O engajamento do público em um projeto de conservação: O caso da andorinha- azul

Abstract

We studied the relationship between citizen science, health and the purple martin, a migratory bird. Since 1900, Butantan has pioneering the engagement of the society in scientific projects, when its first director, the physician Vital Brazil created a very successful antivenom serum-serpent exchange system with residents of rural regions in the state of São Paulo. Citizen science consists in a partnership between amateurs and scientists for collecting and analyzing scientific data thus enabling the public participation in research and, in some cases, also promoting biodiversity conservation. Due to the widespread use of smartphones, digital media and the Internet, the Purple Martin Project is a successful example in Brazil of a positive conservation outcome of the collaboration between the society and scientists. According to the concept of One Health, dedicating efforts to environmental and species conservation is a way to promote human and ecosystem health. This purple martin is important in controlling populations of insects that constitute their diet, and it is declining in numbers in North America. In the last year, we put together a widespread virtual network of birdwatchers and nature connoisseurs throughout Brazil that made possible recording and monitoring the species while it is spending the northern winter in South America. The objectives were to (i) investigate how scientific communication is successfully promoting the participation of the society; (ii) increase the number of people involved with the project and the knowledge about roosting places and the biology of this species and (iii) analyze the public perception, whether scientific or not about the citizen science, that means explain the reality that surrounds the study group, enabling them to reconfigure a certain social phenomenon for common sense. For the first and second goal, we invested in the scientific divulgation through social media (mainly Facebook and Instagram) which importants topics such as ""Citizen Science"" and ""One Health"" were explored. To evaluate the results, we performed an analysis of the involvement through Facebook Analytic and the Instagram Business Profile and it was observed a very significant increase in the number of followers and consequently a greater involvement in the sharing of records of purple martin by birdwatchers. Besides that, we built and applied an interactive Quizz on Instagram to the project's followers about their perceptions and knowledge about the webpage content that also has a satisfactory feedback from the responses evaluated. Finally, for the third objective, a questionnaire was conducted through Google Forms and sent to birdwatchers, whether amateurs or experts. The data collected were based on the Social Representation Theory and the Central Core Theory. The terms “Society”, “Collaboration”, “Engagement” and “Research” were the main words evoked, although presented in different order and frequency, the groups demonstrated the groups showed similar thinking about the key term “Citizen Science”.