Project 2502: M. A. O’Leary, K. Alphonse, A. H. Mariangeles, D. Cavaliere, A. Cirranello, T. G. Dietterich, M. Julius, S. Kaufman, E. Law, M. Passarotti, A. Reft, J. Robalino, N. B. Simmons, S. Y. Smith, D. W. Stevenson, E. Theriot, P. M. Velazco, R. L. Walls, M. Yu, M. Daly. 2018. Crowds Replicate Performance of Scientific Experts Scoring Phylogenetic Matrices of Phenotypes. Systematic Biology. 67 (1):49-60.
Abstract
Scientists building the Tree of Life face an overwhelming challenge to categorize phenotypes (e.g., anatomy, physiology) from millions of living and fossil species. This biodiversity challenge far outstrips the capacities of trained scientific experts. Here we explore whether crowdsourcing can be used to collect matrix data on a large scale with the participation of the non-expert students, or “citizen scientists.” Crowdsourcing, or data collection by non-experts, frequently via the internet, has enabled scientists to tackle some large-scale data collection challenges too massive for individuals or scientific teams alone. The quality of work by non-expert crowds is, however, often questioned and little data has been collected on how such crowds perform on complex tasks such as phylogenetic character coding. We studied a crowd of over 600 non-experts, and found that they could use images to identify anatomical similarity (hypotheses of homology) with an average accuracy of 82% compared to scores provided by experts in the field. This performance pattern held across the Tree of Life, from protists to vertebrates. We introduce a procedure that predicts the difficulty of each character and that can be used to assign harder characters to experts and easier characters to a non-expert crowd for scoring. We test this procedure in a controlled experiment comparing crowd scores to those of experts and show that crowds can produce matrices with over 90% of cells scored correctly while reducing the number of cells to be scored by experts by 50%. Preparation time, including image collection and processing, for a crowdsourcing experiment is significant, and does not currently save time of scientific experts overall. However, if innovations in automation or robotics can reduce such effort, then large-scale implementation of our method could greatly increase the collective scientific knowledge of species phenotypes for phylogenetic tree building. For the field of crowdsourcing, we provide a rare study with ground truth, or an experimental control that many studies lack, and contribute new methods on how to coordinate the work of experts and non-experts. We show that there are important instances in which crowd consensus is not a good proxy for correctness.Read the article »
Article DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syx052
Project DOI: 10.7934/P2502, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P2502
This project contains | Matrices |
---|---|
Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 105 Total media associated with cells: 105 Total labels associated with cell media: 67 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 7 Total characters with associated media: 7 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 14 Total character states with associated media: 14 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:7/0 |
Currently Viewing:
MorphoBank Project 2502
MorphoBank Project 2502
- Creation Date:
21 July 2016 - Publication Date:
30 May 2017 - Project views: 158946
- Matrix downloads: 2
This research
supported by
Authors' Institutions
- Ohio State University
- Oregon State University
- University of Arizona
- University of Michigan
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Waterloo
- American Museum of Natural History
- Drexel University
- Kenx Technology Inc
- New York Botanical Garden
- St. Cloud State University
- Stony Brook University
- Whirl-i-gig
- College of William and Mary
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||
Javier Robalino Project Administrator | 15 | 160 | 548 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 105 (102, 0, 3) | 105 | 67 | 1 | ||||
Maureen O'Leary Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M24143' (15 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] Aristaeopsis edwardsiana Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[2] Aristeus virilis Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
