Four high schools from Madrid, Aragón, and Catalonia will participate simultaneously in an experiment on collective intelligence and environmental radiation measurement.
As part of the activities of the Openred project, around one hundred students will connect in an “inter-school” network to share their opinions and knowledge about radiation and to better understand how they spread socially. Furthermore, they will collaborate in the measurement of ambient gamma radiation.
During the week of June 15 to 19, four secondary education institutes will participate in the Openred citizen science project for the measurement of ambient gamma radiation and the promotion of culture in radiological protection.
Around 100 students will participate in a simultaneous three-hour session with a dual objective: to take ambient gamma radiation measurements and to collaborate in a collective intelligence scientific experiment.
The experiment is developed in three phases. In the first phase, students participate in an initial survey and a first collective intelligence experiment. Subsequently, after receiving specialized training and conducting real radiation measurements, the dynamic will be repeated to evaluate the impact of the information received as well as the influence of social interaction on decision-making.
Technological tools
Ibercivis will provide the centers with the following tools to carry out the experiment:
- RadiaCode 102: Portable gamma radiation detector with a screen, battery, and Bluetooth connection to mobile phones. Each small group of students has one throughout the session.
- Kampal IC: Collective intelligence platform where a question is proposed and participants contribute their proposals. Each participant sees the answers of their group of “neighbors” and can adhere to them (by copying them) or include their own ideas. The system measures which responses spread and which become extinct throughout the experiment.
- Project Platform: The measurements collected will be uploaded to the Openred data platform, where they will be openly integrated alongside more than 250,000 records contributed by citizens in various locations across Spain. In this way, participants and anyone interested will be able to visualize and contextualize these results.
About Openred
Openred is a citizen science project whose objective is the creation of an open and collaborative map of ambient gamma radiation levels in Spain, while promoting citizen culture in radiological protection.
Openred makes it possible for citizens to generate data with scientific value under a rigorous methodology, favoring the democratization of science, not only in access but also in the generation of knowledge.
Openred is an initiative driven by the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) and the Ibercivis Foundation, in collaboration with experts from the Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), the University of Zaragoza, the University of Cantabria, and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.