Citizen Science in Human Medicine and the Use of Software-Systems: A Rapid Scoping Review

Citizen science allows involving interested citizen in the entire research process in science. In the past, various citizen science projects have been performed in different research fields, especially in human medicine. We conducted a rapid scoping review to determine which citizen projects in human medicine already used software-based systems to engage citizens in the research process. Furthermore, we analysed which of the software-systems are publicly available, especially in the field of rare diseases, how citizens can participate using those tools and whether the usability was rated by the participants. To get insights for our project “SelEe (Seltene Erkrankungen bürgerwissenschaftlich erforschen)”, which is a citizen science project in rare diseases funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), we aimed to identify projects in this research area. We searched PubMed for articles between 2011 and 2021 and performed a title- and abstract screening, as well as a full-text screening. Finally, 12 studies were identified in different research areas like public health, genetic research and infectious diseases. We could not identify any study directly associated with rare diseases. None of the studies investigated usability of those systems. Furthermore, five publicly available citizen science software-systems were identified. Three of them are general systems that allow creating, operating, managing citizen science projects and including citizens in the research process. In further investigations, we will check and compare these systems, if they are appropriate for use in our SelEe-project.

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Smart Activation of Citizens

Analyzing the Role of Citizen Science in Modern Research - Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-0962-2.ch013 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 262-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Maria Gilda Pimentel Esteves ◽

Jano Moreira de Souza ◽

Alexandre Prestes Uchoa ◽

Carla Viana Pereira ◽

Marcio Antelio

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Research Process ◽

Cognitive Capacity ◽

Scientific Problem ◽

Success Stories ◽

Science Projects

This chapter focuses on how, by “activating” the citizen's engagement in the research process, the scientific community has a smart way to benefit from the wisdom of the “crowd”. There are countless success stories in which citizens participate, contributing with their knowledge, cognitive capacity, creativity, opinion, and skills. However, for many scientists, the lack of familiarity with the particular nature of citizen participation, which is usually anonymous and volatile, turns into a barrier for its adoption. This chapter presents a problem-based typology for citizen-science projects that aims to help scientists to choose the best strategy for engaging and counting on citizen participation based on the scientific problem at hand; and some examples are included. Moreover, the chapter discusses the main challenges for researchers who intend to start involving the citizens in order to solve their specific scientific needs.

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Ethical Issues with Using Internet of Things Devices in Citizen Science Research: A Scoping Review

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.629649 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

James Scheibner ◽

Anna Jobin ◽

Effy Vayena

Keyword(s):

Internet Of Things ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Data Privacy ◽

Social Innovation ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Research Question ◽

Science Research ◽

Research Process ◽

Review Protocol

Digital innovation is ever more present and increasingly integrated into citizen science research. However, smartphones and other connected devices come with specific features and characteristics and, in consequence, raise particular ethical issues. This article addresses this important intersection of citizen science and the Internet of Things by focusing on how such ethical issues are communicated in scholarly literature. To answer this research question, this article presents a scoping review of published scientific studies or case studies of scientific studies that utilize both citizen scientists and Internet of Things devices. Specifically, this scoping review protocol retrieved studies where the authors had included at least a short discussion of the ethical issues encountered during the research process. A full text analysis of relevant articles conducted inductively and deductively identified three main categories of ethical issues being communicated: autonomy and data privacy, data quality, and intellectual property. Based on these categories, this review offers an overview of the legal and social innovation implications raised. This review also provides recommendations for researchers who wish to innovatively integrate citizen scientists and Internet of Things devices into their research based on the strategies researchers took to resolve these ethical issues.

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Smart Activation of Citizens

Crowdsourcing ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-8362-2.ch046 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 929-951

Author(s):

Maria Gilda Pimentel Esteves ◽

Jano Moreira de Souza ◽

Alexandre Prestes Uchoa ◽

Carla Viana Pereira ◽

Marcio Antelio

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Research Process ◽

Cognitive Capacity ◽

Scientific Problem ◽

Success Stories ◽

Science Projects

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Analysis of the evolution and collaboration networks of citizen science scientific publications

