Friends of the Reedy River and ReWa Anecdata Project:
Saving Reedy River Streambanks!
Join the Anecdata App to Help Friends of the Reedy River and ReWa Protect the Reedy River!
What is this Friends of the Reedy River and ReWa Anecdata Research Project about?
Friends of the Reedy River and ReWa are using an online community science program called Anecdata to help us locate, identify, and, ultimately, restore failing stream banks.
Impacts of Streambank Failure
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Excessive sediment is a major pollutant in the Reedy River. It can smother habitat for aquatic life and alter the river channel, often causing it to be more shallow and warmer, which is bad for wildlife!
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Wastewater infrastructure (buried pipes) can break when streambanks collapse. Broken sewer pipes from streambank failures can add high levels of pollution to waterways.
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Property loss and damages to both private and public lands can follow excessive streambank erosion
What is Anecdata.org?
Anecdata.org is a free online citizen science platform developed by the Community Lab at the MDI Biological Laboratory.
Anecdata is used by hundreds of individuals and organizations to gather and access citizen-science observations and provides a platform to easily collect, manage, and share their citizen science data.
How Anecdata works:
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Project managers create projects and design datasheets that participants fill out to share their observations.
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Participants join projects by creating a free account on Anecdata.org and use the Anecdata mobile app (on IOS and android) or the Anecdata.org website to share their observations with the project.
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Project data is now available for anyone to view and download! Your personal information is not required or shared publicly.
What’s Citizen Science?
Citizen Science is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists. Citizen Science is often described as “public participation in scientific research” where community members can work together with scientists to provide valuable information and data for research. You may already be familiar with the practice of citizen science through Friends of the Reedy River’s involvement in the S.C. Adopt-a-Stream water quality monitoring program.
Citizen Science is also commonly referred to as community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, or volunteer monitoring.
How do I use the app?
Step 1: Download the Anecdata App on your mobile phone (on IOS or android) and create a free account so you can join our research project. Your information will not be shared with anyone outside of the Friends of the Reedy River organization.
Step 2: Join the Friends of the Reedy River Project at this link or by searching for “Friends of the Reedy River” in the “Find more projects…” search bar above the notifications tab. The home page for our FoRR Anecdata Project is pictured below. You should see this page when you find the FoRR research project. The Friends of the Reedy River project will have our official logo as the profile image so look out for this logo when searching for and joining the project!
Step 3: To make your first observation, tap the button labeled “+ New Observation” and begin collecting data by following the directions presented!
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Once you start a new observation, first tap the button labeled “Location - nothing selected”. This button is located between the “Events” and “Site Conditions” tabs on the top of the app page
- Then, once the pop-up box titled “Enter Location” appears on the screen, tap “Geolocate me” to use your phone’s GPS location to record the coordinates of where you are currently located.
- Once you record your location, continue answering the following questions about the site conditions and status of the stream bank.
In-App Geolocation Instructions: Tap “Location” and select “Geolocate me” on the pop-up window to record the site location’s coordinates.
Examples of Stream Bank Erosion
Step 4: After answering all of the questions noted as *Required*, remember to add any comments and some photos of the streambank at the bottom of the app webpage. Then add your preferred contact info and hit submit at the bottom of the form to submit your collected data! The contact information is only used if we need to contact you regarding the stream bank data you submitted. Your personal information will not be shared with anyone outside of the FoRR research project.
Have any questions?
If you have any questions about the Anecdata app, would like additional information about streambank restoration projects in Greenville, or just need a hand troubleshooting one of the app features, feel free to reach out to the Friends of the Reedy River team! We would love to hear from you and help you get involved!
Anecdata FAQ Sheet
The Anecdata support team is also an exceptional resource and they are very attentive to their app users. Feel free to contact them if you have any questions or concerns about the Anecdata app.
Anecdata Support Team: https://www.anecdata.org/pages/help