the API level, these tests would not
detect the problem. As a future step, other integration tests can be written.

2. Orange Data Mining Widget

2.1 Description

With the aim of creating user interfaces to make the execution of analytic experiments
citizen science datasets straightforward and user-friendly, we have developed a widget
in Orange Data Mining, a powerful platform to perform data analysis and visualizations
without coding.

The Mecoda widget integrates the Python library into this visual interface that allows
you to make any query and get two outputs, a dataframe with one observation per row
and a dataframe with one photo per row. With these two outputs we can use different
analytic tools to get knowledge from the observations.
Figure XX: Orange Data Analysis widget catalog

Figure XX: Orange Image Analysis and Model widget catalog

This is an example of workflow created with the Mecoda widget in Orange:

Figure XX. Mecoda widget workflow in Orange Data Mining Platform

Orange widgets communicate with each other. They receive data on the input and send
out filtered or processed data, models, or anything the widget does on the output.

2.2 Data Analysis uses

In this example, the Observations table allows statistical analysis, such as:
● create filters by the different fields
● make useful pivot tables, crossing two variables
● draw different visualizations and download them as images
● plot our data on a map and make geospatial analysis
Every one of these widgets can also be used to filter data. Making a selection we can
output the selected data and analyse it. We can get the images of every observation of
this selection. And, we can download data as CSV, XLSX or TAB format.

Some of the data analysis options to connect with the Observations Table are:
● Data Table: Displays attribute-value data in a spreadsheet.
● Data Info: presents information on dataset size, features, targets, meta
attributes, and location.
● Aggregate Columns: Compute a sum, max, min … of selected columns.
● Data Sampler: Selects a subset of data instances from an input dataset.
● Select Columns: Manual selection of data attributes and composition of
data domain.
● Select Rows: Selects data instances based on conditions over data
features.
● Pivot Table: Reshape data table based on column values.
● Rank: Ranking of attributes in classification or regression datasets.
● Correlations: Compute all pairwise attribute correlations.
● Transpose: Transposes a data table.
● Preprocess: Preprocesses data with selected methods.
● Impute: Replaces unknown values in the data.
● Outliers: Outlier detection widget.
● Edit Domain: Rename features and their values.
● Python Script: Extends functionalities through Python scripting.
● Continuize: Turns discrete variables (attributes) into numeric
(“continuous”) dummy variables.
● Discretize: discretizes continuous attributes with a selected method.
● Neighbors: Computes nearest neighbors for a given reference and for a
given distance measure.
● Save Data: considers a dataset provided in the input channel and saves it
to a data file with a specified name. It can save the data as: a
tab-delimited file (.tab), comma-separated file (.csv), pickle (.pkl), used for
storing preprocessing of Corpus objects, Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx),
spectra ASCII (.dat), hyperspectral map ASCII (.xyz), compressed formats
(.tab.gz, .csv.gz, .pkl.gz).
● Unique: Remove duplicated data instances.
Some of the data visualization options to connect with the Observations Table are:
● Tree Viewer: A visualization of classification and regression trees.
● Box Plot: Shows distribution of attribute values.
● Violin Plot: Visualize the distribution of feature values in a violin plot.
● Distributions: Displays value distributions for a single attribute.
● Scatter Plot: Scatter plot visualization with exploratory analysis and
intelligent data visualization enhancements.
● Line Plot: Visualization of data profiles (e.g., time series).
● Bar Plot: Visualizes comparisons among discrete categories.
● Sieve Diagram: Plots a sieve diagram for a pair of attributes.
● Mosaic Display: Graphical representation of a two-way frequency table or
a contingency table.
● Heat Map: Graphical method for visualizing attribute values in a two-way
matrix. It only works on datasets containing numeric variables

2.3 Image Analysis uses

On the other hand, the Photos table allows analysis of images from the complete
dataset. We can view all the photos, download them and perform image analysis using
different image models.

Figure XX: Example of image analysis widgets

References

Pydantic: https://pydantic-docs.helpmanual.io/

Pytest: https://docs.pytest.org/en/6.2.x/

Requests mock: https://pypi.org/project/requests-mock/

Orange: https://orange-widget-base.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Annex VI: D4.5 Intermediate deliverable: Customizable

Interface service for Cos4Cloud Apps (MOBIS)

166
Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the EOS-Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

D4.5 Intermediate Report

Customizable Interface service for COS4CLOUD Apps (MOBIS)

28/01/2022, Version 1.1

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

1
Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagrams, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant Agreement X

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R0.1 20/01/2022 First draft Norbert Schmidt

R0.2 25/01/2022 Minor revision Joep van der Heiden

Demelza Ramakers

R1.1 28/01/2022 Minor revision, final

Authors

Reviewers:
Demelza Ramakers
Joep van der Heiden

Citation

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.

2
Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Executive Summary
This intermediate report describes the achievements we have made to create the MOBIS Service and
framework (former known as Customizable Interface Service for mobile apps.) It describes the
components we have built, released and our work so far in general for the project (and beyond).

