Abstract
Many citizen science projects depend on colour vision. Examples include classification of soil or water types and biological monitoring. However, up to 1 in 11 participants are colour blind. We simulate the impact of various forms of colour blindness on measurements with the Forel-Ule scale, which is used to measure water colour by eye with a 21-colour scale. Colour blindness decreases the median discriminability between Forel-Ule colours by up to 33% and makes several colour pairs essentially indistinguishable. This reduces the precision and accuracy of citizen science data and the motivation of participants. These issues can be addressed by including uncertainty estimates in data entry forms and discussing colour blindness in training materials. These conclusions and recommendations apply to colour-based citizen science in general, including other classification and monitoring activities. Being inclusive of the colour blind increases both the social and scientific impact of citizen science.
Highlights
Colour measurements are common in citizen science
We investigate the impact of colour blindness on water colour measurements with the Forel-Ule (FU) scale
Protan and deutan reduce the range of a while tritan reduces the range of b. These shifts imply that colour blindness reduces the ability to discriminate FU colours based on hue, meaning the user will have to rely more on lightness
Summary
Colour measurements are common in citizen science. They are often done using red-greenblue (RGB) consumer cameras such as smartphones [1,2,3], and with the human eye. Human colour measurements are used in such diverse fields as coral reef monitoring [4], snail evolution [5], soil surveying [6], climate adaptation [7], and water colour [8,9,10]. A large and diverse group of participants increases the social and scientific impact of citizen science [5, 14, 16, 17]. Common reasons to stop participating include mis- or not understanding the project [17], perceiving
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