Citizens of the future

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.

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

Diversity ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Conceptual Frameworks for Building Online Citizen Science Projects

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Poonam Yadav ◽  
John Darlington
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Citizen Science Project

In recent years, citizen science has grown in popularity due to a number of reasons, including the emphasis on informal learning and creativity potential associated with these initiatives. Citizen science projects address research questions from various domains, ranging from Ecology to Astronomy.  Due to the advancement of communication technologies, which makes outreach and engagement of wider communities easier, scientists are keen to turn their own research into citizen science projects. However, the development, deployment and management of these projects remains challenging. One of the most important challenges is building the project itself. There is no single tool or framework, which guides the step-by-step development of the project, since every project has specific characteristics, such as geographical constraints or volunteers' mode of participation. Therefore, in this article, we present a series of conceptual frameworks for categorisation, decision and deployment, which guide a citizen science project creator in every step of creating a new project starting from the research question to project deployment.  The frameworks are designed with consideration to the properties of already existing citizen science projects and could be easily extended to include other dimensions, which are not currently perceived.

Retours sur le colloque Capteurs et sciences participatives

2020 ◽  
pp. 045
Author(s):  
Sébastien Payan ◽  
Laure Turcati ◽  
Jeremy Hornung
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Cycle De Vie ◽  
Ecological Transition ◽  
Project Lifecycle

Les projets Caspa (Capteurs et sciences participatives) représentent un nouveau type de projets pluridisciplinaires, au croisement de la recherche scientifique, de la démocratie participative et de l'innovation technologique. Ces projets proposent des modalités d'actions concrètes en faveur d'une meilleure surveillance de l'environnement et d'une transition écologique inclusive (qui n'exclue personne). Cet article, issu d'une réflexion collective amorcée en avril 2019 lors d'un colloque dédié, présente les différentes étapes du cycle de vie d'un projet Caspa et en souligne les problématiques inédites, les défis singuliers et les aspects qu'il est utile de prendre en compte pour en assurer le bon déroulement. SENCIS (Sensors and citizen science) projects represent a new kind of multidisciplinary projects, at the crossroads between scientific research, participatory democracy, and technological innovation. These projects offer tangible solutions towards better environmental monitoring, and inclusive ecological transition. This paper, which stems from a seminar held in April 2019 dedicated to this topic, highlights the distinctive steps of a SENCIS project lifecycle, and underlines its specific issues, challenges, and aspects which are to be taken into account in order to ensure its success.

scholarly journals Exploring the participation of young citizen scientists in scientific research: The case of iNaturalist

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0245682
Author(s):  
Maria Aristeidou ◽  
Christothea Herodotou ◽  
Heidi L. Ballard ◽  
Alison N. Young ◽  
Annie E. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Young Citizen ◽  
Active Contribution ◽  
Quantitative Approaches

Online citizen science projects have broadened options for accessing science and enabled different forms of participation in scientific research for adult and young volunteers. Yet, little is known regarding participation patterns among youth participants. Quantitative approaches were used to investigate the contribution of 183 young volunteers to citizen science on the iNaturalist platform and the participation behaviour that relates to their contribution. The participants accessed and used iNaturalist as part of one-day field-based events (bioblitzes) facilitated by museums. Compared to the observation behaviour of all iNaturalist users, as documented on the platform, the young volunteers observe fewer plants and birds, and more molluscs, arachnids and insects. The average daily contributions of young volunteers were found to be positively associated with a large proportion of active days on iNaturalist and a systematic contribution behaviour, yet negatively related to a long duration on the platform. This study enhances our understanding of young volunteers’ contributions to citizen science and provides insights for research on participation in online citizen science. Our findings have implications on how museums design the field-based events to encourage follow-up systematic participation and maintain active contribution.

scholarly journals Learning More About Earthworms With Citizen Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria J. Burton ◽  
Erin K. Cameron
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Soil Organisms ◽  
Outdoor Activities ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Community Science ◽  
Huge Variety

Have you ever wanted to conduct scientific research? Citizen, or community science involves non-scientists in assisting scientists with research. The term covers a huge variety of projects: from online-only where you can classify galaxies, to practical outdoor activities, and even helping with scientific expeditions. Ideally, citizen science benefits everyone—scientists collect more data, and over larger geographic areas than they could on their own. Non-scientists benefit by learning something new and experiencing how science works, and hopefully having fun! The small size of most soil organisms is challenging for citizen science. However, earthworms are easy to recognize and relatively large, so there have been several citizen science projects focused on them. In this article, we discuss earthworm citizen science from its origins with 18th and 19th century natural historians, to the modern day. Discover what non-scientists have contributed to earthworm science and how you can design your own earthworm investigations.