MOBIS is a service to create integrative citizen science apps to report both biodiversity and
environmental observations in one app that is available for both IOS and Android devices.

The MOBIS service is already available in the EOSC Marketplace. We are still progressing on new plugins
for both MOBIS server and Mobis framework.

3
Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Index

Introduction 5

MOBIS SERVER 5
1.1. Parse mobile back end 5
Mobis Dashboard 5
1.2. Interoperability: OGC SensorThings API 6
1.3 Interoperability: Authenix integration 6

2. MOBIS FRAMEWORK (Front end) 7

Introduction 7
Mobis framework plugins 7
Mini Secchi 8
Pl@ntNet plugin 9
iSPEX 2 plugin 9
Mobis demonstration app 9
Mobis App (3) screenshots. 9
Mobis showcase/use case 11
Shared code availability 12

Mobis on the EOSC Marketplace 13

4
Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Introduction

Mobis can be separated in two parts

- Server side Mobis server: the mobile Back end As a Service (BAAS)
- Client side (front end) framework: a set of scripts and plugins for generating citizen
science apps with one codebase.

1. MOBIS SERVER
The mobis server resides on the EGI (IFCA) and consists of an Ubuntu VM with Parse Server as the mobile
back end and MongoDB for data store. It also hosts a Fraunhofer STA instance and currently, we are
working on ML integrations for detecting dominant colors.

1.1. Parse mobile back end

https://mobis.ddq.nl/parse

Mobis Dashboard

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Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

1.2. Interoperability: OGC SensorThings API

The OGC SensorThings API provides an open, geospatial-enabled and unified way to
interconnect the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, data, and applications over the Web. It is less
used in the biodiversity domain so far, but it has the advantage of making biodiversity data
more interoperable with other types of geo-spatial data (e.g. air quality measurements, sound
environment measurements and weather sensors).

The API is accessible through the following end-point:

https://mobis.ddq.nl/sta/

https://mobis.ddq.nl/sta/v1.1

We are still experimenting with sta plus.

Example sta record (Pm2.5) coming from a canair.io device

*(Note that the server mentioned here is our own development server, not the mobis one)

1.3 Interoperability: Authenix integration

Authenix is still a work in progress. We have implemented generic OAUTH2/PKCE support for
our mobile back end. We decided to integrate with Authenix on the server-side to facilitate
secure login and ensure interoperability with this COS4CLOUD service.

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Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

2. MOBIS FRAMEWORK (Front end)

Introduction

Basically the mobis front end framework is a set of scripts using Ionic/Angular and capacitorJS
(for the native components).

We use a plugin infrastructure with a common interface for authentication, but also GPS and
other mobile sensors. We aim to give developers an easy method to add citizen observatories to
their apps using open, familiar and well known codeplatforms .

Mobis framework plugins

We have completed the Canair.io plugin. This plugin connects to a Canair.io pm2.5 device using
Bluetooth LE and JSON API.

Hardware example

Example of Canair.io data available in STA

7
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Mini Secchi

Status: finished. The Mini Secchi plugin is another CO that is available trough mobis. Mini Secchi
(not part of COS4CLOUD, but an open source citizen science app and device) takes water colour
and turbidity and sends it to the MOBIS back end.

Example screen in mobile application

Example of mini secchi data available in STA

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Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Pl@ntNet plugin

Status: Almost finished. The user takes a picture of a plant/species, does a small classificaton
and the species is returned and sent to the mobis back end.

iSPEX 2 plugin

Status: in development. Due to COVID, the production/delivery of units has been halted and we
were not able to test. With two prototypes available as of december 2021, we resumed
development.

Mobis demonstration app

Although not a deliverable the mobis app integrates all these plugins. At the time of writing, we
are integrating two environmental and one biodiversity CO’s.

Mobis App (3) screenshots.

The (basic) mobis app combines the Mobis plugins and will provide a single sign on in later
versions as well as a nice map interface for user feedback. Note that the screenshots here show
the iOS app, but we have an Android version available too.

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Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Mobis showcase/use case

At DDQ: Pocket Science we are obsessed with bringing value to both end users and scientists. Therefore
we created an informal, not for profit initative called Run 4 Science to showcase the possibilities of
Mobis.

We created a video using the mobis app. It shows a possible use case and the results are to be seen on a
map. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=UFmR-my1fZM&feature=emb_logo

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Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Shared code availability

Some plugins are already available on github, they are still not in an official (final) repository.

