Data Rescue: Archives and Weather

The Data Rescue: Archives and Weather (DRAW) Project seeks to build a citizen science website to display and make searchable meteorological and climatological records from the now non-existent McGill University Observatory. The project itself involves the collection and transcription of logbooks from 1871 to 1964 through citizen science and crowdsourcing. This work holds the potential to further public understanding of weather and climate and its impact on people by engaging citizens with science and cultural heritage. Working with an interdisciplinary team of researchers from McGill University's Faculties of Arts, Science and Education, and in partnership with the McGill University Archives, I am investigating the impact of this citizen science project on public learning of weather and climate science. This winter we are implementing DRAW as a course module at Dawson College. Our goal is to determine how student research with DRAW improves understanding of Montreal's historic climate and related human social, political, and cultural processes. Findings will be compared against workshops conducted with the Montreal public. Check back here for updates.