Citizen-science for monitoring marine invasions and stimulating public engagement: a case project from the eastern Mediterranean

In this paper, we focus on different roles in citizen science projects, and their respective relationships. We propose a tripartite model that recognises not only citizens and scientists, but also an important third role, which we call the ‘enabler’. In doing so, we acknowledge that additional expertise and skillsets are often present in citizen science projects, but are frequently overlooked in associated literature. We interrogate this model by applying it to three case studies and explore how the success and sustainability of a citizen science project requires all roles to be acknowledged and interacting appropriately. In this era of ‘wicked problems’, the nature of science and science communication has become more complex. In order to address critical emerging issues, a greater number of stakeholders are engaging in multi-party partnerships and research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Within this context, explicitly acknowledging the role and motivations of everyone involved can provide a framework for enhanced project transparency, delivery, evaluation and impact. By adapting our understanding of citizen science to better recognise the complexity of the organisational systems within which they operate, we propose an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative delivery of both valuable scientific research and public engagement.

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Citizens of the future

Science Fiction Film and Television ◽

10.3828/sfftv.2021.10 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 115-144

Author(s):

Colin Milburn ◽

Melissa Wills

Keyword(s):

Video Games ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Scientific Research ◽

Social Progress ◽

Responsible Innovation ◽

Science Projects ◽

Technical Innovations ◽

Research Questions ◽

Utopian Thought

Over the last decade, a variety of ‘citizen science’ projects have turned to video games and other tools of gamification to enrol participants and to encourage public engagement with scientific research questions. This article examines the significance of sf in the field of citizen science, focusing on projects such as Eyewire, Be a Martian!, Sea Hero Quest, Play to Cure: Genes in Space, Forgotten Island and the ‘Project Discovery’ experiments in EVE Online. The sf stories that frame these projects often allegorise the neoliberal assumptions and immaterial labour practices of citizen science, even while seeming to hide or disguise them. At the same time, the fictional frames enable players to imagine social and technical innovations that, while not necessarily achievable in the present, nevertheless point to a future of democratic science, social progress and responsible innovation - blips of utopian thought from the zones of crowdsourced labour.

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Destroying iPhones: Feral science and the antithetical citizen

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1177/0963662517738149 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 (6) ◽

pp. 731-744 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mike Michael

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Public Understanding Of Science ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Destructive Testing ◽

Public Engagement With Science ◽

Youtube Videos ◽

Understanding Of Science

This exploratory article considers the implications of a particular genre – YouTube videos of iPhone destruction – for the Citizen Science and Public Understanding of Science/Public Engagement with Science and Technology. Situating this genre within a broader TV tradition of ‘destructive testing’ programmes, there is a description of the forms of destruction visited upon the iPhone, and an analysis of the features shared by the videos (e.g. mode of address, enactments of the experiment). Drawing on the notion of the ‘idiotic’, there is a discussion of the genre that aims to treat its evident lack of scientific and citizenly ‘seriousness’ productively. In the process of this discussion, the notions of ‘feral science’ and ‘antithetical citizenship’ are proposed, and some of their ramifications for Citizen Science and Public Understanding of Science/Public Engagement with Science and Technology presented.

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Gute Umweltkommunikation aus Bürgersicht. Ein Citizen-Science-Ansatz in der Rezipierendenforschung zur Entwicklung von Qualitätskriterien

Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft ◽

10.5771/1615-634x-2020-4-447 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 68 (4) ◽

pp. 447-474

Author(s):

Wiebke Rögener ◽

Holger Wormer

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Collaborative Project

Am Beispiel des Umweltjournalismus wird die Frage untersucht, inwieweit ein Citizen-Science-Ansatz Impulse für die Entwicklung neuer methodischer Herangehensweisen in der Qualitäts- und Rezipierendenforschung geben kann. Konkret soll in explorativer Form der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche Qualitätsansprüche Laien an bestimmte Formen der Wissenschaftskommunikation stellen. Die Teilnehmenden werden dazu nicht bloß als Mediennutzerinnen und -nutzer befragt, sondern entwickeln im Sinne eines „Collaborative Project“ selbst das Instrumentarium mit, anhand dessen sie die Qualität von Medienbeiträgen und Pressemitteilungen zu Umweltthemen aus Laienperspektive bewerten. Die Frage, was aus Sicht der Rezipierenden Qualität im Wissenschaftsjournalismus ausmacht, ist von zentraler Bedeutung, wenn dieser sein Publikum erreichen will. Themen aus der Umweltforschung sind als Beispieldisziplin für die Wissenschaftskommunikation geeignet, da sie einen erheblichen Teil der journalistischen Wissenschaftsberichterstattung sowie der Wissenschafts-PR ausmachen und viele Bürgerinnen und Bürger betreffen. Der Ansatz erscheint vielversprechend, um erste Antworten auf Qualitätsfragen aus Sicht der Rezipierenden und Anregungen zur künftigen Methodenentwicklung zu erhalten. Für die Praxis der institutionellen Wissenschaftskommunikation und des Journalismus werden - auch im Sinne eines „public engagement with sciene“ - Wege aufgezeigt, wie eine stärkere Partizipation von Nutzerinnen und Nutzern an der Qualitätsbewertung von Medieninhalten mit Wissenschaftsbezug ermöglicht werden könnte.