scholarly journals Combining citizen science and public engagement: the Open AirLaboratories Programme

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. A03 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hauke Riesch ◽  
Clive Potter ◽  
Linda Davies
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Literacy ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Public

Citizen Science (or “Public Participation in Scientific Research”), has attracted attention as a new way of engaging the public with science through recruiting them to participate in scientific research. It is often seen as a win-win solution to promoting public engagement to scientists as well as empowering the public and in the process enhancing science literacy. This paper presents a qualitative study of interviews with scientists and communicators who participated in the “OPAL” project, identifying three potential flashpoints where conflicts can (though not necessarily do) arise for those working on citizen science professionally. We find that although participation in the CS project was generally valued, it does not seem to overcome continuing (and widely reported) concerns about public engagement. We suggest that enthusiasm for win-win situations should be replaced with more realistic expectations about what scientists can expect to get out of CS-style public engagement.

scholarly journals Citizen science in cities: an overview of projects focused on urban Australia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Roger ◽  
Alice Motion
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Large Pool ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Citizen Science Project ◽  
Significant Opportunity

AbstractCitizen science offers a unique opportunity to connect urban-dwellers with the often hidden natural world upon their doorsteps and to contribute to authentic research that increases knowledge of urban ecology and biodiversity. With the majority of Australia’s population residing in large cities, this diverse potential pool of participants in science creates a significant opportunity to increase the spatial and temporal scale of research. Herein, we provide an overview of Australian urban citizen science projects based on an analysis of the projects listed in the Australian Citizen Science Association’s Citizen Science Project Finder. We draw out key features (such as those with research questions specific to cities such as reintroduction and persistence of species in urban environments) from urban citizen science projects that make them suitable for the urban environment and use these features to suggest recommendations for further expansion and development of this important subset of projects. We conclude that the number and diversity of urban citizen science projects is relatively low in Australia, and advocate for an increase in initiatives that can tap into a large pool of potential participants for the benefit of science and society.

scholarly journals Maximising the potential for citizen science in New South Wales

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-461
Author(s):  
Erin Roger ◽  
Patrick Tegart ◽  
Rebekah Dowsett ◽  
Michael A. Kinsela ◽  
Mitchell D. Harley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Use Case ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
South Wales

Citizen science is growing rapidly in Australia and globally, and presents valuable opportunities to engage with the community and amplify scientific research. The recent growth in citizen science is largely attributed to technology and has resulted in citizen science now recognised as having the potential to augment and enhance traditional scientific research and monitoring. Citizen science can deliver a level of spatial granularity often not possible with conventional research. This, coupled with its potential to engage the public meaningfully in science, uniquely positions citizen science to monitor and thereby effect genuine scientific outcomes. However, the rapid growth in citizen science has also resulted in some data and information challenges that need to be overcome. Here we present a general overview of citizen science and some of the opportunities and challenges associated with its rapid growth, with a focus on Australia. We use case studies of successful citizen science projects in New South Wales to demonstrate its potential across areas such as cost efficiency and scalability. Overall, these examples show how citizen science has the potential to provide a monumental shift in our ability to monitor the environment while simultaneously increasing understanding and trust in science within the broader community.

Change, Challenges, and Mixed Methods

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeasik Cho
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Evaluation Strategy ◽  
Validity Criteria ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Way

This chapter discusses three ongoing issues related to the evaluation of qualitative research. First, the chapter considers whether a set of evaluation criteria is either determinative or changeable. Due to the evolving nature of qualitative research, it is likely that the way in which qualitative research is evaluated can change—not all at once, but gradually. Second, qualitative research has been criticized by newly resurrected positivists whose definitions of scientific research and evaluation criteria are narrow. “Politics of evidence” and a recent big-tent evaluation strategy are examined. Last, this chapter analyzes how validity criteria of qualitative research are incorporated into the evaluation of mixed methods research. The elements of qualitative research seem to be fairly represented but are largely treated as trivial. A criterion, the fit of research questions to design, is identified as distinctive in the review guide of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1891) ◽  
pp. 20181977 ◽  
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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