IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i18p9666-d635051.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital Citizen Science for Responding to COVID-19 Crisis: Experiences from Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Hossein Vahidi

    (EcoGIS Lab, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 252-0882, Kanagawa, Japan
    Spatial Decision Making & Smart Cities Lab, Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran 15433-19967, Iran)

  • Mohammad Taleai

    (Spatial Decision Making & Smart Cities Lab, Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran 15433-19967, Iran)

  • Wanglin Yan

    (EcoGIS Lab, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 252-0882, Kanagawa, Japan)

  • Rajib Shaw

    (Global Resilience Innovation Laboratory, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 252-0882, Kanagawa, Japan)

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has so far been the most severe global public health emergency in this century. Generally, citizen science can provide a complement to authoritative scientific practices for responding to this highly complex biological threat and its adverse consequences. Several citizen science projects have been designed and operationalized for responding to COVID-19 in Iran since the infection began. However, these projects have mostly been overlooked in the existing literature on citizen science. This research sheds light on the most significant online citizen science projects to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in Iran. Furthermore, it highlights some of the opportunities and challenges associated with the strengths and weaknesses of these projects. Moreover, this study captures and discusses some considerable insights and lessons learned from the failures and successes of these projects and provides solutions to overcome some recognized challenges and weaknesses of these projects. The outcomes of this synthesis provide potentially helpful directions for current and future citizen science projects—particularly those aiming to respond to biological disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Hossein Vahidi & Mohammad Taleai & Wanglin Yan & Rajib Shaw, 2021. "Digital Citizen Science for Responding to COVID-19 Crisis: Experiences from Iran," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-34, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9666-:d:635051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9666/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9666/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean Tirole & Roland Bénabou, 2006. "Incentives and Prosocial Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1652-1678, December.
    2. Di Yang & Ho Yi Wan & Ta-Ken Huang & Jianguo Liu, 2019. "The Role of Citizen Science in Conservation under the Telecoupling Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Uri Gneezy & Stephan Meier & Pedro Rey-Biel, 2011. "When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(4), pages 191-210, Fall.
    4. Nicola Moczek & Silke L. Voigt-Heucke & Kim G. Mortega & Claudia Fabó Cartas & Jörn Knobloch, 2021. "A Self-Assessment of European Citizen Science Projects on Their Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Cobi Calyx, 2020. "Sustaining Citizen Science beyond an Emergency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-11, June.
    6. Shifeng Fang & Lida Xu & Yunqiang Zhu & Yongqiang Liu & Zhihui Liu & Huan Pei & Jianwu Yan & Huifang Zhang, 2015. "An integrated information system for snowmelt flood early-warning based on internet of things," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 321-335, April.
    7. Mohseni, Mohabbat & Lindstrom, Martin, 2007. "Social capital, trust in the health-care system and self-rated health: The role of access to health care in a population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 1373-1383, April.
    8. Kietzmann, Jan H. & Hermkens, Kristopher & McCarthy, Ian P. & Silvestre, Bruno S., 2011. "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 241-251, May.
    9. Brett Bruyere & Silas Rappe, 2007. "Identifying the motivations of environmental volunteers," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 503-516.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ariyaningsih & Rajib Shaw, 2023. "Community-Based Approach for Climate Resilience and COVID-19: Case Study of a Climate Village (Kampung Iklim) in Balikpapan, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Thanatorn Chuenyindee & Ardvin Kester S. Ong & Yogi Tri Prasetyo & Satria Fadil Persada & Reny Nadlifatin & Thaninrat Sittiwatethanasiri, 2022. "Factors Affecting the Perceived Usability of the COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Application “Thai Chana” during the Early COVID-19 Omicron Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Nader Ghotbi, 2022. "The COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Its Impact on Post-Corona Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management in Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-13, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jing Wang & Gen Li & Kai-Lung Hui, 2022. "Monetary Incentives and Knowledge Spillover: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3549-3572, May.
    2. Mortimer, Duncan & Harris, Anthony & Wijnands, Jasper S. & Stevenson, Mark, 2021. "Persistence or reversal? The micro-effects of time-varying financial penalties," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 72-86.
    3. Christine Exley, 2013. "Incentives for Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Reputations," Discussion Papers 12-022, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    4. Elliott Ash & W. Bentley MacLeod, 2015. "Intrinsic Motivation in Public Service: Theory and Evidence from State Supreme Courts," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4).
    5. Alexander Kalgin & Olga Kalgina & Anna Lebedeva, 2019. "Publication Metrics as a Tool for Measuring Research Productivity and Their Relation to Motivation," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 44-86.
    6. Ina Ganguli & Marieke Huysentruyt & Chloé Le Coq, 2021. "How Do Nascent Social Entrepreneurs Respond to Rewards? A Field Experiment on Motivations in a Grant Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6294-6316, October.
    7. Charles Ayoubi & Boris Thurm, 2023. "Knowledge diffusion and morality: Why do we freely share valuable information with Strangers?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 75-99, January.
    8. Mechtenberg, Lydia & Muehlheusser, Gerd & Roider, Andreas, 2020. "Whistleblower protection: Theory and experimental evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Singh, Prakarsh & Masters, William A., 2017. "Impact of caregiver incentives on child health: Evidence from an experiment with Anganwadi workers in India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 219-231.
    10. Wei Zhao & Qianqian Ben Liu & Xitong Guo & Tianshi Wu & Subodha Kumar, 2022. "Quid pro quo in online medical consultation? Investigating the effects of small monetary gifts from patients," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1698-1718, April.
    11. Blanco, Esther & Baier, Alexandra & Holzmeister, Felix & Jaber-Lopez, Tarek & Struwe, Natalie, 2022. "Substitution of social sustainability concerns under the Covid-19 pandemic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    12. Jason J Sandvik & Richard E Saouma & Nathan T Seegert & Christopher T Stanton, 2020. "Workplace Knowledge Flows," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(3), pages 1635-1680.
    13. Brice Corgnet & Brian Gunia & Roberto Hernán González, 2021. "Harnessing the power of social incentives to curb shirking in teams," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 139-167, February.
    14. Nicola Lacetera & Mario Macis & Robert Slonim, 2014. "Rewarding Volunteers: A Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(5), pages 1107-1129, May.
    15. Goette, Lorenz & Stutzer, Alois, 2020. "Blood donations and incentives: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 52-74.
    16. Carpenter, Jeffrey & Dolifka, David, 2017. "Exploitation aversion: When financial incentives fail to motivate agents," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 213-224.
    17. Kyota Eguchi, 2017. "Guilty Conscience And Incentives With Performance Assessment Errors," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(1), pages 434-450, January.
    18. Lanz, Bruno & Wurlod, Jules-Daniel & Panzone, Luca & Swanson, Timothy, 2018. "The behavioral effect of Pigovian regulation: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 190-205.
    19. Timothy Gubler & Ian Larkin & Lamar Pierce, 2016. "Motivational Spillovers from Awards: Crowding Out in a Multitasking Environment," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 286-303, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9666-:d:635051. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.