Mobis Canair.io plugin: https://github.com/nopmobiel/mobis_canairio

Mobis Mini Secchi plugin: https://github.com/nopmobiel/mini-secchi

The following plugins are still in development

- Pl@nt Net integration (almost done)

- iSPEX 2 integration (in progress, planned summer 2022)

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Mobis intermediate Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Mobis on the EOSC Marketplace

In summer 2021, the Mobis service was approved and is now available on the EOSC marketplace.,
https://marketplace.eosc-portal.eu/services/mobis-mobile-observation-integration-service?fromc=secur
ity-operations

The service is also featured on the portal:

https://eosc-portal.eu/news/mobis-eosc-service-environmental-biodiversity-citizen-science-apps

13
Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Annex VII: Task 5.4: Intermediate report: DIY progress

and evaluation

167
Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the
EOS-Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

Intermediate report Task 5.4

Evaluation Do-It-Yourself (DIY) devices
Date , Version 1.0

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant X

Agreement

CI Classified

Revision history

R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R1.0 31/01/2022 Creation and population of contents Daniel Bernal and Antonio
Vanegas

Authors

Compilation: Daniel Bernal, Antonio Vanegas.

Reviewers: Karen Soacha

Citation

This document is in an internal deliverable. It should not be cited in public reports. For internal documents
this report can be cited as: Cos4Cloud consortium (2021). Bernal, D., Vanegas, A. Intermediate report Task
5.4. Evaluation of DIY devices.

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.
D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

Executive Summary

This report describes the outcome of task 5.4 of the Cos4Cloud project. The goal of this
task is the creation and improvement of tutorials, training events, courses of the two DIY
citizen observatories (CanAirIO and Kduino) to expand them, and the evaluation of the use
and quality of measurements from these devices.

CanAirIO initiative has improved the DIY guides, trying every day to build the sensor
assembly easier and increase its reliability. For this purpose the team investigates the best
way to improve the guides based on their own experiences and based on some of the most
popular DIY projects. Pedagogical content (videos, guidelines, diagrams) as well as webinars
and workshops have been deployed for expanding the network and to receive feedback
with the real test of the guides. The documentation portal has since may 2021 2900 new
users with a 46% of engagement rate and a 21% of returning users.

Also the CanAirIO team has been working on the improvement of the mobile application,
the sensor programmation (firmware upload) and the design and implementation of new
versions like CanAirIO Bike with color screen, new functionalities and an improved box
design. New variables like PAX counter (passenger counter via wifi) and many new PM2.5,
CO2 and temperature and humidity sensors have been incorporated in the monitoring
network.
D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

Index

Executive summary

1. Task 5.4. advances in the Second Report Period.

1.1. ST5.4.1. Create tutorials for CanAir.io and KdUINO: How to build and use DIY

devices.

1.2. ST5.4.2. Training for CanAir.io and KdUINO.

1.3. ST5.4.3. Evaluation of the use and quality of measurements from CanAir.io and

KdUINO.

1.4. ST5.4.4. Expansion of monitoring networks CanAir.io and KdUINO: plan and

evidence.

1.5. ST5.4.5. Users cases documented from the experiences with CanAir.io and

KdUINO with an emphasis in notification services for end-users.

1.6. ST5.4.6. Tutorials and training material for MECODA data analysis tool.

2. CanAirIO sensor Development.

D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

1. Task 5.4. advances in the Second Report Period.

The advances in the Task 5.4 “Evaluation of DIY devices” was separated by the 6 subtasks
proposed initially by the achievement of this task.

Advances by SubTasks (ST):

1.1. ST5.4.1. Create tutorials for CanAir.io and KdUINO: How to build and
use DIY devices.

CanAirIO documentation and DIY Guides.

In the last year we worked on improving the DIY guides and documentation around a new
portal of documentation (https://canair.io/docs), using standards around team working
with tools like version control (Github), plain text and easy standard format, Markdown,
tools to working in group in real time like CODI, and others tools for co-creation around the
documentation. Most guides have a demo video to ease the process of building the sensor
or using the app. The result was the next guides:

Title Target - Description Video

CanAirIO Bike DIY guide users and makers Guide1, Guide2

CanAirIO CO2 DIY guide for users and makers Guide1, Guide2

Firmware upload General documentation Web installer

Firmware debugging General documentation

Mobile App General documentation

Home Assistant DIY guide for users and makers

integration

Anaire integration DIY guide for users and makers Demo

Bluetooth GATT protocol Developers documentation

PAX Counter Passenger counter via Wifi Demo

Mobile API Developers documentation

Fixed stations API Developers documentation

D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

1.2. ST5.4.2. Training for CanAir.io and KdUINO.

Training activities for CanAirIO

Six online and two face to face activities for communities in Spain, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia
and Colombia were developed during 2021. These spaces helped to expand the network of
CanAir.io users. Also it was a channel to improve the guides and obtain more feedback on
the construction and use of the DIY devices.
1.2.1. Webinar Aireamos, 17/01/2021.
#MakersCO2 reunion of the Aireamos group. CanAirIO CO2 presentation. Spain.

