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Crowdsourcing Knowledge Introduction
Did you know that the Smithsonian played a role in creating the National Weather Service?
In the 1840s the Smithsonian's first secretary, Joseph Henry, recruited volunteers to submit daily weather reports by telegraph -- the latest technology. Meteorologists used this data to study and predict the weather. Among the many discoveries of this research was the fact that weather systems usually move from west to east.
A century later another crowdsourced science project -- Operation Moonwatch -- relied on amateur astronomers, teachers, and teenagers. They helped track and photograph the first artificial satellites before the government took over that role.
Today the Smithsonian's citizen science programs continue this legacy, inviting the public to participate in a wide range of research projects. |