Ramblings of a Marketing Gurl: Citizen Science & Research

A crowd-sourced virtual super computer may sound outlandish or based out of science fiction, but it is fiction no more. Meet Folding@home, created by Dr. Vijay Pande’s lab at Stanford University. The setup reads a lot like how bitcoin mining works, though, this is under the guise of "for the greater good" citizen science. Sorry MacOSX users, maybe your machine is just not cut out for this type of work. Windows OS is in the lead for active CPUs and GPUs. I am skeptical about all the bandwidth (millions of teraflops) this virtual computer needs. Someone is paying for that bandwidth, is it you?

On the other side of data, John Hopkins University released a newly updated dashboard that tracks COVID-19 cases in rich detail by county.

Citizen science is a scientific method in which people, not professional scientists, collect data. This data can be used to answer a variety of questions, such as how climate change is affecting our planet, how pollution is affecting our air and water, and how diseases are spreading.

There are many ways that you can help your local community with citizen science. Here are a few examples:

Collect data about the environment. You can collect data about the air quality, water quality, and wildlife in your community. This data can be used to track changes over time and to identify areas that need improvement.
Monitor public health. You can help to monitor public health by reporting symptoms of diseases, such as Lyme disease or West Nile virus. This data can be used to track the spread of diseases and to identify areas that need to be vaccinated.
Conduct research. You can help to conduct research by participating in surveys, experiments, and other studies. This data can be used to answer important questions about our world and to develop new solutions to problems.

Citizen science is a great way to get involved in your community and to make a difference. It is also a fun and rewarding way to learn about science and to make a contribution to the world.

Here are some additional tips for getting involved in citizen science:

Find a project that interests you. There are many different citizen science projects out there, so take some time to find one that you are interested in.
Read the project instructions carefully. Make sure you understand what is expected of you and how to collect the data correctly.
Submit your data regularly. The more data you submit, the more valuable it will be to the scientists who are using it.

Get involved in the community. Citizen science is a great way to meet new people and to learn about your community. Get involved in the project's online forums or social media groups to connect with other participants and to learn more about the project.

Get involved today and start making a difference!

Serena Y. Hsi, MBA

Welcome to my ramblings about marketing techniques, insights, business models, and perspectives on what companies do to bring products and services to market. My marketing work encompasses corporate and agency marketing handling many aspects within the marketing discipline: competitive intelligence, market strategy, market research, consulting, customer segmentation, database marketing, and identifying better customer acquisition methods and cross-sell opportunities.

The strength of a company's product or services should be as strong as its business strategy and marketing insight into its own industry. My passions are marketing and technology, which just happens to also be my career path.