Scientometrics ◽

10.1007/s11192-020-03724-x ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

M. Pelacho ◽

G. Ruiz ◽

F. Sanz ◽

A. Tarancón ◽

J. Clemente-Gallardo

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Quantitative Research ◽

Research Process ◽

Collaboration Networks ◽

Scientific Publications ◽

Research Areas ◽

Number Of Publications ◽

Object Of Study ◽

Almost All

AbstractThe term citizen science refers to a broad set of practices developed in a growing number of areas of knowledge and characterized by the active citizen participation in some or several stages of the research process. Definitions, classifications and terminology remain open, reflecting that citizen science is an evolving phenomenon, a spectrum of practices whose classification may be useful but never unique or definitive. The aim of this article is to study citizen science publications in journals indexed by WoS, in particular how they have evolved in the last 20 years and the collaboration networks which have been created among the researchers in that time. In principle, the evolution can be analyzed, in a quantitative way, by the usual tools, such as the number of publications, authors, and impact factor of the papers, as well as the set of different research areas including citizen science as an object of study. But as citizen science is a transversal concept which appears in almost all scientific disciplines, this study becomes a multifaceted problem which is only partially modelled with the usual bibliometric magnitudes. It is necessary to consider new tools to parametrize a set of complementary properties. Thus, we address the study of the citizen science expansion and evolution in terms of the properties of the graphs which encode relations between scientists by studying co-authorship and the consequent networks of collaboration. This approach - not used until now in research on citizen science, as far as we know- allows us to analyze the properties of these networks through graph theory, and complement the existing quantitative research. The results obtained lead mainly to: (a) a better understanding of the current state of citizen science in the international academic system-by countries, by areas of knowledge, by interdisciplinary communities-as an increasingly legitimate expanding methodology, and (b) a greater knowledge of collaborative networks and their evolution, within and between research communities, which allows a certain margin of predictability as well as the definition of better cooperation strategies.

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Research Data Management Challenges in Citizen Science Projects and Recommendations for Library Support Services. A Scoping Review and Case Study

Data Science Journal ◽

10.5334/dsj-2021-025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 25

Author(s):

Jitka Stilund Hansen ◽

Signe Gadegaard ◽

Karsten Kryger Hansen ◽

Asger Væring Larsen ◽

Søren Møller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Support Services ◽

Research Data ◽

Research Data Management ◽

Science Projects ◽

Library Support

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Citizens, Scientists, and Enablers: A Tripartite Model for Citizen Science Projects

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13070309 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 309

Author(s):

Rhian A. Salmon ◽

Samuel Rammell ◽

Myfanwy T. Emeny ◽

Stephen Hartley

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Nature Of Science ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Science Communication ◽

Tripartite Model ◽

Science Project ◽

Science Projects ◽

Emerging Issues ◽

Citizen Science Project

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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Towards a Transdisciplinary Theoretical Framework of Citizen Science: Results from a Meta-Review Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13147904 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 7904

Author(s):

Andrea Spasiano ◽

Salvatore Grimaldi ◽

Alessio Maria Braccini ◽

Fernando Nardi

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Information Technologies ◽

Research Process ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Organizational Studies ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

Social Challenges ◽

Review Analysis ◽

Meta Review ◽

Application Fields

This work intends to lay the foundations for a theoretical framework of citizen science combining social and organizational implications with the support of information technologies. The proposed theoretical framework moves towards a shared and common research process between experts and citizens to deal with environmental and social challenges. The role and capacity of online communities is explored and their engagement capacity by means of web-based digital platforms supporting crowdsourcing activities. In this contribution, authors highlight the most common practices, methods and issues of citizen science approaches adopted from multidisciplinary application fields to obtain insights for designing a new participative approach for organizational studies. To reach this goal, authors illustrate the results of a systematic meta-review analysis, consisting of an accurate selection and revision of journal review articles in order to highlight concepts, methods, research design approaches and tools adopted in citizen science approaches.

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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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The role of citizen science in addressing grand challenges in food and agriculture research

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2018.1977 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 285 (1891) ◽

pp. 20181977 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

S. F. Ryan ◽

N. L. Adamson ◽

A. Aktipis ◽

L. K. Andersen ◽

R. Austin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urban Communities ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Food Systems ◽

The United States ◽

Food Science ◽

Grand Challenges ◽

Food Research ◽

Food And Agriculture ◽

Science Projects ◽

Agriculture And Food

The power of citizen science to contribute to both science and society is gaining increased recognition, particularly in physics and biology. Although there is a long history of public engagement in agriculture and food science, the term ‘citizen science’ has rarely been applied to these efforts. Similarly, in the emerging field of citizen science, most new citizen science projects do not focus on food or agriculture. Here, we convened thought leaders from a broad range of fields related to citizen science, agriculture, and food science to highlight key opportunities for bridging these overlapping yet disconnected communities/fields and identify ways to leverage their respective strengths. Specifically, we show that (i) citizen science projects are addressing many grand challenges facing our food systems, as outlined by the United States National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as well as broader Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations Development Programme, (ii) there exist emerging opportunities and unique challenges for citizen science in agriculture/food research, and (iii) the greatest opportunities for the development of citizen science projects in agriculture and food science will be gained by using the existing infrastructure and tools of Extension programmes and through the engagement of urban communities. Further, we argue there is no better time to foster greater collaboration between these fields given the trend of shrinking Extension programmes, the increasing need to apply innovative solutions to address rising demands on agricultural systems, and the exponential growth of the field of citizen science.

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