Youtube video
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1.2.2. Virtual conference “Red de ciencia ciudadana de calidad del aire”, 20/02/2021.
FLISoL Bogota. Colombia
Youtube video

1.2.3. Respiratón – A virtual Hackathon on air quality. Colombia. 09/04/2021 to

09/22/2021.
The Respiraton was a collaborative space for participation that seeks citizenship and
contributes to the solution of the great challenges related to management in air quality,
through the development of innovative and science-based ideas that help reduce the
impacts that poor air quality has on our health.
Organizers: Secretaría de Ambiente de Bogotá, Oxford University, Transport Studies Unit
(TSU), Y4PT – Fundación de la Asociación Internacional de Transporte Público (UITP), Mesa
Ciudadana por la Calidad del Aire de Bogotá (MECAB), “El Derecho a No Obedecer”, Trébola
Organización Ecológica, Citizen Network for Monitoring Air Quality (CanAirIO), Sharecollab,
Co-designed citizen observatories for the EOS-Cloud (Cos4Cloud), Connecting The Dots.
Jaume Piera was one of the judges for the final prizes.

Webpage: https://canair.io/docs/Respiraton2021.html

1.2.4. Virtual conference “Calidad del aire, ciencia ciudadana y nuevas tecnologías”.
22/07/2021
Campus Party Colombia 2021.
Youtube video

1.2.5. Online workshop Peru - Colombia. 28/08/2021.

Online workshop with people from Peru to demonstrate the assembly of a CanArIO with
local materials and their experiences.
D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

Peru and Colombia

Youtube video
Twitter post

1.2.6. Virtual course Nuevos Aires 2021. 21/09/2021 to 21/11/2021.

Virtual course called “Nuevos Aires 2021”, a second part of the realization in 2020 organized
with some ONGs and citizen organizations and Cos4Cloud. The course has between 80 - 50
assistants in 6 days, 2 hours daily. Attendees are from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia.
At the end, the course received proposals from the assistants and people interested for the
award of 35 CanAirIOs and citizen kits that are defined at the end of the year and are in the
process of being delivered.
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Presentation of the event

Some videos of the sessions:

Session 1
Session 4

1.2.7. CASAP 2021. 29/11/2021.

Participation in the VIII Colombian Congress and International Conference on Air Quality
and Public Health - CASAP 2021. November 3 -5. Colombia.
On-site Workshop: Make your own PM2.5 sensor.
D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

Citizen Group CanAirIO - Project Cos4Cloud

Cos4Cloud was one of the allies: https://www.casap.com.co/
Webpage of the event.

1.2.8. Workshop Cali, Tangara network. 17/12/2021.

Face-to-face workshop in the city of Cali - Colombia to build the first 12 CanAirIO sensors of
a new citizen science network for air quality, the network was called Tangara. The organizer
was Chispa, an NGO from this city.

Webpage report
Twitter post

1.3. ST5.4.3. Evaluation of the use and quality of measurements from

CanAir.io and KdUINO.

One research was made (and still is in progress) with the permission of the local
government of Bogota in one of their official air quality stations (Ferias) and one academic
research with the Universidad Distrital of Bogota was developed each one with the use of 5
CanAirIO sensors with different brands of manufacturers and the use of the fixed stations
platform and API. An academic university group is building a CanaAirIO network in Lima
Peru and reviewing the performance compared with official stations.

1.3.1. CanAirIO comparison with official stations. 01/12/2020 to present.

Comparison of 5 CanAirIOs with different brands of sensors: Sensirion SPS30, Honeywell
HPMA115S0, Nova SDS011, Plantower PMS7003 & PMSA003 and Panasonic SN-GCJA5 in
comparison with an Official Station Air Quality Station in Bogota, Colombia - Las Ferias.
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Twitter post
Two months statistical analysis

1.3.2. CanAirIO comparison with optical reference sensor. 15/11/2020 to 30/03/2021.

“Aplicabilidad del uso de sensores electroquímicos de bajo costo como alternativa en la
medición de la calidad del aire : caso PM2.5”.
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Research work presented as a requirement to qualify for the title of Environmental

engineer from Yamier Leon of “Universidad Distrital” using 5 CanAirIOs with different
brands of sensors: Sensirion, Honeywell, Nova, Plantower and Panasonic in comparison
with an Station Air Quality Station of the university in Bogota, Colombia - Paiba.
Repository

1.3.3. CanAirIO comparison with optical reference sensor in Peru. 1/12/2020 to

present
Ingetcar, Círculo de Investigación de Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Nacional
Agraria La Molina. “Surveillance of Air Quality in the areas of Huachipa and Lomas de
Pachacamac in Lima-Peru”.

Post on facebook.
Webinar on facebook.

1.4. ST5.4.4. Expansion of monitoring networks CanAir.io and KdUINO:

plan and evidence.

Statistics and KPIs on CanAirIO

Together with the usually software development we have some developments that it try to
give us information about the grove of the initiative, not only in the web services or web
D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

pages, if not into the firmware and the Android app, statistics around the use and possible
issues with the users:

Documentation portal
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D5.4 Evaluation DIY Devices Cos4Cloud #836463

CanAirIO Android Application and Firmware

CanAirIO Statistics brief

Portal or application Users Engagement rate

Documentation portal 2900 45.99%

Android app + Firmware 850 86.68%

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1.5. ST5.4.5. Users cases documented from the experiences with

CanAir.io and KdUINO with an emphasis in notification services for
end-users.

