Quirós Carlos, de Sousa Kauê, Steinke Jonathan, Madriz Brandon, Laporte Marie-Angélique, Arnaud Elizabeth, Manners Rhys, Ortiz-Crespo Berta, Müller Anna, van Etten Jacob
Digital Inclusion, Bioversity International, Montpellier, France.
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Hamar, Norway.
Comput Electron Agric. 2024 Feb;217:None. doi: 10.1016/j.compag.2023.108539.
Experimental citizen science offers new ways to organize on-farm testing of crop varieties and other agronomic options. Its implementation at scale requires software that streamlines the process of experimental design, data collection and analysis, so that different organizations can support trials. This article considers ClimMob software developed to facilitate implementing experimental citizen science in agriculture. We describe the software design process, including our initial design choices, the architecture and functionality of ClimMob, and the methodology used for incorporating user feedback. Initial design choices were guided by the need to shape a workflow that is feasible for farmers and relevant for farmers, breeders and other decision-makers. Workflow and software concepts were developed concurrently. The resulting approach supported by ClimMob is triadic comparisons of technology options (tricot), which allows farmers to make simple comparisons between crop varieties or other agricultural technologies tested on farms. The software was built using Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE), to allow for a flexible, modular design of software that is easy to maintain. Source is open-source and built on existing components that generally have a broad user community, to ensure their continuity in the future. Key components include Open Data Kit, ODK Tools, PyUtilib Component Architecture. The design of experiments and data analysis is done through R packages, which are all available on CRAN. Constant user feedback and short communication lines between the development teams and users was crucial in the development process. Development will continue to further improve user experience, expand data collection methods and media channels, ensure integration with other systems, and to further improve the support for data-driven decision-making.
实验性公民科学为组织作物品种及其他农艺选项的农场测试提供了新方法。其大规模实施需要能简化实验设计、数据收集与分析流程的软件，以便不同组织能够支持相关试验。本文探讨了为推动农业领域实验性公民科学实施而开发的ClimMob软件。我们描述了该软件的设计过程，包括我们最初的设计选择、ClimMob的架构与功能，以及纳入用户反馈所采用的方法。最初的设计选择受塑造一种对农民可行且与农民、育种者及其他决策者相关的工作流程这一需求的引导。工作流程和软件概念是同步开发的。ClimMob所支持的最终方法是技术选项的三元比较（tricot），它使农民能够对农场中测试的作物品种或其他农业技术进行简单比较。该软件采用基于组件的软件工程（CBSE）构建，以实现易于维护的灵活、模块化软件设计。其源代码是开源的，基于通常拥有广泛用户群体的现有组件构建，以确保其未来的延续性。关键组件包括开放数据工具包（Open Data Kit）、ODK工具、PyUtilib组件架构。实验设计和数据分析通过R包完成，这些包均可在CRAN上获取。开发团队与用户之间持续的用户反馈及简短沟通渠道在开发过程中至关重要。开发工作将继续进行，以进一步改善用户体验、扩展数据收集方法和媒体渠道、确保与其他系统集成，并进一步加强对数据驱动决策的支持。
