IntroductionPublic health is not only threatened by diseases, pandemics, or epidemics. It is also challenged by deficits in the communication of health information. The current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that impressively. One way to deliver scientific data such as epidemiological findings and forecasts on disease spread are dashboards. Considering the current relevance of dashboards for public risk and crisis communication, this systematic review examines the state of research on dashboards in the context of public health risks and diseases.MethodNine electronic databases where searched for peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings. Included articles (n = 65) were screened and assessed by three independent reviewers. Through a methodological informed differentiation between descriptive studies and user studies, the review also assessed the quality of included user studies (n = 18) by use of the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT).Results65 articles were assessed in regards to the public health issues addressed by the respective dashboards, as well as the data sources, functions and information visualizations employed by the different dashboards. Furthermore, the literature review sheds light on public health challenges and objectives and analyzes the extent to which user needs play a role in the development and evaluation of a dashboard. Overall, the literature review shows that studies that do not only describe the construction of a specific dashboard, but also evaluate its content in terms of different risk communication models or constructs (e.g., risk perception or health literacy) are comparatively rare. Furthermore, while some of the studies evaluate usability and corresponding metrics from the perspective of potential users, many of the studies are limited to a purely functionalistic evaluation of the dashboard by the respective development teams.ConclusionThe results suggest that applied research on public health intervention tools like dashboards would gain in complexity through a theory-based integration of user-specific risk information needs.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=200178, identifier: CRD42020200178.

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Citizen science has become an umbrella term that encompasses a growing range of activities, actors, and issues. This chapter examines the potential of citizen science to generate transformative knowledge and argues that civil society organisations (CSOs) are key actors in this regard. However, the roles of CSOs are neglected in the literature on citizen science. We turn to the traditions of community-based research and participatory action research to learn more. With two case studies on health and safety, we show how transformative knowledge enables concerned communities to claim their rights and enriches scientific knowledge generation. Through a socio-historical analysis, we find three main roles grassroots CSOs take on in participatory research: (1) a technical role in the production of data and knowledge; (2) a governance role in the deliberation on research activities and risk assessment; and (3) an advocacy role by campaigning for transformative knowledge. These roles determine the ability of grassroots CSOs to generate legitimacy and rely on CSO members belonging to different spheres of society, scientific skills, and access to marginalised communities. Finally, we discuss the conceptual and practical challenges of accounting for CSOs’ roles in order to build a more just and transformative future through citizen science.

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Der betriebliche Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutz ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil gewerkschaftlichen Handelns und spielt bei den Aushandlungsprozessen um Arbeitsbedingungen durchaus eine Rolle. Nachhaltige Beschäftigungssicherung ist zudem ein Interesse, das rechtlich (bspw. im Kontext der Gefährdungsbeurteilungen) und politisch von Arbeitnehmer- wie von Arbeitgeberseite adressiert wird. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt anhand einer Fallstudie zum Verein Arbeit und Gesundheit e.V. dar, inwiefern die Neuen Sozialen Bewegungen den Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutz auf die Agenda von Gewerkschaften, aber auch von Interessenvertretungen und anderen betrieblichen Akteur_innen in arbeitsregulativen Prozessen setzten. Zentrales Anliegen ist es herauszuarbeiten, wie sich Protestkommunikation zu einer auf Dauer angelegten Kommunikation über den betrieblichen Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutz formieren und so die Position in den Auseinandersetzungen um Arbeitsbedingungen stärken konnte. Dafür war der Aufbau (in-)formeller Netzwerkstrukturen, eine juristische Absicherung des Akteursstatus, das Aneignen von Fachwissen und das Schaffen von Plausibilitätszonen, die für Gewerkschaften relevant wurden, eine zentrale Voraussetzung.