Agora

Open, accessible, and meaningful citizen science. Connecting researchers and volunteers through plant bounties for open, usable research and environmental action.

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Inspiration

Agora was created from a problem we saw in our own classrooms: Our teacher, aiming to defend her dissertation, struggled with the short timeframe in which she was forced into to collect research for her paper. This isn't just a problem with one person, this is an issue worldwide. Many researchers, especially within the ecological research sector, struggle with collecting data due to travel limitations, cost, or environmental challenges. At the same time, many people around the world are passionate about nature and conservation but don't have a clear way to contribute. As a result, we created Agora, a program intended to drive worldwide ecological research through a plant bounty program.

What it does

Agora helps researchers identify, study, and conserve plants without needing to physically visit the site. Local communities are able to assist with safe and sustainable ecological research by photographing and analyzing plants while being rewarded for contributing to sustainable research. Known as citizen science, this program allows everyday citizens to get involved with research that drives sustainability and conservation efforts around the world

A quick, three-step overview of how Agora connects communities and drives research

  1. Researchers put out a bounty for a plant and specify the amount of submissions they need, how much they're willing to pay per submission, the number of submissions, the timeframe of the submission, and any other specific details that a community may need to know.
  2. Users, during their free time, can head outside to photograph plants and upload photos of them to the site. They're also able to specify any additional information about the plant, should the researcher request it. The location of the submission is also provided with the image.
  3. The researcher, viewing submission results, is able to approve or deny submissions. To aid with this, a model provides automated plant species detection, along with a confidence value. If the submission does not meet the standards of the research required, the researcher can reject it.

Alternatively, there are times when invasive species need removal from a certain location. In cases like this, certified organizations will be able to create special "removal" bounties where the goal is to remove invasive species in order to protect the environment and create more sustainable habitats. To prevent abuse, only verified organizations will be able to interact with these bounties, ensuring that environments stay stable

How we built it

A high-level overview of Agora's structure can be seen below image.png

  • MongoDB was used to create a flexible, scalable database that stores information on users, bounties, submissions, and verification results. MongoDB was crucial for data storage, allowing us to store and retrieve all of our data efficiently.
  • Stripe was used for payment processing, providing an established platform to pay out bounties and manage money
  • The PlantNet API was used to identify each plant, assisting researchers by providing plant classifications
  • Python and flask were used to tie everything together, creating a stable, reliable, and dependable backend that could serve results, perform authentication, handle interfacing with MongoDB, Stripe, PlantNet, and much more.
  • Using Next.Js and react for the frontend, we were able to create a clean user interface that performed well. The user, only directly interfacing with the frontend site, is easily able to upload images, create and receive bounties, and more.

Challenges we ran into

Ensuring that users did not submit fraudulent reports posed a significant challenge. We needed accurate data for researchers while making sure that nobody would attempt to game the system for profit. Ultimately, we chose to implement a manual verification system where researchers would have to manually approve or deny submissions. However, to make this process easier, we also implemented the PlantNet classification API to ease this process, solving our problem.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of building a structured and easy to use bounty system from scratch where users can collect rewards and further scientific research. Additionally, by designing for trust and safety, we're able to create a system impervious to attacks.

What we learned

We learned the importance of creating strong, scalable systems that can work for any number of users. Real-world verification of results can be difficult, but it is necessary to prevent malicious or spam submissions.

What's next for Agora

In the future, we'd like to expand Agora's scope to include soil sampling, wildlife research, and much more. We want to expand what researchers can do to conserve species, plants, and the environment,

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