50 PROJECT DESIGN Recruitment Strategies, Training, and Events TC2015 recruitment strategies employed both traditional and social media. A citywide ad- vertising campaign included 4,500 posters in buses, trains, and public transportation hubs; local radio and television ads; and social me- dia posts, with the aim of recruiting a broad range of participants. The advertising cam- paign provided the URL for the official TC2015 website, where interested individuals could learn more about the project and how to par- ticipate. NYC Parks also partnered with 64 community groups to recruit their member- ship for involvement, similar to recruitment efforts implemented by Purcell et al. (2012). Participation was a multi-step process. First, individuals were required to read a training man- ual (available in the online supplemental materi- als) and successfully complete an approximately 30-minute online training module. The next step was to attend a three-hour in-field training exercise in which participants learned the TC2015 data- collection methodology and received a gear pack containing a t-shirt, safety vest, leaf-identification guide, tape measure, and surveyor’s wheel. TC2015 had a shorter training time than other similar efforts (Bloniarz et al. 1996; Cozad et al. 2005; Roman et al. 2017) with the aim of accommodating more people. Aſter this introductory field training, participants could join frequent data collection events in neighborhoods across NYC; aſter two events, they could request to map independently. Additionally, before TC2015 commencement, one member from each community group was trained to be a team leader to recruit their members and conduct trainings. A total of 983 training and data collection events were held over the course of TC2015. Events were intended to both amplify data collection and create a community around the project. The importance of this community aspect is highlighted by research on volunteer motiva- tion, which suggests a large proportion of long- and short-term volunteers participate to meet new friends (Smith et al. 2010; Haywood 2016). As a result of these efforts, over 9,000 peo- ple created TC2015 accounts, 4,383 com- ©2018 International Society of Arboriculture Crown et al.: Every Tree Counts: New York City Street Tree Inventory pleted online training, and 2,241 citizen scientists participated in data collection—a 200% increase in active participation from 2005. Participation Incentives An incentive system was built into the project design and website as a strategy for volunteer recruitment and retention. Rewards were associ- ated with different participation levels—50, 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 surveys (blocks of trees). These prizes consisted of TC2015 branded gear, such as hats, coffee mugs, and bags; the top par- ticipant received a park-bench dedication. Ad- ditional prizes went to participants who mapped in four of the six seasons the inventory spanned (spring, summer, autumn, and winter 2015, and spring and summer 2016). TC2015 also part- nered with an arts festival, which offered a free ticket to any participant who attended one of their sponsored data-collection events. Appre- ciation events were held for citizen scientists, including a final event at the Museum of the City of New York, where the top participants were recognized, and maps of the final data were displayed. In addition to rewards, the data- collection application was gamified: when signed in, a counter revealed to each participant their reward level, the number of trees surveyed, and the total number of species they identified (Dick- inson et al. 2012). Participants were also sent fre- quent “thank you” emails to inspire volunteer retention (Wolcott et al. 2008), and were made aware of the intended use of the data to inspire interest (Legg and Nagy 2006; Conrad and Hilchey 2011). Spatial-Data-Collection Methodology & Technology For TC2015, NYC Parks incorporated new data- collection technologies with the aim of increasing data quality while decreasing the time spent collect- ing data per tree. Specifically, researchers implement- ed new spatial-data-collection methods and shiſted to fully-digital data collection, omitting the need for the paper datasheets used in past inventories. During the 1995 and 2005 inventories, tree locations were recorded by street address, which is the most common method used in urban tree monitoring programs (Roman et. al 2013). While relatively low cost, NYC Parks found this method
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