From concerned to engaged

Illustration of a girl watching a dead bird, worry in first image, sharing on social media on next, and co-creating on citizen science projects in third. Helping build knowledge of environmental challenges. Drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt

Can new technology give us an option to act on our concerns, instead of just sharing them?

Digital co-creation as a way to make knowledge and patterns more visible

Text and drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt

Thirty years ago if we found a dead bird on the beach, or came across a road kill there was not much we could do, but to worry about the effects of oil pollution or roads. Today is a different story, a lot share images on social media about what concerns us. And there is an even better option as more and more online projects combine the knowledge from many eyes to create a much better knowledge of the state of our health, environment, well-being or other things that concern us

Just one example of a project is one where hikers and other people walking along roads can report dead animals, that has been hit by cars ( roadkills) The data can then be combined and used to find out the best places to place green corridors and tunnels for wildlife

Big challenge is though… that the same technology and phones in our hands, that can help science, more often than not, are the same phones that stop us from going outdoors or looking at anything but their screens…