SPOTTERON Citizen Science Blog

Desktop vs. Mobile - What's best for Citizen Science Projects?

Tuesday, 05 November 2019 15:07
Desktop vs. Mobile - What's best for Citizen Science Projects?

An analysis of the state of the mobile web conducted by SimilarWeb earlier this year presented on Perficient Digital digital marketing agency has shown that usage of the mobile internet vs the desktop went down compared to 2017 but is still higher than in 2016.

  • In 2018, 58% of site visits were from mobile devices.
  • Mobile devices made up 42% of total time spent online.
  • Mobile bounce rate came in at 50%

mobile vs desktop

Does mobile traffic really decline?

The apparent decline is not an actual drop in mobile usage but rather a change in the data collection methodology for 2018, for which different data sources have been used.
In fact, the data suggests that the majority of traffic (58%) now comes from mobile devices, even though the average time spent on a website is slightly higher on desktops in general. This is a critical fact of life for business and media websites.
When it comes to bounce rates, desktop still has the lead over mobile, and that is not likely to change anytime soon even though mobile site experiences are improving and users are getting more comfortable with them. The data also suggests that this occurs because users often look up things quickly while they are on the go.

bouncerate

What is most interesting though is the fact that compared to other industry categories, science has the highest bounce rate on mobile devices of all.
Bounce rate is an Internet marketing term used in web traffic analysis. It represents the percentage of visitors who enter the site and then leave rather than continuing to view other pages within the same site.
The data suggests that science-related apps and websites have the highest bounce rate on mobile devices of all.

On SPOTTERON, we provide high quality-visuals to counteract that and apply modern principles of design to every interactive project and Citizen Science app. Visual quality matters, its the first impression and the message conveyed which counts in terms of bounce rates.
Generally speaking, the percentage of total page views from mobile devices vs desktop is slightly higher compared to previous years, suggesting a continuation of that trend:

page views per visit 

What do the numbers mean for citizen science projects?

First of all, a well crafted online presence for any (citizen) science project is crucial, both mobile and desktop. Keeping in mind how the usage of mobile devices continues to grow compared to desktop and how the mobile experience continues to improve, interactive citizen science apps are an integral part of any project and will become even more significant in the future. Being mobile friendly is important in all industries — it's the largest source of traffic in nearly all of them.

That's why on the SPOTTERON citizen platform every projects toolkit is not only available as a smartphone app for android and iOS, but also as a full feature interactive web-app for the browser. This web-aplication can be embedded directly in the project's homepage and be used by every citizen scientist, school class or organisation, for contribitung on laptops and desktop PC's.

Image Sources: https://www.perficientdigital.com/insights/our-research/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-study

 

 

 

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  • ”
    Our collaboration with SPOTTERON has been essential for our citizen science project. The ideas of our research have been efficiently implemented into the app in a simple and didactic way, thanks to the good communication and professionalism of the team.
    Sara Blanco Ramirez, PhD student, Hydrology and Climate
  • ”
    Mammals Atlas Kenya (MAKENYA), an operational mobile application to submit mammal sightings by citizens was launched in January 2021. I found the SPOTTERON team very magnanimous, highly professional, meticulous and committed to their work; and definitely I recommend the team to anyone interested in citizen science applications worldwide.
    Simon Musila, Mammalogy Section, National Museums of Kenya
  • ”

    Working with SPOTTERON for our citizen science app was the best decision our team could have made! Philipp and his team led us through the design process and helped us translate our ideas into reality. As US clients, we were surprised that there was no lag in communication due to the time difference where the SPOTTERON team works. I am convinced they work around the clock! They always responded quickly to our emails and scheduled calls to meet our schedule. I highly recommend working with SPOTTERON if you are designing a citizen science app.

    Jules Bruck, University of Delaware
  • ”

    Choosing SPOTTERON for our CrowdWater project was the best decision we could have made for developing the app. Excellent implementation of our (sometimes not entirely thought through) ideas, competent advice, and a fair business model - working with SPOTTERON is a major factor why CrowdWater is working so well.

    Prof. Jan Seibert, Department of Geography Hydrology and Climate, University of Zurich
  • ”

    SPOTTERON has enabled Tea Bag Index to widen our citizen scientist engagement methods and helped us to come up with ideas on how to bring soils closer to the public. It is a pleasure to work with a company who wants to create a platform that is a communication possibility for everybody involved in the project!

    Dr. Taru Sandén, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety - AGES
  • ”

    Working together with Spotteron has been a smooth and fast way to get our Citizen Science project started! Their impressive experience in app building as well as in communication with citizens has proven to be invaluable and complements nicely with a team of scientists taking their first steps in citizen science!

    Bram Vanthournout, Ghent University
  • ”

    GLOBAL 2000 has been working closely with Spotteron for more than 3 years. Together we have started the DreckSpotz app and are constantly developing it. The SPOTTERON team is not only incredibly competent, but above all very flexible and uncomplicated. That's why we feel extremely well looked after as an environmental organization and NGO.

