Nappy Science Gang is a user-led citizen science project for parents who use reusable (cloth) nappies, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society for Chemistry. The project ran from March 2015 to Feb 2016, mainly consisting of a Facebook group to discuss the science of cloth nappies, and to design and co-ordinate experiments to answer questions of interest to the group. At time of writing, the Facebook group has 1,452 members, with more joining every day. (Our target was 100 active members and 200 lurkers)
The group planned and ran three large-scale experiments in that time (into the best temperature to wash at, the best washing agent to use, and to investigate what causes a loss of performance in some nappies). These involved 85 volunteers doing tests in their own homes.
They also had weekly online Q+A sessions with various relevant experts – from detergent and washing technology experts, to statisticians, to help with planning and researching the experiments, and also various experts of general parenting interest, like developmental psychologists.
The group also ran 10 different live events – including stalls at Makefest at MOSI, and at a number of baby fairs, workshops at 2 family-friendly festivals and get-togethers to unveil the experimental results in London and Manchester.
Alongside the Facebook group, they ran a website, which is now a repository of evidence-based nappy washing and parenting information. Along with the results of their experiments. This website has 57 posts in total, 37 Q+A write ups, and the rest other news and results. The site has had over 27,000 views in total. https://nappysciencegang.wordpress.com/
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Nappy Science Gang
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