About This Project

SPLASSH will capture and share the vast amounts of information about water that is collected by students, citizen scientists, and researchers so that we may understand the current conditions of our lakes, rivers, and coastlines. Clean water is crucial to a healthy environment and economy. Our mission is to inspire water conservation so that we may better protect our waterways for the future.

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Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Water is fundamental for all living things, and the condition of our waterways is crucial to public health and the health of every ecosystem on Earth. Water flows through every sector of our economy and infiltrates our society. Some of the biggest global challenges that we face involve the sustainable use of water, and observation is key for sustainability. The problem is that there are not enough observatories to monitor all bodies of water, and funding for these efforts is limited. However, there is a workforce yet untapped that collects vast amounts of information about our waterways: students, citizen scientists, and researchers. SPLASSH will capture and disseminate valuable information about our waterways from these individuals, and it might just change the water world.

What is the significance of this project?

SPLASSH will capture a diverse array of information about water that currently remains locked in students' lab reports, field notebooks, poster sessions, and laptops. Many students, citizen scientists and professionals are active water researchers who collect information on water quality, depth, flow, algae blooms, fish kills, biological surveys, catch data, etc. SPLASSH will be a platform that shares water information, thereby serving as an effective outreach tool to educate and engage the public about water. By sharing water projects, we will crowdsource the condition of our waterways and contribute very valuable information to the scientific community and decision makers. SPLASSH is a reactive and engaging, real-time social platform for anyone who has an interest in water.

What are the goals of the project?

All funds will support the development of a gamification feature for SPLASSH, which will engage and reward users as well as encourage visitors to return to SPLASSH.

Gamification has long been implemented in video games and can be seen in everyday use from how many likes one receives from a Facebook post to earning badges for beer connoisseurs.

If excess funds are raised, it will fund help fund the dissemination of SPLASSH, in order for students, citizen scientists, and researchers to learn about SPLASSH, it must be shared with the scientific community. SPLASSSH will be presented and promoted at the annual American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco this fall if we can raise the necessary funds.