An investigation of player motivations in Eyewire, a gamified citizen science project

Tinati, Ramine, Luczak-Roesch, Markus, Simperl, Elena and Hall, Wendy (2017) An investigation of player motivations in Eyewire, a gamified citizen science project. Computers in Human Behaviour, 1-29. (doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.074).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Sustained engagement of participants is essential for the success of a citizen science project. However, the motivations of why people engage with such activities can be idiosyncratic, varied, and evolving. In this article we examine player participation in Eyewire, a citizen science game. We undertake an investigation of why Eyewire players take part in the game based on responses from a large-scale survey. Our analysis identifies 4 groups of features which impact participation and long-term engagement. We draw on theories of motivation and consider the 4 categories with respect to the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of engagement. We assimilate our findings into a framework of volunteer participation for gamified citizen science, which draws on existing design frameworks, in order to support the design of future crowd-sourced science projects.

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