The “Big” idea behind developing the Global Sensor Web (GSW) is to create a platform for citizen science whereby various research teams can quickly aggregate and analyze data, even from real time sources such as weather stations and air quality monitors. Part of this development work now involves engaging students in helping to lay out what type of data we can capture and, more importantly, what can be done with that data once it’s captured.
This work, currently done in downtown Los Angeles at LA Makerspace, starts with a brainstorming session where some of our students have put together a table of the sensor data which can be collected from phones as well as what type of research can be done with that data. So far we have focused heavily on using the cameras in phones as a way of monitoring cosmic-rays, but with the ability to capture and analyze large amounts of geotagged data for public research we are hoping to build a platform for future citizen science.