[3] Austropenaeus nitidus Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[4] Benthesicymus investigatoris Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
[5] Benthonectes filipes Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[6] Farfantepenaeus aztecus Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[7] Haliporoides sibogae Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[8] Melicertus latisulcatus Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[9] Metapenaeus ensis Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
[10] Penaeopsis eduardoi Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[11] Penaeus monodon Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[12] Plesiopenaeus armatus Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
[13] Sicyonia brevirostris Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[14] Sicyonia lancifer Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 2 |
[15] Solenocera melantho Last Modified in 07/22/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 158946 | |
Project overview | 2409 | |
Matrix views | 1402 | Matrix landing page (1132 views); Morphological Characters: Penaeoidea (270 views); |
Documents list | 1059 | |
Media views | 80788 | Media search (3836 views); M425454 (433 views); M425417 (419 views); M425375 (511 views); M425428 (402 views); M425431 (406 views); M425436 (458 views); M425411 (395 views); M425410 (417 views); M425400 (458 views); M425371 (530 views); M425413 (426 views); M425361 (679 views); M425391 (484 views); M425368 (512 views); M425392 (544 views); M425423 (439 views); M425427 (412 views); M425460 (475 views); M425433 (417 views); M425369 (516 views); M425374 (512 views); M425364 (547 views); M425451 (408 views); M425408 (439 views); M425399 (498 views); M425394 (451 views); M425384 (613 views); M425373 (522 views); M425376 (624 views); M425449 (435 views); M425421 (399 views); M425447 (508 views); M425396 (619 views); M425440 (449 views); M425448 (402 views); M425452 (406 views); M425429 (404 views); M425377 (606 views); M425367 (477 views); M425453 (392 views); M425430 (439 views); M425365 (617 views); M425387 (509 views); M425409 (428 views); M425372 (489 views); M425401 (472 views); M425389 (506 views); M425458 (446 views); M425455 (520 views); M425418 (471 views); M425434 (414 views); M425381 (490 views); M425446 (397 views); M425414 (449 views); M425366 (557 views); M425407 (427 views); M425456 (434 views); M425415 (486 views); M425386 (456 views); M425459 (400 views); M425397 (569 views); M425432 (366 views); M425416 (435 views); M425388 (472 views); M425378 (492 views); M425404 (466 views); M425457 (419 views); M425420 (373 views); M425445 (424 views); M425382 (505 views); M425362 (521 views); M425422 (482 views); M425438 (490 views); M425439 (403 views); M425406 (482 views); M425403 (417 views); M425402 (626 views); M425443 (417 views); M425405 (463 views); M425380 (506 views); M425450 (461 views); M425363 (549 views); M425395 (494 views); M425393 (516 views); M425419 (406 views); M425412 (471 views); M425444 (416 views); M425437 (412 views); M425425 (458 views); M425441 (403 views); M425426 (418 views); M425379 (511 views); M425424 (429 views); M425383 (512 views); M425494 (246 views); M425510 (232 views); M425524 (223 views); M425469 (227 views); M425576 (237 views); M425547 (235 views); M425529 (264 views); M425540 (238 views); M425483 (246 views); M425509 (254 views); M425495 (234 views); M425534 (223 views); M425491 (244 views); M425501 (226 views); M425571 (229 views); M425468 (245 views); M425538 (242 views); M425567 (223 views); M425497 (269 views); M425480 (217 views); M425584 (223 views); M425519 (257 views); M425488 (247 views); M425523 (246 views); M425550 (221 views); M425548 (245 views); M425552 (214 views); M425511 (237 views); M425507 (235 views); M425561 (213 views); M425568 (232 views); M425558 (237 views); M425577 (217 views); M425506 (236 views); M425546 (224 views); M425536 (284 views); M425462 (247 views); M425500 (234 views); M425513 (253 views); M425537 (250 views); M425472 (278 views); M425581 (210 views); M425471 (239 views); M425543 (234 views); M425477 (237 views); M425573 (239 views); M425499 (236 views); M425514 (253 views); M425522 (243 views); M425485 (224 views); M425553 (252 views); M425470 (256 views); M425516 (246 views); M425533 (211 views); M425512 (234 views); M425461 (249 views); M425496 (224 views); M425579 (221 views); M425564 (247 views); M425528 (247 views); M425508 (233 views); M425527 (222 views); M425566 (229 views); M425478 (245 views); M425539 (226 views); M425490 (242 views); M425545 (239 views); M425517 (247 views); M425563 (232 views); M425482 (227 views); M425474 (233 views); M425531 (236 views); M425560 (254 views); M425535 (252 views); M425465 (249 views); M425489 (233 views); M425487 (262 views); M425554 (260 views); M425503 (248 views); M425486 (247 views); M425479 (224 views); M425555 (221 views); M425542 (224 views); M425467 (258 views); M425559 (246 views); M425544 (266 views); M425504 (236 views); M425521 (232 views); M425530 (233 views); M425580 (220 views); M425557 (234 views); M425572 (215 views); M425518 (243 views); M425463 (237 views); M425493 (245 views); M425464 (226 views); M425575 (228 views); M425505 (239 views); M425569 (217 views); M425481 (249 views); M425520 (233 views); M425582 (238 views); M425556 (249 views); M425565 (231 views); M425484 (247 views); M425466 (260 views); M425583 (240 views); M425549 (226 views); M425515 (239 views); M425475 (259 views); M425492 (242 views); M425541 (245 views); M425498 (252 views); M425562 (248 views); M425574 (248 views); M425570 (250 views); M425551 (233 views); M425532 (213 views); M425370 (439 views); M425442 (432 views); M425385 (484 views); M425435 (424 views); M425398 (477 views); M425390 (476 views); M425473 (237 views); M425585 (221 views); M425476 (231 views); M425526 (233 views); M425578 (227 views); M425525 (232 views); M425502 (218 views); M425677 (1 view); M425672 (1 view); M425810 (1 view); M425872 (1 view); M425865 (1 view); M425842 (1 view); M425899 (1 view); M425903 (1 view); M425868 (1 view); M425809 (1 view); M425856 (1 view); M425862 (1 view); M425883 (1 view); M425881 (1 view); M425846 (1 view); M425914 (1 view); M425839 (1 view); M425875 (1 view); M425902 (1 view); M425869 (1 view); M425876 (1 view); M425916 (1 view); M425859 (1 view); M425814 (1 view); M425882 (1 view); M425867 (1 view); M425833 (1 view); M425909 (1 view); M425885 (1 view); M425901 (1 view); M425847 (1 view); M425896 (1 view); M425893 (1 view); M425860 (2 views); M425878 (1 view); M425849 (1 view); M425844 (1 view); M425806 (1 view); M425866 (1 view); M425900 (1 view); M425820 (1 view); M425836 (1 view); M425840 (1 view); M425894 (1 view); M425863 (1 view); M425886 (1 view); M425811 (1 view); M425817 (1 view); M425877 (1 view); M425889 (1 view); M425815 (1 view); M425915 (1 view); M425805 (1 view); M425887 (1 view); M425897 (1 view); M425905 (1 view); M425808 (1 view); M425884 (1 view); M425835 (1 view); M425841 (1 view); M425807 (1 view); M425804 (1 view); M425861 (2 views); M425911 (2 views); M425892 (2 views); M425850 (2 views); M425803 (2 views); M425880 (2 views); M425855 (2 views); M425818 (2 views); M425858 (3 views); M425891 (26 views); M425838 (2 views); M425908 (2 views); M425837 (2 views); M425904 (2 views); M425854 (1 view); M425870 (2 views); M425907 (16 views); M425813 (2 views); M425890 (14 views); M425819 (2 views); M425913 (2 views); M425871 (2 views); M425864 (2 views); M425812 (2 views); M425857 (2 views); M425895 (2 views); M425821 (2 views); M425926 (1 view); M425948 (1 view); M425946 (1 view); M425923 (1 view); M425933 (1 view); M425942 (1 view); M426008 (1 view); M425964 (1 view); M425959 (1 view); M425950 (1 view); M425963 (1 view); M425960 (1 view); M425921 (1 view); M425918 (1 view); M425949 (1 view); M425953 (1 view); M425968 (1 view); M425956 (1 view); M425965 (1 view); M425952 (1 view); M425934 (27 views); M425929 (1 view); M425955 (1 view); M425922 (1 view); M425925 (1 view); M425957 (1 view); M425958 (1 view); M425947 (1 view); M425935 (1 view); M426030 (1 view); M425966 (1 view); M425937 (1 view); M426031 (1 view); M425917 (1 view); M425954 (1 view); M425927 (1 view); M425943 (1 view); M425932 (1 view); M425941 (1 view); M425928 (1 view); M425951 (1 view); M425945 (1 view); M425919 (1 view); M425967 (1 view); M425920 (1 view); |
Views for media list | 7667 | |
Bibliography | 10468 | |
Taxon list | 6603 | |
Specimen list | 48550 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 209 | |
Project downloads | 206 | |
Document downloads | 1 | Syst Biol Supplementary Material (1 download); |
Matrix downloads | 2 | Morphological Characters: Penaeoidea (2 downloads); |