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THE CROWD & THE CLOUD

West Philadelphia resident Suliemon Mellette, age 9, stands with an empty test bottle at a recent training at Drexel University’s Dornsife Center. The bottle was sent from Virginia Tech to the citizen-led group, Philly Unleaded Project, as part of a city-wide campaign to test citizen’s drinking water.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
West Philadelphia resident Suliemon Mellette, age 9, stands with an empty test bottle at a recent training at Drexel University’s Dornsife Center. The bottle was sent from Virginia Tech to the citizen-led group, Philly Unleaded Project, as part of a city-wide campaign to test citizen’s drinking water.

Airs Wednesdays, May 10-31, 2017 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

THE CROWD & THE CLOUD is a documentary series showcasing the power of Citizen Science in the Digital Age. This multi-part series, hosted by former NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati, takes viewers on a global tour of the projects and people on the front lines of citizen science and crowdsourcing.

By observing their environment, monitoring neighborhoods, and collecting information about the world around them, citizens are helping professional scientists advance knowledge while speeding up new discoveries and innovations.

THE CROWD & THE CLOUD: Series Trailer

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EPISODE GUIDE:

Episode 1: "Even Big Data Starts Small" airs Wednesday, May 10 at 11 p.m. - 20,000 volunteers across the U.S. measure precipitation: when extreme weather hits, emergency managers turn their data into life-saving alerts. Armchair mappers worldwide update information used by first responders after the Nepal earthquake.

Glaciologist Ulyana Horodyskyj stands with members of the Sherpa Science Initiative (SSI) after rebuilding a weather station in the foothills of the Himalayas, Nepal, damaged during the 2015 earthquake. SSI trains the Sherpa to monitor the instruments year-round, contributing to science and also to understanding possible floods in their local environment.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
Glaciologist Ulyana Horodyskyj stands with members of the Sherpa Science Initiative (SSI) after rebuilding a weather station in the foothills of the Himalayas, Nepal, damaged during the 2015 earthquake. SSI trains the Sherpa to monitor the instruments year-round, contributing to science and also to understanding possible floods in their local environment.

A new project, EyesOnALZ, enlists the crowd to speed up research on Alzheimer's disease. DIY enthusiasts from Public Lab map the BP oil spill with kites, balloons and cameras and continue to watchdog pollution. The crowd, using mobile tech and the cloud contribute to science that saves lives.

Episode 2: "Citizens + Scientists" airs Wednesday, May 17 at 11 p.m. - Citizen scientists track air and water pollution at fracking sites in windswept Wyoming and five other states, using simple but science-based techniques developed by the "Bucket Brigade."

Deb Thomas (right) and a neighbor became part of a citizen science project using “Bucket Brigade” techniques to sample air close to local fracking sites. Their data showing troubling levels of benzene and formaldehyde was included in a peer-reviewed article in Environmental Health Letters.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
Deb Thomas (right) and a neighbor became part of a citizen science project using “Bucket Brigade” techniques to sample air close to local fracking sites. Their data showing troubling levels of benzene and formaldehyde was included in a peer-reviewed article in Environmental Health Letters.

On idyllic East Coast trout streams, volunteers from Trout Unlimited monitor water quality regularly, generating baseline data that will prove invaluable in the event of future pollution events.

A Trout Unlimited volunteer in North Central Pa. captures stream quality data as part of TUs “Eastern Shale Gas Monitoring Program.” TU members use an EPA-developed checklist, and their data is trusted sufficiently to be used by universities and government environmental agencies.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
A Trout Unlimited volunteer in North Central Pa. captures stream quality data as part of TUs “Eastern Shale Gas Monitoring Program.” TU members use an EPA-developed checklist, and their data is trusted sufficiently to be used by universities and government environmental agencies.

Community members connected with professional researchers to tackle Flint's drinking water crisis and now the same is happening in Philadelphia and other cities.

