Contours of citizen science: a vignette study

Haklay, Muki; Fraisl, Dilek; Tzovaras, Bastian Greshake; Hecker, Susanne; Gold, Margaret M.; Hager, Gerid; Ceccaroni, Luigi; Kieslinger, Barbara; Wehn, Uta; Woods, Sasha; Nold, Christian; Balázs, Bálint; Mazzonetto, Marzia; Ruefenacht, Simone; Shanley, Lea; Wagenknecht, Katherin; Motion, Alice; Sforzi, Andrea; Riemenschneider, Dorte; Dörler, Daniel; Heigl, Florian; Schaefer, Teresa; Lindner, Ariel B.; Weißpflug, Maike; Mačiulienė, Monika; Vohland, Katrin

doi:10.1098/rsos.202108

Cited by 80 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…However, we would like to express the notion that, as science opens up, the willingness of citizens to participate in accompanying research may decrease further. If citizens experience that they are emancipating themselves from being a science object to becoming a self-determined participant [2,3], they may increasingly want to question accompanying research. Experimental studies that turn respondents back into mere objects and leave them in the dark as to what the real research questions are will possibly be rejected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They thus focused on the process of scientific research and suggested possible roles and or activities for citizen scientists, which are often used to name the respective project type. The development of the ECSA characteristics of citizen science by Haklay et al [3] shows a very promising new approach. The characteristics were developed through the involvement of the interested community in citizen science.…”

Section: Level and Quality Of Participation In Citizen Science Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This cooperation plays a key role in the joint development of solutions to the major societal challenges of our time. According to the ECSA "10 Principles of Citizen Science" [1] and the "Characteristics of Citizen Science" [2,3] academic researchers, citizens, enablers, and other project participants may take up different roles and responsibilities in citizen science projects. Various frameworks have studied, in particular, the roles of citizens.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Known Unknowns: What Citizen Science Projects in Germany Know about Their Volunteers—And What They Don’t Know

2021

Self Cite

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The citizen science landscape in Germany offers an enormous range for participation. More than 170 projects currently present themselves on the national citizen science platform. In 2020, we conducted a survey among 140 projects (participation rate 56%), and they provided information on the organisational framework and characteristics (disciplines, initiators, funding, and project goals), as well as on the academic researchers and the volunteering citizen scientists involved. A surprising result was that the level of knowledge about the volunteers is very low overall. Many projects deliberately do not collect personal data (e.g., on socio-demographic variables, knowledge, and behaviour), partly for data-protection reasons and partly because they are unsure about how to collect it due to a lack of instruments and standards. We aim to illustrate the complexity of this issue and discuss various dilemmas arising between theoretical aspirations and the pragmatic and procedural realities in practice. We conclude with suggestions for developing project-specific strategies to increase diversity and inclusion. We argue that the task of conducting accompanying research on participant diversity cannot be borne by individual projects alone and consider the development and implementation of co-creative and qualitative approaches suitable for this purpose.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Level and Quality Of Participation In Citizen Science Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Known Unknowns: What Citizen Science Projects in Germany Know about Their Volunteers—And What They Don’t Know

2021

Self Cite

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“…Cardoso et al (2011) recognized the role of citizen science as part of the solution for the scarce and underfunded science on invertebrates, including the declining number of insect taxonomists. There are various typologies of citizen science and viewpoints on what is or is not citizen science (Haklay et al, 2021). Here, we focus on volunteers and their contributions to field-based observations in a coordinated effort involving professional scientists (Bonney, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the European Ladybirds Smartphone Application: A Tool for Citizen Science

et al. 2021

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Wildlife observations submitted by volunteers through citizen science initiatives are increasingly used within research and policy. Ladybirds are popular and charismatic insects, with most species being relatively easy to identify from photographs. Therefore, they are considered an appropriate taxonomic group for engaging people through citizen science initiatives to contribute long-term and large-scale datasets for use in many different contexts. Building on the strengths of a mass participation citizen science survey on ladybirds in the United Kingdom, we have developed a mobile application for ladybird recording and identification across Europe. The main aims of the application are to: (1) compile distribution data for ladybird species throughout Europe, and use this to assess changes in distribution over time; (2) connect and engage people in nature and increase awareness about the diversity and ecological importance of ladybirds. In developing the application we first constructed a database including ladybird species from the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal with associated information on relevant morphological features (e.g., size, main color, pronotum pattern) to inform identification. Additionally, the species were assessed on the basis of probability of occurrence within each country which enables users to reduce the number of species to only those with relevance to the location of the recorder. This is amongst the first collaborative citizen science approaches aimed at involving participants across Europe in recording a group of insects. In the near future, we aim to expand the use of the application to all countries in Europe.

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“…Citizen science projects are often categorized by their participation structure through a framework that groups projects by the degree of participation of citizens. Models of participation include contributory, with citizens volunteering data by participating in a project designed by scientists to advance scientific research; collaborative, on a project designed by scientists with citizen input; co-created, as a partnership of active engagement in all part of the project; contractual, in which researchers investigate on the behalf of citizens; and collegial, which are independent projects by non-institutional, often non-credentialed citizens [8][9][10][11][12]. Collegial projects can be specified as citizens involved in knowledge production to answer scientific questions as opposed to institutional researchers [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bayesian Approach to Estimate the Spatial Distribution of Crowdsourced Radiation Measurements around Fukushima

Hultquist

Oravecz

Cervone

2021

IJGI

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Citizen-led movements producing spatio-temporal big data are potential sources of useful information during hazards. Yet, the sampling of crowdsourced data is often opportunistic and the statistical variations in the datasets are not typically assessed. There is a scientific need to understand the characteristics and geostatistical variability of big spatial data from these diverse sources if they are to be used for decision making. Crowdsourced radiation measurements can be visualized as raw, often overlapping, points or processed for an aggregated comparison with traditional sources to confirm patterns of elevated radiation levels. However, crowdsourced data from citizen-led projects do not typically use a spatial sampling method so classical geostatistical techniques may not seamlessly be applied. Standard aggregation and interpolation methods were adapted to represent variance, sampling patterns, and the reliability of modeled trends. Finally, a Bayesian approach was used to model the spatial distribution of crowdsourced radiation measurements around Fukushima and quantify uncertainty introduced by the spatial data characteristics. Bayesian kriging of the crowdsourced data captures hotspots and the probabilistic approach could provide timely contextualized information that can improve situational awareness during hazards. This paper calls for the development of methods and metrics to clearly communicate spatial uncertainty by evaluating data characteristics, representing observational gaps and model error, and providing probabilistic outputs for decision making.

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Contours of citizen science: a vignette study

Cited by 80 publications

References 39 publications

The Known Unknowns: What Citizen Science Projects in Germany Know about Their Volunteers—And What They Don’t Know

The Known Unknowns: What Citizen Science Projects in Germany Know about Their Volunteers—And What They Don’t Know

Development of the European Ladybirds Smartphone Application: A Tool for Citizen Science

A Bayesian Approach to Estimate the Spatial Distribution of Crowdsourced Radiation Measurements around Fukushima

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