1.5.1. E-paper. October 2021.

E-paper: “Calidad del aire y ciencia ciudadana: un ejercicio compartido por la justicia
ambiental” “Air quality and citizen science: a shared exercise for the environmental justice”.
7 citizen experiences about the use of CanAirIO sensors.
Web page document.

1.5.2. Hackaday and Sensirion publications. Decembre 2021.

We had some recognition to the initiative in mainstream places around DIY communities
the past year, the more important place in the world of hacker communities, Hackaday, did
a review and post our initiative and also an important manufacturer of air quality sensors,
Sensirion, post our DIY guide of CanAirIO Bike in their developers communities:

2. CanAirIO Development

In the last year on CanAirIO development we had achieves reached for give community
support and also to have interoperability and integration with COS4Cloud in the software
development and community engagement area.
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At the beginning we looked for new technical and hobbyist communities close to the
CanAirIO technologies. The result of this search was to find some communities in Europe
that did give feedback, new users and new solutions to different problems.

2.1. CODOS Community engagement. February - March 2021.

Working together with the community CODOS, a group of people working to improve
ventilation indoors using CO2 sensors for reducing the COVID risk, we had feedback and
collaboration around these sensors, and we released the first versions of the CanAirIO
Sensorlib with support of some CO2 sensors.

2.2. CanAirIO OTA Updates and CanAirIO Loader. March - May 2021.
In the search to give better support and improve the development flow, a new service was
released. OTA updates, this service sends firmware updates to our users in two channels,
stable and testing channel. Also, thanks to this development, we released CanAirIO Loader,
it is a tool for improving the installation of CanAirIO firmware.

CanAirIO Loader

2.3. CanAirIO Bike and CanAirIO CO2. May - June 2021.

Two new devices were released in the search to improve the standardization of the
CanAirIO devices and also the DIY guides and support of it. These versions were a big
challenge because it was the result of the research on the best components to try to
preserve easy ways to make these devices. Also we had improvements in usability and
portability. The release was done in our new CanAirIO Documentation Portal and the
communities HackaDay, Tindie store, and others communities portals.
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2.4. CanAirIO World Map and Developers Engagement. June-August 2021.

We reached a new goal that we were waiting for, an automatic worldmap of our fixed
stations. In development but working, the users only will enable it in the CanAirIO App, they
will have some visualizations like time series, widgets, and their station in the CanAirIO
World Map. Also around it, we changed the database schema and wrote some services and
APIs to improve it and also to have the connectors to the services of the COS4Cloud
project.
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In this period too, we had some code contributions from some developers, thanks to work
in the communities around the ESP32 development. The result of this joins was the release
of the support of more CO2 sensors and improvements in our sensors library.

2.5. CanAirIO PAX Counter. August - September 2021.

This new development seeks to give a context to the user when is sensing CO2 or PM
values in conditions indoors for example into public transportation or buildings.

2.6. CanAirIO Mobile Map and Anaire integration. September - November 2021.
Thanks to the contribution of external developers, in this period we had new sensors
supported for developer communities, a new CanAirIO Mobile Map web and the
integration of Anaire cloud for CO2 sensors to our firmware and app:
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2.7. CanAirIO Home Assistant and CanAirIO Installer. November - December 2021.
This new integration seeks to join with this huge community. Home Assistant is an open
source project with thousands of developers, hobbyists and people around the iOT devices.
CanAirIO is full integrated with this environment in this first version, also we are using a
new development of them to try the improve a easy way to install our firmware over
CanAirIO devices:

Home Assistant
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CanAirIO Web Installer

2.8. Technical communities

Like we mentioned in the software development subject, in this year we reached some
joins to users and developers communities like:

Community Description Users Link

CODOS CO2 sensors ~332 Telegram group

Anaire CO2 sensors + Cloud ~300 Portal Anaire

Home Assistant iOT and Home automatization ~100k Home Assistant IO

ESP32 ES Group iOT Developers ~270 Telegram group

CanAirIO Tech Support group - community ~140 Telegram group

Hackaday Hacker community - DIY >1M CanAirIO in Hackaday

Second Reporting period. Consolidated Report Cos4Cloud #836463

Annex VIII: Task 2.3: Agile test plan

168
Co-designed Citizen Observatories Services for the EOS-Cloud
H2020 programme: Research and Innovation action

Intermediate report Task 2.3.- Subtask 2.3.2

Agile test plan and Measurement of the evolution of the
services (Technology readiness level)
14th January 2022, Version 1.0

Project funded by the European Commission within the

Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020)

Grant Agreement No. 863463

Agile Test Plan Cos4Cloud #836463

Type

R Document, report excluding the periodic and final reports X

DEM Demonstrator, pilot, prototype, plan designs

DEC Websites, patents filing, press & media actions, videos, photos, etc.

SOF Software, technical diagram, etc.

OTHER Flyers, etc.

Dissemination level

PU Public, fully open.

