Is citizen science an open science in the case of biodiversity observations?

Groom, Quentin; Weatherdon, Lauren V.; Geijzendorffer, Ilse R.

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12767

Cited by 76 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This in turn implies a responsibility for project organisers to both conduct themselves in accordance with volunteers' values and motivations regarding data sharing, and to keep them updated on the how and why of use of their data (Groom et al 2017). This implies several practical challenges (e.g., how to communicate consideration about responsible use of data, how to track and monitor this responsible use, how to maintain volunteer privacy), yet our findings confirm that the goals for which data are used are important to citizen scientists.…”

Section: How Do Citizen Scientists Feel About Sharing Data?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This data policy is preferably actively communicated to volunteers when they first decide to share data, in an easily digestible form. One approach actively promoted by GBIF is the use of Creative Commons or Open Data Commons licences, which can be used to communicate data sharing conditions to volunteer recorders (Groom et al 2017). However, while these licenses can provide clarity on how data are shared with third parties (e.g., the use of attribution), they provide volunteer recorders little insight into what the data are used for, only whether commercial use is permitted.…”

Section: Data Sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations

et al. 2017

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Citizen scientists play a pivotal role in providing necessary biodiversity data. To ensure the continued involvement of a strong volunteer base, insight into the concerns and motivations of voluntary recorders is crucial. This paper presents the findings of a largescale survey (N = 2193) among Dutch volunteer biodiversity recorders of diverse taxa, and focuses on three questions: what are the characteristics of these citizen scientists regarding their activities and socio-demographic background, what are their motivations for recording biodiversity, and what are their views on data sharing and ownership? Our findings show that a connection to, interest in and concern for nature are the most important motivations for biodiversity recorders. Volunteer recorders have high expectations regarding the impact of their data, both for their own learning as well as for science and management. Almost half the volunteers consider their data to be public goods, but this does not mean they support unconditional data sharing. Instead, the acceptability of data sharing with third parties seems strongly linked to the goals of the user. We discuss the implications of our findings for practitioners, such as the role of biology curricula and the importance of learning opportunities to redress the lack of younger volunteers. We argue that conceptualising volunteer recorders as data custodians rather than owners helps to Communicated by Peter Bridgewater.This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Biodiversity appreciation and engagement.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article

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Section: How Do Citizen Scientists Feel About Sharing Data?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations

et al. 2017

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“…Tackling biological invasions effectively relies on the availability of up-to-date scientific information, and requires the sharing of knowledge on the topic in order to enhance science-based decision-making (Panov et al, 2011;Katsanevakis et al, 2012;McGeoch et al, 2012;Roy et al, 2014;Groom et al, 2017a). In addition, it is crucial to have a single aggregation point, where available knowledge on alien species from various data sources is integrated, harmonized, and standardized (Panov and Gollasch, 2004;Katsanevakis et al, 2013a;Ojaveer et al, 2014).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handling Big Data of Alien Species in Europe: The European Alien Species Information Network Geodatabase

et al. 2017

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Building and managing large datasets of alien species is crucial to research, management, and control of biological invasions. To this end, the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN) platform aggregates, integrates, and harmonizes spatio-temporal data regarding alien species in Europe, including both invasive and non-invasive alien species. These data are stored in the EASIN Geodatabase after their harvesting from relevant sources in the frame of a global and European databases partnership and scientific literature. The ownership of the data remains with its source, which is properly cited and linked. The process of data harvesting is performed through the EASIN Data Broker system, which retrieves the information related to alien species data in Europe and stores them in a normalized database structure. Data are subsequently refined through validation, cleansing, and standardization processes and finally stored in the EASIN Geodatabase. All data are finally visualized and shown in occurrence maps at different levels of spatial visualization. Analysis of the data contained in the EASIN Geodatabase through flexible web services offered by the system has already provided useful input in scientific works and policies on biological invasions.

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“…Such approaches often overlook the indirect costs that are borne by those whom have provided their data for others' use, often at minimal or no cost (Groom et al, 2017). Until recently, papers were cited explicitly, while the data at the core of the research-and those who contributed them-were not.…”

Section: Accessible Data and Knowledge Products That Are Fit-for-purposementioning

confidence: 99%

Blueprints of Effective Biodiversity and Conservation Knowledge Products That Support Marine Policy

et al. 2017

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Biodiversity and conservation data are generally costly to collect, particularly in the marine realm. Hence, data collected for a given-often scientific-purpose are occasionally contributed toward secondary needs, such as policy implementation or other types of decision-making. However, while the quality and accessibility of marine biodiversity and conservation data have improved over the past decade, the ways in which these data can be used to develop and implement relevant management and conservation measures and actions are not always explicit. For this reason, there are a number of scientifically-sound datasets that are not used systematically to inform policy and decisions. Transforming these marine biodiversity and conservation datasets into knowledge products that convey the information required by policy-and decision-makers is an important step in strengthening knowledge exchange across the science-policy interface. Here, we identify seven characteristics of a selection of online biodiversity and conservation knowledge products that contribute to their ability to support policy-and decision-making in the marine realm (as measured by e.g., mentions in policy resolutions/decisions, or use for reporting under selected policy instruments; use in high-level screening for areas of biodiversity importance). These characteristics include: a clear policy mandate; established networks of collaborators; iterative co-design of a user-friendly interface; standardized, comprehensive and documented methods with quality assurance; consistent capacity and succession planning; accessible data and value-added products that are fit-for-purpose; and metrics of use collated and reported. The outcomes of this review are intended to: (a) support data creators/owners/providers in designing and curating biodiversity and conservation knowledge products that have Weatherdon et al.Blueprints of Effective Knowledge Products greater influence, and hence impact, in policy-and decision-making, and (b) provide recommendations for how decision-and policy-makers can support the development, implementation, and sustainability of robust biodiversity and conservation knowledge products through the framing of marine policy and decision-making frameworks.

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Is citizen science an open science in the case of biodiversity observations?

Cited by 76 publications

References 18 publications

Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations

Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations

Handling Big Data of Alien Species in Europe: The European Alien Species Information Network Geodatabase

Blueprints of Effective Biodiversity and Conservation Knowledge Products That Support Marine Policy

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