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In China, citizens use government data and a unique mobile app to report environmental crimes. When citizens and scientists partner, it's a win-win for all concerned.

Episode 3: "Viral vs. Virus" airs Wednesday, May 24 at 11 p.m. - Sensors on asthma inhalers generate real-time maps of environmental dangers to help patients, physicians and disease detectives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Christine Vaughn is an asthma patient in Louisville, Ky., who uses an innovative Propeller Health sensor attached to her inhaler in order to manage her condition, including mapping what locations to avoid that might trigger attacks.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
Christine Vaughn is an asthma patient in Louisville, Ky., who uses an innovative Propeller Health sensor attached to her inhaler in order to manage her condition, including mapping what locations to avoid that might trigger attacks.

Street knowledge was also crucial in a historic medical breakthrough: John Snow’s mapping of cholera fatalities in 19th century London.

In West Oakland, California, citizens confront air pollution and rising asthma rates by collecting traffic data. Local ordinances are changed and everyone breathes easier.

Cassandra Martin and her family suffer from asthma, but she joined with neighbors to count trucks emitting pollutants as part of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, which resulted in positive changes in local air quality.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
Cassandra Martin and her family suffer from asthma, but she joined with neighbors to count trucks emitting pollutants as part of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, which resulted in positive changes in local air quality.

Can apps and maps combat globalized diseases in a warming world? Stories of citizen science fighting mosquito-borne diseases with apps and crowd-sourced data in Barcelona, Houston and New Orleans.

In Kenya, Medic Mobile develops smart but low-cost software to give simple phones powerful capabilities to help community health workers improve maternal and child health.

Community Heath Workers (CHW’s) use MedicMobile software and SIMapps to give low-cost phones some of the same capabilities as smartphones. CHW’s bring life saving medical expertise to women and children in remote areas of the Kenyan countryside, using technology to help fill gaps in the availability of trained physicians.
Courtesy of Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions
Community Heath Workers (CHW’s) use MedicMobile software and SIMapps to give low-cost phones some of the same capabilities as smartphones. CHW’s bring life saving medical expertise to women and children in remote areas of the Kenyan countryside, using technology to help fill gaps in the availability of trained physicians.

Episode 4: "Citizens4Earth" airs Wednesday, May 31 at 11 p.m. - Counting birds for more than 100 years generates data on a changing climate and there’s an app for that: eBird. Surfer science using smart tech tracks ocean acidification and coastal temperatures in the Smartfin project, a recent startup.

A Smartfin sensor which can track temperature and ocean acidification data in near shore waters.
Courtesy of CROWD & CLOUD
A Smartfin sensor which can track temperature and ocean acidification data in near shore waters.

We spend “A Year in the Life of Citizen Science” including a Thanksgiving Monarch Butterfly Watch in California.

Seasonal change is tracked by Latina and Native American teens in springtime in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and horseshoe crabs are surveyed in summer by retirees along mid-Atlantic coasts.

In Uganda, World Bank economists and local partners generate data for sustainable development. The far-ranging potential of “Citizen Science in the Digital Age.”

Citizen science volunteers coordinated by Nature Conservancy New Jersey use meter-square measures to count the number of male and female horseshoe crabs. The annual crabs surveys on full moon nights in late spring and early summer gather data that helps shape conservation policies protecting both the crabs and the migrating birds who rely on their eggs are thriving.
Courtesy of Sean Feuer/CROWD & CLOUD
Citizen science volunteers coordinated by Nature Conservancy New Jersey use meter-square measures to count the number of male and female horseshoe crabs. The annual crabs surveys on full moon nights in late spring and early summer gather data that helps shape conservation policies protecting both the crabs and the migrating birds who rely on their eggs are thriving.

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THE CROWD & THE CLOUD is on Facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @CrowdAndCloudTV on Twitter. #CitizenScience #CrowdCloudLIVE

CREDITS:

Produced by Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions. Distributed by American Public Television.