Figure I.

Citizen scientists for the Home Microbiome Project (http://www.homemicrobiome.com) were reached by advertising on social media platforms (e.g., @homemicrobiome and https://www.facebook.com/HomeMicrobiome) and programs such as SciStarter (http://scistarter.com/project/562-Home%20Microbiome%20Study). Interested parties contacted us by email or through the media and were interviewed on the phone or via email to determine their reasons and suitability for inclusion. Accepted participants were consented through an institutional review board (IRB) and then sent sampling kits (containing a description of what they should do and sterile synthetic material swabs moistened with saline solution), a small freezer for onsite storage, and a brief questionnaire. Samples were returned to our laboratory at Argonne National Labs (http://www.anl.gov) and processed by extracting the DNA and amplifying the 16S rRNA gene by PCR. These amplicons and the raw DNA were then sequenced to produce 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenomic sequence data. These data were analyzed and used for publication, while simultaneously being communicated directly to the participants. Participants were also contacted following publication to allow them to fully understand how their data were used, and what the final published results showed in terms of advancing science. While the raw sequence data were published on data archive sites (e.g., The NCBI Short Read Archive; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra) the results were published through the scientific literature, traditional media (e.g., http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/28/we-constantly-imprint-our-homes-with-our-microbes/), and Facebook (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/HomeMicrobiome). Photos courtesy of Katharine Gilbert.