Citizen Scientist by Mary Ellen Hannibal

San Francisco science and culture writer Mary Ellen Hannibal has recently come out with a new book titled Citizen Science: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction and part her research entailed covering California Academy of Sciences’ Citizen Science program.

Not only does Mary Ellen participate in the Intertidal Biodiversity Survey at Pillar Point project (run by @kestrel and @rebeccafay), she also interviewed iNaturalist Co-directors @kueda and @loarie for her book.

I recently had an opportunity to talk with Mary Ellen about the past, present and future of citizen science and the importance of iNaturalist and other projects in crowdsourcing data and engaging the public. You can watch a video (a big thank you to @dpom, @kestrel, and Richard Morgenstein for their photos and footage) of our chat below, and be sure to check out her book!