Improving Data Quality in eBird- the Expert Reviewer Network

• Published in: Biodiversity Information Science and Standards
• Main Author: Kelling, Steve
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Pensoft Publishers 2018
• Subjects: eBird; data quality; citizen science; data review; Kamchatka
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/1252570; https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.2.25394

eBird is a global citizen science project that gathers observations of birds. The project has been making a considerable contribution to the collection and sharing of bird observations, even in the data-poorest countries, and is accelerating the accumulation of bird records globally. On 22 March 2018 eBird surpassed ½ billion bird observations. A primary component of ensuring the best quality data is the network of more than 1300 volunteer reviewers who scour incoming data for accuracy. Reviewers provide active feedback to participants on everything from bird identification to best practices for data collection. Since eBird's inception in 2002, almost 23 million observations have been reviewed, requiring more than 190,000 hours of effort by reviewers. In this presentation we review how eBird recruits expert reviewers, describe their responsibilities, and offer some insight in new developments to improve the reviewing process. How are reviewers recruited. There are three primary methods that used to identify new reviewers. First, if we don't have any active participants in a region (e.g., Kamchatka Russia) eBird staff search birding listserves to find an individual who is reporting a lot of high-quality observations from the area. We then contact those individuals and offer them the opportunity to review records for the region. This option has the lowest likelihood of success. Second, if an individual is submitting a lot of records to eBird from a region that needs a reviewer we contact them and request their participation. Third, in much of the world eBird has partner groups. These partner organizations (e.g., Taiwan, Spain, India, Portugal, Australia, and all of the Western Hemisphere) recruit their own reviewers. The third method is the most effective way to gain expert participation. What does a reviewer do? eBird reviewers work to improve eBird data in three primary areas. First, they develop and manage the eBird checklist filters for a region. These filters generate a checklist of birds for a particular ...