Who is saving our streamflow data? Exploring volunteer profiles and their engagement

What is it about?

Imagine old books filled with numbers. These numbers track how much water flowed through Italian rivers every single day, across many decades. For scientists studying floods, climate, or water resources, this kind of information is incredibly valuable. But there’s one big problem: it’s all on paper. That’s where the SIREN project comes in. Through the Zooniverse platform, SIREN asked volunteers to help turn these historical river flow records into digital data. Volunteers looked at scans of the original tables and typed in the numbers, making them usable for researchers today. But who are these volunteers? Are they students? Retired professionals? People passionate about science? Through interviews and an anonymous survey, we were able to understand that: - many volunteers are using existing skills (like fast typing or attention to detail) to contribute; - some see it as a calm, rewarding activity to do in their free time; - others feel a personal connection to water, science, or Italy. A surprising number of active contributors are retirees, showing that citizen science has no age limit.

Featured Image

Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash

Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This work shows that citizen science can be a powerful tool for large-scale data recovery. It reveals that volunteers of different ages and employment statuses can contribute meaningfully to scientific research. Understanding who these volunteers are and what motivates them helps improve future citizen science projects. It allows project leaders to design initiatives that are not only scientifically sound, but also engaging, inclusive, and sustainable.