Protecting student privacy in online projects
User privacy is also an important consideration when requiring students
to participate in online activities. The majority of the participatory
science projects used in this class (Table 1 ) allow for
anonymous reporting. Even when the project posts maps or visualizations
of observations, the user who submitted the data is not always reported
(e.g., GLOBE Cloud Observer). Even projects that report the observer’s
name allow for users to use a screen name that need not be their legal
name and report no other identifying information (e.g., Debris Tracker
and iNaturalist). The most robust privacy measures, illustrated by
iNaturalist, allow users to obscure the geolocation of their
observation, which is particularly important when students are primarily
making observations in or near their home. Additionally, the option of
summarizing or analyzing other user’s data could be used as an option
for students uncomfortable with the required online presence of
participatory science projects. Indeed, research has shown that engaging
with the broader dataset in which their individual observations are
‘nested’ has a positive impact on student valuation of participating in
such projects and on students’ perception of themselves as agents of
environmental change (Harris et al 2020).