Project 2491: 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/P2491, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P2491
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 117 Total media associated with cells: 104 Total labels associated with cell media: 0 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 7 Total characters with associated media: 6 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 2491
MorphoBank Project 2491
- Creation Date:
06 July 2016 - Publication Date:
30 May 2017 - Project views: 123594
- Media downloads: 1
- Matrix downloads: 3
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 | ||||||
Mariangeles Arce H. Project Administrator | 20 | 72 | 448 | 7 | 20 | 0 | 117 (109, 0, 8) | 104 | 0 | 2 | ||||
Maureen O'Leary Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M24107' (20 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] Ictalurus furcatus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
[2] Ictalurus balsanus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[3] Ictalurus punctatus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[4] Ictalurus meridionalis Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[5] Ameiurus catus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[6] Ameiurus serracanthus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
[7] Ameiurus brunneus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
[8] Ameiurus platycephalus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[9] Ameiurus natalis Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[10] Ameiurus melas Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[11] Ameiurus nebulosus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[12] Noturus flavus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
[13] Noturus stigmosus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
[14] Prietella phreatophila Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
[15] Pylodictis olivaris Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
[16] Satan eurystomus Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
[17] Cranoglanis bouderius Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
[18] † Ictalurus countermani Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
[19] † Ictalurus hazenensis Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
[20] † Hypsidoris farsonensis Last Modified in 07/06/16 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 123594 | |
Project overview | 2637 | |
Matrix views | 1495 | Matrix landing page (1150 views); Ictaluridae+Cranoglanididae (345 views); |
Media views | 76957 | Media search (3902 views); M424783 (478 views); M424801 (403 views); M424739 (472 views); M424769 (504 views); M424784 (406 views); M424740 (493 views); M424805 (465 views); M424834 (386 views); M424795 (415 views); M424747 (485 views); M424746 (502 views); M424797 (419 views); M424756 (493 views); M424758 (478 views); M424824 (386 views); M424754 (527 views); M424827 (417 views); M424791 (395 views); M424793 (421 views); M424836 (349 views); M424776 (476 views); M424799 (418 views); M424738 (515 views); M424759 (505 views); M424743 (471 views); M424803 (386 views); M424786 (387 views); M424826 (361 views); M424813 (402 views); M424804 (363 views); M424772 (448 views); M424767 (478 views); M424781 (489 views); M424785 (418 views); M424760 (469 views); M424810 (419 views); M424779 (516 views); M424818 (415 views); M424755 (463 views); M424814 (411 views); M424763 (528 views); M424751 (463 views); M424764 (489 views); M424796 (422 views); M424820 (356 views); M424752 (477 views); M424778 (431 views); M424833 (377 views); M424748 (479 views); M424766 (485 views); M424816 (368 views); M424745 (532 views); M424830 (403 views); M424744 (490 views); M424780 (467 views); M424782 (458 views); M424821 (400 views); M424775 (470 views); M424822 (422 views); M424790 (388 views); M424807 (393 views); M424829 (387 views); M424811 (372 views); M424768 (482 views); M424773 (516 views); M424809 (397 views); M424741 (511 views); M424750 (492 views); M424825 (419 views); M424770 (491 views); M424832 (417 views); M424749 (478 views); M424798 (390 views); M424787 (403 views); M424819 (385 views); M424788 (391 views); M424771 (479 views); M424815 (380 views); M424794 (389 views); M424753 (478 views); M424765 (480 views); M424774 (543 views); M424828 (392 views); M424757 (494 views); M424800 (378 views); M424823 (383 views); M424835 (410 views); M424742 (474 views); M424806 (615 views); M424812 (382 views); M424846 (209 views); M424848 (221 views); M424944 (229 views); M424913 (377 views); M424872 (225 views); M424918 (226 views); M424942 (220 views); M424914 (304 views); M424886 (222 views); M424950 (219 views); M424883 (238 views); M424951 (237 views); M424865 (224 views); M424923 (218 views); M424853 (231 views); M424930 (206 views); M424954 (230 views); M424932 (237 views); M424885 (239 views); M424890 (223 views); M424869 (230 views); M424845 (233 views); M424936 (231 views); M424907 (230 views); M424863 (233 views); M424903 (225 views); M424939 (231 views); M424896 (238 views); M424880 (233 views); M424891 (235 views); M424881 (234 views); M424858 (205 views); M424908 (230 views); M424910 (223 views); M424943 (239 views); M424919 (236 views); M424882 (206 views); M424901 (236 views); M424955 (224 views); M424842 (291 views); M424888 (218 views); M424898 (223 views); M424902 (234 views); M424946 (221 views); M424847 (220 views); M424927 (230 views); M424935 (231 views); M424893 (227 views); M424920 (232 views); M424878 (222 views); M424952 (208 views); M424949 (229 views); M424871 (369 views); M424915 (261 views); M424852 (231 views); M424909 (233 views); M424899 (233 views); M424876 (231 views); M424929 (220 views); M424906 (228 views); M424934 (232 views); M424850 (212 views); M424912 (241 views); M424855 (229 views); M424843 (218 views); M424777 (456 views); M424802 (349 views); M424884 (214 views); M424959 (226 views); M424905 (209 views); M424864 (235 views); M424856 (216 views); M424897 (215 views); M424838 (235 views); M424894 (216 views); M424874 (223 views); M424956 (226 views); M424866 (264 views); M424859 (222 views); M424875 (224 views); M424868 (214 views); M424937 (224 views); M424844 (222 views); M424867 (211 views); M424961 (229 views); M424938 (230 views); M424947 (237 views); M424960 (234 views); M424862 (242 views); M424945 (231 views); M424889 (229 views); M424928 (201 views); M424841 (286 views); M424900 (217 views); M424931 (204 views); M424877 (225 views); M424870 (205 views); M424924 (229 views); M424860 (212 views); M424861 (215 views); M424895 (232 views); M424839 (316 views); M424873 (214 views); M424941 (232 views); M424911 (209 views); M424953 (230 views); M424837 (203 views); M424849 (224 views); M424887 (221 views); M424926 (226 views); M424940 (229 views); M424948 (227 views); M424854 (226 views); M424933 (208 views); M424857 (203 views); M424840 (349 views); M424851 (232 views); M424879 (228 views); M424921 (274 views); M424917 (209 views); M424957 (239 views); M424925 (224 views); M424892 (218 views); M424922 (234 views); M424958 (224 views); M424737 (522 views); M424792 (403 views); M424789 (397 views); M424831 (422 views); M424762 (492 views); M424808 (365 views); M424817 (383 views); M424761 (517 views); M424916 (227 views); M424904 (243 views); M425017 (2 views); M425072 (3 views); |
Documents list | 1034 | |
Views for media list | 3672 | |
Specimen list | 31368 | |
Taxon list | 5582 | |
Bibliography | 849 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 290 | |
Project downloads | 285 | |
Media downloads | 1 | M425072 (1 download); |
Document downloads | 1 | Supplementary Material (1 download); |
Matrix downloads | 3 | Ictaluridae+Cranoglanididae (3 downloads); |