CO Confidential, restricted under conditions set out in Model Grant Agreement X

CI Classified

Revision history
R# Date Description/Reason of change Deliverable contributors

R1.0 20220114 Initial Version Henning Bredel, Simon Jirka

Authors
52°North: Henning Bredel, Simon Jirka

Citation
This document is in an internal deliverable. It should not be cited in public reports. For internal documents this
report can be cited as: Cos4Cloud consortium (2022). Henning Bredel and Simon Jirka. Agile Testing Plan

License and attribution

Copyright. All rights reserved.

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Agile Test Plan Cos4Cloud #836463

Executive Summary

The deliverable describes the approach for conducting testing activities as part of the
Cos4Cloud project.

This document describes how the testing of the developed services shall be conducted. For this
purpose, a template is provided to the development teams of the Cos4Cloud services which
guides through the definition of appropriate testing criteria and allows to document the
corresponding results. It is important to note, that the template is provided to the project
partners via the internal Confluence system so that the template can be copied and edited for
each service and testing cycle. Thus, this document describes the general approach for the
testing activities, while the definition of specific tests and the documentation of the results is
documented internally within the Confluence system.

In addition to this, this document outlines the approach that is used for determinining the
Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the different Cos4Cloud services. For this purpose, a
questionnaire was derived from common available TRL definitions (i.e. EC and NASA) that takes
especially into account the specifics of a service deployment in the context of the Euopean
Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

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Index

1. General Principles of Testing 5

1.1 Test Scope 5
1.2 Levels of Testing 5
2. Test Execution and Documentation 8
2.1 Approach 8
2.2 Test Implementation Table 10
4. Determining Technology Readiness Levels 11
References 12
Annex I - Abbreviations 13
Annex II - Example of a Testing Documentation Table 1

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1. General Principles of Testing

1.1 Test Scope

Testing is important, no doubt. But testing should not end in itself. An important question before starting
to test is what to test at all?

In Cos4Cloud we are striving towards some strategic goals which can be found in the Grant Agreement.
However, each partner has individual goals in developing their services. This does not have to contradict,
though. But we need to scope testing efforts to the strategic business goals of the project. Relevant
features which move us forward in our enterprise should have a link to one of the global Cos4Cloud
goals. From the Grant Agreement, we could formularize following hypothesis:

● We believe that a sustainable CO-EOSC integration will be achieved if citizen scientists and
researchers obtain access to FAIR and open data with services and resources which are
interoperable and composable to EOSC-hub
● We believe that a trustable ecosystem will be achieved if all participants attain data privacy and
data protection with Cos4Cloud deploying GDPR compliant services and workflows.
● We believe that increased participation engagement will be achieved if citizens get
acknowledged for each (relevant) contribution with appropriate data citation, and services for
usage notification, earning badges, etc.
● We believe that trustworthy citizen science data will be achieved when policy-makers have
access to reviewed data with citizen data to be gone through a validation process during upload.
● We believe that good platform collaboration will be achieved if important incentives are given to
design, contribute to and exploit the system with citizen participation promoted as core activity
(in particular: involved actors attain visibility, acknowledgement, etc.).

All relevant features contributing to those goals should take reference to one of these hypotheses. This
could be done via User Story (🡪 Epics links in a Jira Project, see the proposed MvE project on Jira). Each
completed user story may proof a step forward reaching the goals we are targeting at Cos4Cloud.

With our test plan, we want to ensure that the relevant user stories for achieving the overall goals of
Cos4Cloud are correctly implemented and actually contribute towards achieving the project’s goals.

1.2 Levels of Testing

There are different levels of testing methods and tools dependend on the actual status of the software
within the development process and beyond. Each level focuses on different aspects what have to be
tested. Over the phases the parts under test have different levels of granularity, i.e. from small, isolated
units of functionality within a service, or the overall outer view of a service, e.g. an API or user interface.

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In Cos4Cloud we have different software/services to test. Each have to be tested on its own but also have
to work within a bigger system environment, which has been proposed as Minimal viable Ecosystem
(MvE). Similar to the Agile Methodologies Deliverable D2.2 we define different levels of testing to make
obvious where testing responsibilities may reside. Our goal is that testing in Cos4Cloud can be described
by the so called testing pyramid, including a solid amount of fast, automated tests (the bottom is the
larger part) executed continuously, a balanced set of component and integration tests, but also have
room for some manual/exploratory tests.

Figure 1: Testing Pyramid in Cos4Cloud

Ideally, continuous testing is a first class citizen within the development process and beyond. At the
lowest level the development team applies unit testing as part of the development process itself to
ensure that functionality does not break when creating new features or when fixing bugs. This is being
done by testing small and isolated parts of the software, without dependencies. At the next level,
component tests cover the whole service, i.e. to ensure all depended parts of the the software work
together as a whole. Both levels are best to be executed continuously by the development team. Each
feature is an implementation of a documented business requirement. The Agile Methodologies
Deliverable D2.2 describes how to describe and organize such project workload as user stories following
the INVEST principle (Wake, 2003).

