Community Level Indicators Tool

This is an open-source downloadable tool that has been developed with community-led citizen science projects in mind. It is part of Citizen Sensing: A Toolkit, a collection of 25 methods and tools that can be used in citizen science projects.The Community Level Indicators (CLIs) tool is designed for community members and citizen science practitioners wanting to start a new project and is designed to be used throughout a citizen science project. The CLI method involves asking community members to identify extra information that a community in a citizen science project can collect to complement and contextualise sensor data. For example, if a community is concerned about air pollution in their area, they might start a campaign to reduce the number of cars that drive on their street while using a sensor to monitor changes in air quality. The CLI, in this case, could be the measurement of car traffic and could be monitored over time to see if the actions of the campaign had successfully helped to reduce the number which drove on the specific street and if this decrease resulted in improved air quality. This toolkit helps participants to monitor the impact of their actions by tracking and measuring real change. The Community Level Indicators tool helps participants to collaboratively choose what information will be collected, and how. This tool can also be used at the end of a data collection period, to see how actions have made a difference.This page includes a Community Level Indicators guidance document which outlines the toolkit, the steps, resources needed and useful links that can explain the process of using the toolkit yourself. The page also includes a Community Level Indicators canvas which can be used in conducting the activity.