Step 1: Share this opportunity with your Organization
Contact your organization to see if participating in Zooniverse can fulfill your volunteering or other participation requirements. A good approach is to share this blog post with your organization so they understand what you will do and how you will document your participation. We strongly recommend checking with your organization before you start to ensure your efforts are recognized.
Step 2: Register at Zooniverse.org
Create a Zooniverse account by clicking 'Register' in the upper-right corner of the Zooniverse.org homepage. Only your name and email are captured, and we do not share email addresses outside of Zooniverse.
Note: Registration is not required to participate in Zooniverse, but it is useful in this case to create a volunteer certificate documenting the number of hours you spent classifying and the number of classifications you did. Volunteer certificates are often required documentation for service learning hours.
Step 3: Participate!
Dive into any project and start classifying! There are typically over 80 active projects listed at zooniverse.org/projects. You can filter by different disciplines (history, space, nature, climate, etc.) to find projects that align with your interests. Every project's ‘classify’ page has a brief tutorial to guide you on what to do and how to do it.
Be sure to be logged in while you participate so that your stats and hours of participation are recorded and can be included in your certificate.
Step 4: Generate your Volunteer Certificate
Go to zooniverse.org, sign in, and click ‘More Stats’. Then click on ‘Generate Volunteer Certificate’ (the button to the bottom-right of your stats bar chart). Use the drop-down options on the upper-right of the stats bar cart to filter to a specific time period and/or project of interest.
Dr. Laura Trouille, Zooniverse Principal Investigator and VP Science Engagement, Adler Planetarium, 1300 South DuSable Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605, contact@zooniverse.org
Again, please keep in mind that we unfortunately do not have the capacity to fill out and/or sign individual forms. If your organization is not able to use the automatically generated signed Volunteer Certificate (see notes above), best to find an alternate volunteer opportunity.
Share your Certificate with your Organization. We’d love it if you continue participating!
By following these steps, you can fulfill your service hour requirements while making meaningful contributions to scientific research. Happy classifying!