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Figure 2: Illustration of the Invest Principle

One important aspect of writing user stories following the INVEST principle is having a list of acceptance
criteria. This list holds testable criteria of the actual business requirement of a user story. Following that
criteria list during development and testing ensures that the outcome of a software/service works as
intended.

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2. Test Execution and Documentation

2.1 Approach

It has to be noted, that the lower levels of the testing will be organised according to the best practices of
the individual development teams (e.g. for each service). Thus, this document focuses on the functional
and non-functional aspects that are relevant to the overall Cos4Cloud system landscape.

The following paragraphs describe the overall logic behind the Cos4Cloud testing approach which is
closely tied to the agile software development methodology. This link to the agile development approach
is ensured on the one hand by linking all tests to the user stories defined in the backlock of each service.
On the other hand, the testing shall be executed for each agile development iteration and shall especially
focus on those user stories which were worked on in a sprint.

The subsequently described steps shall be executed regularly by the development teams after each
development cycle/for each milestone.

Step 1: What are the relevant user stories developed for Cos4Cloud?
In order to define the aspects which require testing from the overall project perspective, the user stories
defined for each service are considered as the baseline for all tests. Consequently, the first step of each
development team is to identify the relevant user stories that need to be tested in an individual testing
iteration.

Step 2: What criteria have to be fulfilled in order to consider the user story as done?
In order to test the user stories identified in Step 1, it is necessary to define which testable criteria can
"proof" that the business requirement described by the story is implemented. For this purpose, the
development teams need to define for each user story a list of acceptance criteria that have to be tested
and re-tested respectively.

Step 3: How does the successful testing of user stories affect the TRL of the service?
An important aspect of Cos4Cloud is to increase the TRL of the services. For this purpose it is necessary
to check which impact a successfully conducted test of a user story has on the TRL of the service (see
also section 3). Thus, the development teams shall provide information under what TRL the user story
test is considered important? Which TRL will be reached by successfully completing the test?

It is important, that the testing of a user story may span across multiple TRLs. For example, depending on
the type of test/test audience (see section 3) the completion of a test may indicate a different TRL.

Step 4: Define under what level of detail the tests shall be performed (see the test pyramid)?
The testing can be performed on different granularity levels (e.g. integration test vs. unit test, see test
pyramid in section 1.2. It shall be specified in which level of detail the test will be executed.

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Step 5: What aspects of the user story are tested (functional and non-functional)?
It shall defined which elements of a user story are tested. This may comprise certain functional aspects
but could also cover non-functional aspects (e.g. scalabiltiy of the service). Thus, for each test, the scope
of the tests needs to be described.

Step 6: How is the test implemented and how is it applied?

After the definition of what shall be tested, the development teams shall defined how the test is
implemented/applied. There are different options to conduct a test:
a. When: Automated tests, manual tests, tests during each build/deployment, tests before
each release
b. How: Which approach is used for conducting the test?
i. Functional testin, e.g.:
● Tooling (automatic, regression, fast)
● Unit test frameworks
● Behaviour driven testing, e.g. Cucumber1
● Front-End testing (recommended reading: An overview of
JavaScript Testing in 20222)
● API Testing via Postman3
ii. Non-functional testing, e.g.:
● Quality aspects of a service
i. Vulnerability
ii. Resilience/robustness
iii. Scalability
iv. Usability
● Tooling: Static code analysis to improve code quality and
perform CVE scanning, detect design flaws, etc.:
i. SonarQube4
c. Context: Use co-design sessions, datathons, hackathons in order to involve
internal/external audiences to test certain aspects

Step 7: Is there relation to other Cos4Cloud services? What are testable use cases when integrating
with other services?
In several cases, Cos4Cloud services will interact with other services. In order to test the interoperability
of these services, additional tests in conjunction with related services will be necessary (integration
tests). To identify such necessary tests, the Technical Integration Experiment (TIE) table in the project
internal Confluence system shall be consulted and filled in
(https://confluence.cos4cloud-eosc.eu/display/C4CSciTec/Services+Documentation#ServicesDocumentat
ion-TechnologyIntegrationExperiments(TIEs)).

1
https://cucumber.io/docs/installation/
2
https://medium.com/welldone-software/an-overview-of-javascript-testing-7ce7298b9870
3
https://www.postman.com/automated-testing/
4
https://www.sonarqube.org/
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2.2 Test Report Table

In order to document the identified and conducted tests as well as the results of the execution of these
tests, a table structure has been defined which corresponds to the different aspects explained in section
2.1. The template of this table is shown in Table 1. Furthermore, Annex II contains an example of a
filled-in table.

The different columns of this table are related to the steps explained in section 2.1.

Table 1: Test Report Table

User Relevance to Relevant Acceptance Testing Aspects to How Integration Comment

Story Cos4Cloud TRL(s) Criteria Granularity be Tested Verified/Tested? Tests (e.g.
(see the test TIE)
pyramid)

In order to collect the Test Report Tables for each service and test execution, the internal Confluence
system is used. Under the URL https://confluence.cos4cloud-eosc.eu/display/C4CSciTec/Test+Reports a
central repository is available, in which copies of the table shall be stored for each partner/service as
well as for each execution of the tests.

