**Welcome and thank you for your interest in contributing to a Research Area Review!** 🙋🏽🎉🎈 Research Area Reviews aim to keep information on environmental topics up-to-date, organized, and useful for community scientists. We want to enable anyone to learn about a topic and find information on accessible, do-it-together tools for investigating local environmental concerns. **On this page, you’ll find information on how to contribute to a review.** For more information on the purpose of reviews and what happens during them, check out the [Research Area Reviews general page here](http://publiclab.org/wiki/reviews). You can also receive updates on reviews by following the [#research-area-review](https://publiclab.org/tag/research-area-review) tag: Follow Research Area Review _Lead image by [@mollydanielsson](https://publiclab.org/profile/mollydanielsson)_
## How to contribute to a Research Area Review **There are many ways to participate in a research area review. People with any level of experience or available time are welcome to join!** Whether you enjoy writing about science, tinkering with open hardware, or hosting events, there’s something for everyone during a review. Check out some example project roles and specific activities below. Some activities you can do pretty independently, and others work better with a group. In any case, you’d be collectively working alongside other contributors, Public Lab’s Research Manager @bhamster, and a wonderful team of [Research Curation Fellows](https://publiclab.org/wiki/research-curation-fellows) 👋🏽 Anyone interested in contributing to a review should read and follow Public Lab’s **[Code of Conduct](https://publiclab.org/conduct), which ensures a respectful space for everyone** 💛
### Research Area Reviews seek support with: + Researching and writing about the review topic for the Public Lab website + Organizing information about the review topic on the Public Lab website + Developing, testing, and/or comparing methods and tools related to the topic + Creating images, data visualizations, or drawings related to the topic + Organizing and hosting public events + Sharing stories as a guest speaker during public events + Organizing a research area review 😃 (eh? ehhh??)
### Specific contribution activities: Below are some examples of specific activities anyone can do to help with a research area review [once a topic has been set](https://publiclab.org/wiki/reviews#Current+research+area+review). **Good activities for getting started** + [Sign up](https://publiclab.org/signup) for free at PublicLab.org and follow [tags](https://publiclab.org/tags) for topics that interest you + Follow the tags “[research-area-review](https://publiclab.org/subscribe/tag/research-area-review)” and “[event](https://publiclab.org/subscribe/tag/event)” to receive news on review topic announcements and public events you can join during the review period + Drop into an [Open Call](https://publiclab.org/wiki/open-call) and talk with someone about the research area and ways to contribute + Apply “tags” to research notes, question posts, and wiki pages on PublicLab.org so they’re connected and easy to find ([find more on tags here](https://publiclab.org/wiki/website-basics#Topic+pages)) + [Post a question](https://publiclab.org/questions/new?tags=question:general) related to the research area on PublicLab.org + [Answer a question](https://publiclab.org/questions/) related to the research area on PublicLab.org by commenting on the post + Leave a comment to provide feedback on existing research notes or activities within the research area on PublicLab.org **Getting more involved in a review** + Try out an activity related to the review topic and share back how it went + [Create a step-by-step activity](https://publiclab.org/post?n=15322&title=How%20to%20...&tags=activity:new,draft) related to the review topic + Post a research note comparing (or inviting others to compare) different community science tools for the review topic ([example here](https://publiclab.org/notes/fongvania/11-15-2021/comparing-data-visualization-tools)) + Present a live build or demo of hardware related to the topic ([example here](https://publiclab.org/notes/bhamster/12-21-2021/communicating-air-quality-data-research-area-review-summary#%E2%9A%99%EF%B8%8FLive+build+of+the+Simple+Air+Sensor+and+demo+of+data+visualization)) + Share your lived or learned experience with the review topic as a guest speaker during a [public event](https://publiclab.org/events) + Invite, listen to, and record stories from people working within the research area
### Communication channels To coordinate and communicate about this work, we’ll: + Post on the Public Lab website, + Hold regularly-scheduled drop-in calls (and take shared notes during these calls), and + Use a running shared notes document to keep track of happenings.
### More information on reviews Check out our general wiki on research area reviews to see [what topic we’re currently reviewing](https://publiclab.org/wiki/reviews#Current+research+area+review) and [what happens during a review](https://publiclab.org/wiki/reviews#What+happens+during+a+review?).
## Recognizing contributions Your profile name is displayed with all your comments and posts anytime they appear on the Public Lab website 💁🏽📝 In addition, anyone who has contributed to a topic on PublicLab.org will appear on the “Contributors” page for that topic. For example, here are people who have published posts, commented on posts, or edited wikis tagged with `oil-and-gas`: https://publiclab.org/contributors/oil-and-gas
screenshot showing a list of profile names who have contributed to and follow the topic oil and gas
And for research area reviews, at the end of the review period we post a research note summarizing the review and acknowledging everyone who contributed in any way ✨ ([check out an example here](https://publiclab.org/notes/bhamster/12-21-2021/communicating-air-quality-data-research-area-review-summary))
screenshot showing a list of people who contributed to a research area review on air quality data
## Questions or want to learn more? + Drop into one of Public Lab’s weekly [Open Calls](https://publiclab.org/wiki/open-call) to talk with us! + [Post a question](https://publiclab.org/questions/new?tags=question:research-area-review) on the Public Lab website + Email jeanette [at] publiclab [dot] org Also please get in touch if you have ideas or suggestions for the Research Area Review process outlined on this wiki!
#### Thank you! We hope you’ll join us in creating knowledge together! 💫📓💡
_The documentation and organization of this project is heavily informed by the fantastic [Open Leadership Framework](https://mozilla.github.io/open-leadership-framework/framework/#who-and-what-is-this-framework-for) from Mozilla_