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Crowdsourcing-Based Geoinformation, Disadvantaged Urbanisation Challenges, Subsaharan Africa: Theoretical Perspectives and Notes

Quaestiones Geographicae ◽

10.1515/quageo-2017-0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 5-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Richard Ingwe

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Economic Region ◽

Fast Tracking ◽

Work Related ◽

Subsaharan Africa ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Sub Saharan

Abstract Scholars and practitioners concerned with geoinformation, cyber-cartography, development studies, and other subjects increasingly explore crowdsourcing and its huge advantages for development. Some have advocated it for adoption/promotion by government as a means of citizen engagement. The objective of this article is to increase the appreciation of the contribution that crowdsourcing can make towards resolving challenges associated with disadvantaged urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We review urban challenges of SSA and three practices of crowdsourcing: volunteered geographic information (VGI), Citizen Science (CS), and Participatory Mapping (PM). Then we examine problems associated with the advocacy for government adoption of those practices in SSA. We argue that civil society collaboration with an international governmental organisation (IGO) instead of government promises a better way of adopting and promoting them. This suggestion is based on the fact that work related to this strategy is carried out by a global coalition of civil society, the UN-NGLS. This strategy promises a more rapid way of taking advantage of fast-tracking public engagement in the economic region, SSA.

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CITIZEN SCIENCE, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND GEOCONSERVATION IN THE JURASSIC COAST WORLD HERITAGE SITE OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND

10.1130/abs/2017am-298954 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Richard J. Twitchett ◽

◽

Sam Scriven ◽

Guy Kerr ◽

Zoe Hughes

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

World Heritage ◽

World Heritage Site ◽

Southern England ◽

Heritage Site

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Mechanisms for enhancing public engagement with citizen science results

People and Nature ◽

10.1002/pan3.10152 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Catriona J. MacLeod ◽

Karen Scott

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement

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Citizen science and aquatic macroinvertebrates: public engagement for catchment-scale pollution vigilance

Ecoscience ◽

10.1080/11956860.2020.1812922 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 303-317

Author(s):

Adam Moolna ◽

Mike Duddy ◽

Ben Fitch ◽

Keith White

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates ◽

Catchment Scale

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EnLightenment: High resolution smartphone microscopy as an educational and public engagement platform

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.12841.2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 107 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Laura C. Wicks ◽

Gemma S. Cairns ◽

Jacob Melnyk ◽

Scott Bryce ◽

Rory R. Duncan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Marine Biology ◽

Low Cost ◽

Single Cells ◽

Optical Design ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Objective Lens ◽

Working Distance ◽

The Cost

We developed a simple, cost-effective smartphone microscopy platform for use in educational and public engagement programs. We demonstrated its effectiveness, and potential for citizen science through a national imaging initiative, EnLightenment. The cost effectiveness of the instrument allowed for the program to deliver over 500 microscopes to more than 100 secondary schools throughout Scotland, targeting 1000’s of 12-14 year olds. Through careful, quantified, selection of a high power, low-cost objective lens, our smartphone microscope has an imaging resolution of microns, with a working distance of 3 mm. It is therefore capable of imaging single cells and sub-cellular features, and retains usability for young children. The microscopes were designed in kit form and provided an interdisciplinary educational tool. By providing full lesson plans and support material, we developed a framework to explore optical design, microscope performance, engineering challenges on construction and real-world applications in life sciences, biological imaging, marine biology, art, and technology. A national online imaging competition framed EnLightenment; with over 500 high quality images submitted of diverse content, spanning multiple disciplines. With examples of cellular and sub-cellular features clearly identifiable in some submissions, we show how young public can use these instruments for research-level imaging applications, and the potential of the instrument for citizen science programs.

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