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4. Determining Technology Readiness Levels

Besides the functional testing, the assessment of the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of the
Cos4Cloud services is an important task. To support this activity, a questionnaire was developed in order
to determine the maturity of a component.

As a starting point for this work, existing approaches on determining TRLs were considered:
● NASA TRL Calculator (NASA, 2009)
● TRL Definitions of the European Commission (European Commission, 2014)
● Requirements for publishing services via the EOSC (EOSC, 2021)

Based on these approaches a customised approach was developed that considers on the one hand the
specifics of the EOSC context but also typical characteristics of software development and (Web-based)
services. The resulting guidance is made available to the users via the project’s internal Confluence
system. It comprises a set of questions that need to be answered for each TRL. Depending on the
answers, the services are considered to have the highest TRL for which (and for all TRLs below) all
questions can be answered positively.

The questions shown below shall be answered for each agile development iteration so that intermediate
TRL assessments are achieved. The results of these assessments shall be uploaded to the Confluence
system in order to ensure constant tracking of the progress.

TRL 1: Basic principles observed

● Is there a research hypothesis defined guiding the development of the service?
● Are the basic algorithms needed for the implementation-defined?
● Is there a document (specification, publication) describing the ideas of the service?

TRL 2: Technology concept formulated

● Is there an initial design description of the service?
● Did you define the users stories to be implemented?
● Did you identify the research and development activities necessary for developing your service?
● Did you perform first tests with example data?

TRL 3: Experimental proof of concept

● Did you define the main components of your service?
● Is there an overview design of your service available (e.g. component diagram)?
● Did you define performance criteria (e.g., number of users, amount of data) for your service?
● Did you establish a test environment for component tests (e.g., tools for conducting unit tests)?
● Are the individual components of your service implemented in a preliminary version?
● Did you test the core functions of the service?
● Did you document your first tests?

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TRL 4: Technology validated in lab

● Is there a detailed design of the components of the service available?
● Did you complete the first running on an internal system (development machine)?
● Did you define the environment in which the service will be operated?
● Did you successfully complete the testing of the integrated components?
● Are the test results of the integrated component tests documented?

TRL 5: Technology validated in relevant environment

● Did you determine the requirements for scaling your service (e.g. from test users to a public
audience)?
● Did you establish a testing environment similar to the later operational environment?
● Did you successfully demonstrate your implementation in a testing environment?
● Did you conduct tests with consortium partners?
● Are the test results from the test environment documented?

TRL 6: Technology demonstrated in the relevant environment

● Are the system requirements finalized?
● Is the operating environment fully defined?
● Are the necessary implementations of a prototype that takes into account the requirements of
the operational environment?
● Did you conduct tests with selected external users (e.g. as part of hackathons)?
● Did you verify the performance of the system?
● Is there are a draft of the documentation available?

TRL 7: System prototype demonstration an operational environment

● Is there a fully integrated prototype available that was demonstrated in an operational
environment?
● Did you verify the performance of the system?
● Did you conduct tests within a broader community with previously unknown users?
● Is all software testing completed?
● Does your service provide a value on its own?
● Is your documentation available in English language?
● Did you specify privacy statements, terms of use and Service Level Agreements?
● Is there a helpdesk available?
● Is there a plan established for ensuring regular updates of your service?

TRL 8: System complete and qualified

● Did you define a lifecycle for your software? Is there a clear plan how to handle the end of life?
● Did you make your service available via the EOSC portal?
● Did you fix all known open issues/bugs?
● Is there a full documentation of your service available?
● Has the qualification test on EOSC been passed?

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TRL 9: Actual system proven in operational environment

● Is your service operational in the EOSC?
● Is there continuous support for your service available?
● Did you finalise all related documentation?
● Does your software meet all specified requirements?
● Are all user stories successfully implemented?

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References
● EOSC (2021): EOSC Provider Portal - Inclusion Criteria:
https://eosc-portal.eu/providers-documentation/eosc-provider-portal-inclusion-criteria
● European Commission (2014): HORIZON 2020 – Work Programme 2014-2015 General Annexes,
G. Technology readiness levels (TRL):
https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/annexes/h2020-wp
1415-annex-g-trl_en.pdf
● NASA (2009): TRL Calculator Ver BI.1 beta
● NASA (2012): Definition of Technology Readiness Level:
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/engineering/technology/technology_readiness_le
vel
● Wake, Bill. 2003. “INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks.” XP123 - Exploring Extreme
Programming (blog). August 17, 2013.
https://xp123.com/articles/invest-in-good-stories-and-smart-tasks/.

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Annex I - Abbreviations
API Application Programming Interface

EC European Commission

EOSC European Open Science Cloud

MvE Minimal viable Ecosystem

TRL Technology Readiness Level

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Annex II - Example of a Testing Documentation Table