How media presence triggers participation in citizen science—The case of the mosquito monitoring project ‘Mückenatlas‘

Abstract

Since 2012, the citizen science project ‘Mückenatlas’ has been supplementing the German mosquito monitoring programme with over 28,000 submissions of physical insect samples. As the factors triggering people to catch mosquitoes for science are still unknown, we analysed the influence of mass media reports on mosquito submission numbers. Based on a theoretical framework of how mass media affect citizen responsiveness, we identified five possible influencing factors related to citizen science: (i) project awareness and knowledge, (ii) attention (economy), (iii) individual characteristics of citizen scientists and targeted communication, (iv) spatial differences and varying affectedness, and (v) media landscape. Hypotheses based on these influencing factors were quantitatively and qualitatively tested with two datasets: clipping data of mass media reports (online, television, radio and print) referring to or focussing on the ‘Mückenatlas’, and corresponding data of ‘Mückenatlas’ submissions between 2014 and 2017. In general, the number of media reports positively affected the number of mosquito submissions on a temporal and spatial scale, i.e. many media reports provoke many mosquito submissions. We found that an already heightened public and media awareness of mosquito-relevant topics combined with a direct call-to-action in a media report title led to a maximum participation. Differences on federal state level, however, suggest that factors additional to quantitative media coverage trigger participation in the ‘Mückenatlas’, in particular the mosquito affectedness of the resident population. Lastly, media types appear to differ in their effects on the number of submissions. Our results show under which circumstances the media presence of the ’Mückenatlas’ is most effective in activating people to submit mosquito samples, and thus provide advice for designing communication strategies for citizen science projects.

Passive surveillance records including nuisance or suspected invasive/non-native mosquitoes in the United Kingdom, 2005-2021

“…Although no review has been conducted examining how the British media reports on mosquitoes, is likely to have an influence on submissions. The German 'Mückenatlas' citizen science project demonstrates there is a correlation between media reports and an increase in submission (Pernat et al, 2022). High quality, accurate information is therefore important.…”

“…It is possible that many people are unaware of the scheme increasing public awareness about the scheme and mosquitoes found in the UK would be beneficial. This could be via a media campaign emphasising the importance of detecting invasive species; the 'Mueckenatlas' has used press releases, newspapers articles, radio and TV appearances, public talks and flyers to encourage members of the public to submit mosquitoes (Walther and Kampen, 2017) and received many more submission than the MRS over the same time period which may demonstrate there is a positive correlation between numbers of media reports about a scheme and numbers of mosquito submissions by the public (Pernat et al, 2022) The use of mobile phone applications such as ZanzaMapp in Italy (Caputo et al, 2020) make it easier for members of the public to record and submit a mosquito sighting and so increase the number of submissions.…”

Knowledge of returning wildlife species and willingness to participate in citizen science projects among wildlife park visitors in Germany

“…In addition to human‐carnivore conflicts being reported more frequently and dramatically (Bombieri et al, 2018; Bornatowski et al, 2019; Penteriani et al, 2016; Rode et al, 2021), the high cultural salience of wolves leads to increased media exposure (Delibes‐Mateos, 2020). Although this has not been a focus of our study, we acknowledge that media—or more precisely the way how species are represented in media—plays an important role in how the species are perceived by the public (Pernat et al, 2022; Schakner et al, 2019).…”

Citizen science in environmental and ecological sciences

“…Periodic newsletters, social media, scientific papers, podcasts, and a project website and forum are some examples of often used means of communication 48,57 . Furthermore, establishing partnerships with mass media such as newspapers, television channels or radio stations has been shown to be successful in increasing participation in citizen science 58 .…”