User-Centered Design of a Digital Citizen Inquiry Project on Plastic Circular Economy for Young People

Digital citizen science projects have become globally popular in the last decade, with mobile platforms and devices engaging people in observing environmental phenomena. Youth participation in citizen science has been regarded as an opportunity to learn about science within the context of education, and they can better understand scientific processes and methods and gain self-efficacy, motivation, and responsible behavior by refining inquiry-based learning with the research paradigm of citizen science known as "citizen inquiry." This study investigates how user-centered design contributes to designing a digital citizen inquiry mobile application, Plastic Detectives, for young citizen inquirers to create an effective method of monitoring plastic, raising awareness about plastic pollution at the societal level. The Plastic Detectives mobile application was developed using the design life cycle model. One hundred twenty-eight participants, from elementary school to university students, contributed to the user-centered Plastic Detectives' app development in three research periods. The life cycle model application ensures that consumers are involved in the design and that the process is appropriately planned and tested. Semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and investigative record data have been used to identify the efficacy of the development. According to the findings, young participants positively accepted the digital citizen inquiry technology. They were satisfactory regarding contextual data sharing, task monitoring, expeditious selection, recording-to-sharing experience flow, positive social tasks, and visual affordance. The findings reveal successful mechanisms for the design of effective and sustainable citizen inquiry communities, as well as methods for their maintenance.