Policy and Ethics – Citizen Science Today

Innovation in Citizen Science – Perspectives on Science-Policy Advances

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 20:00:06 +0000

Abstract: Citizen science is growing as a field of research with contributions from diverse disciplines, promoting innovation in science, society, and policy. Inter- and transdisciplinary discussions and critical analyses are needed to use the current momentum to evaluate, demonstrate, and build on the advances that have been made in the past few years. This paper...

Frustrated pedestrians use citizen science to put ‘beg buttons’ back up for debate

Elise Stolte — Tue, 01 May 2018 18:00:53 +0000

Excerpt: Darcy Reynard hates “beg buttons” so much, he created an online map and recruited Twitter users to use a stop-watch on pedestrian crossing signals across the city. The map was soon reporting waits of more than three minutes as pedestrians or cyclists shivered in the cold, missed their bus or gave up and jaywalked....

Combating Climate Injustices: An Informal Science and Popular Education Approach to Addressing Environmental Health Disparities

Tue, 01 May 2018 18:00:42 +0000

Abstract: As global warming worsens, addressing environmental health disparities and justice is increasingly important. This necessity is evident in southern metropolitan Tucson, Arizona, an area underserved and disproportionately experiencing the effects of climate change. Including underserved groups in problem solving can spur knowledge generation and the building of community capacity to address and mitigate environmental...

Networks for Citizen Science in Europe and Germany

David Ziegler, André Mascarenhas — Tue, 01 May 2018 18:00:28 +0000

Abstract: Citizen science is a rapidly developing research approach, increasing in popularity within the science community and civil society, as well as in the media and among policy-makers (Pettibone et al., 2017). Various attempts to define citizen science have been made (e.g. Irwin, 1995; Bonney et al., 2009; Wiggins & Crowston, 2011; Shirk et al.,...

Citizen Science for Observing and Understanding the Earth

Mordechai (Muki) Haklay, Suvodeep Mazumdar, Jessica Wardlaw — Tue, 01 May 2018 18:00:14 +0000

Abstract: Citizen Science, or the participation of non-professional scientists in a scientific project, has a long history—in many ways, the modern scientific revolution is thanks to the effort of citizen scientists. Like science itself, citizen science is influenced by technological and societal advances, such as the rapid increase in levels of education during the latter...

Editor’s Choice: Is ‘grassroots’ citizen science a front for big business?

Philip Mirowski — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:00:55 +0000

Editor’s Choice: This is a rather provocative essay whose arguments are completely specious in many instances, and completely wrong in others, but has enough seeds of truth that it is worth pondering and acknowledging, and then considering much-needed rebuttals. –LFF– Excerpt: The very label ‘citizen science’ (as opposed to, say, ‘amateur’ or ‘extramural’) carries the unsubtle...

Editor’s Choice: Spot, log, map: Assessing a marine virtual citizen science program against Reed’s best practice for stakeholder participation in environmental management

Melissa Nursey-Bray, Robert Palmer, Gretta Pecl — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:00:49 +0000

Editor’s Choice: What resonated for me with this article is the conclusion that embedding data collection activities within a virtual citizen science application not only supported improved data collection for marine science but also provided better opportunities for volunteers to engage in a larger community that contributed to social learning. –LFF– Methods (excerpt): In this...

Characterizing the Breadth and Depth of Volunteer Water Monitoring Programs in the United States

Kristine F. Stepenuck and Kenneth D. Genskow — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:00:08 +0000

Abstract: A survey of 345 volunteer water monitoring programs in the United States was conducted to document their characteristics, and perceived level of support for data to inform natural resource management or policy decisions. The response rate of 86% provided information from 46 states. Programs represented a range of ages, budgets, objectives, scopes, and level...

Editor’s Choice: Benefits and challenges of incorporating citizen science into university education

Tue, 07 Nov 2017 19:00:51 +0000

Editor’s Choice: Getting meta with the data. This study examines learning as well as pre- and post- attitudes of college biology students who participate in, what I’d term “deep” inquiry-based learning. The college students were not only assigned to analyze a species’ potential response to climate change using citizen science phenology data, but also to...

Narratives as a mode of research evaluation in citizen science : understanding broader science communication impacts

Constant, N. and Roberts, L. — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 19:00:08 +0000

Abstract: Science communicators develop qualitative and quantitative tools to evaluate the ‘impact’ of their work however narrative is rarely adopted as a form of evaluation. We posit narrative as an evaluative approach for research projects with a core science communication element and offer several narrative methods to be trialled. We use citizen science projects as...