    Johannes Frauscher, GLOBAL 2000, Friends of Earth Austria
  • ”

    The decision to use the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform for our participatory project can be summarized best in this way: it was possible in a short time to create a well-working and user-friendly Citizen Science app for our research. The positive feedback on our project "Landauf - LandApp" shows that involving citizens in a scientific project can be a lot of fun when using the right tool.

    Daniel Fähle, National Archive Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • ”

    The app developed by SPOTTERON is an ideal extension to our established methods and strengthens the inclusion of Citizen Scientists. The design and intuitive usability relate also to a young audience. Especially the community features make a direct feedback possible and it is especially motivating that the SPOTTERON team themselves are actively contributing in the app - a win-win situation for everyone.

    Irmgard Greilhuber, Mycological Society Austria, University of Vienna
  • ”Working with SPOTTERON to design the app was an interesting experience for me. As an ecology PhD student, I knew how to catch Brush-turkeys and design experiments to learn about their behaviour. I knew next to nothing about how to engage with the broader community at large. SPOTTERONS’s expertise was invaluable here, they have experience in designing apps that people want to use, and balance detail with ease of function.
    Matthew Hall, University of Sydney
  • ”
    I've worked with loads of app developers over my career, but none so high quality as SPOTTERON. Their capabilities are astounding. They are incredibly innovative, creative and agile with a keen sense of humour and lightness. SPOTTERON apps are the benchmark of how to do citizen science well. They are elevating our ability to engage with the natural world in a meaningful way.
    Jen Sutfin, EarthWatch Australia
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    SPOTTERON brings a lot of passion and lots of expertise in the field of Citizen Science to the table, to present projects - not only in technical terms - in the right light. The websites for both schweiz-forscht.ch and ecsa-conference.eu are based on good and easy cooperation with our Austrian partners.

    Yasemin Tutav, Science et Cité
  • ”

    I’m amazed by SPOTTERON's passion for CitizenScience, impressed by their energy and initiatives and grateful for what I’ve learned by collaborating with them on the Fjällkalendern app.

    Kjell Bolmgren, University of Stockholm
  • ”

    As a scientist, collaborating with SPOTTERON to create our Citizen Science App ‘Fågelbär’ was the right choice. We could focus on what type of data we want to collect and the team at SPOTTERON designed, built and are now running the App!

    Matilda Arnell, University of Stockholm
  • ”

    With our SPOTTERON App Nature's Calendar ZAMG we are always technically up-to-date. As a result we are able to offer our Citizen Scientists a tool which is also appealing to today's generation without having to worry about any technical questions.

    Thomas Hübner, Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik ZAMG
  • ”

    Working with SPOTTERON implies working with a professional partner on the topics of Apps & Citizen Science. I was always very pleased about the reliability, but also the openness to try new things and the possibility to exchange with competent partners. Thanks!

    Dr. Dott. Didone Frigerio, University of Vienna, KLF Grünau/Almtal
  • ”

    With our project Roadkill, we were on the SPOTTERON platform since its beginnings, this way we got to witness the great development of this tool first-hand and were able to contribute in the shaping process. SPOTTERON manages the fine balance between scientific research, community management and modern design. The personal collaboration on a professional level supports the comfortable atmosphere in the project.

    Florian Heigl PhD, University of Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna
  • ”

    If you are looking for a dedicated team for the development of a Citizen Science App - even if that has to happen quite fast- you are in good hands at SPOTTERON. Fast communication, straightforward coordination and running updates of the app, even after the release, characterize our successful collaboration.

    Magdalena Gärtner, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, University of Salzburg
  • ”

    Through the SPOTTERON App "Was geht ab?" we were able to create an appealing and useful possibility for kids, to spot problem- and feel-good areas in their home- and school surroundings. In the SPOTTERON team we found reliable and creative partners, that care about more than just the implementation. 

    Juliane Stark, University of Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna
  • ”

    Thanks to the experience and the knowhow as well as the basic structure of SPOTTERON, we were able to have the CrowdWater apps developed in no time. We consider the model that allows every project to use all newly developed tools very fair and transparent. This way our apps even got some new features, we didn't even know we needed before.

    Simon Etter, University of Zurich
  • ”

    Through SPOTTERON we share more than just an app infrastructure with other projects, we also share ideas. This way we get to develop and constantly improve user-friendly apps, which are easy to handle and work for many different kinds of projects.

    Barbara Strobl, University of Zurich
  • ”

    To me, SPOTTERON is the successful combination of scientific claim and aesthetic design. The apps work intuitively, are extremely appealing and still fulfill all my scientific requirements when it comes to data quality and safety. Working together happens in a very loyal and trusting way and that allows us to profit from the design- and usability experience SPOTTERON has.

    Daniel Dörler, University of Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna
  • ”

    What I especially like about SPOTTERON, is that we get to use many ideas and new tools that were developed for other projects in the SPOTTERON family without having to pay for them..

    Klaus Wanninger, Lacon
Read more about how the SPOTTERON platform works..

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    A new paper titled "Citizen Science Approaches for Water Quality Measurements" has been published by the scientists behind CrowdWater. Find it in the papers section!

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