Perspective: The Power (Dynamics) of Open Data in Citizen Science

Abstract

In citizen science, data stewards and data producers are often not the same people. When those who have labored on data collection are not in control of the data, ethical problems could arise from this basic structural feature. In this Perspective, we advance the proposition that stewarding data sets generated by volunteers involves the typical technical decisions in conventional research plus a suite of ethical decisions stemming from the relationship between professionals and volunteers. Differences in power, priorities, values, and vulnerabilities are features of the relationship between professionals and volunteers. Thus, ethical decisions about open data practices in citizen science include, but are not limited to, questions grounded in respect for volunteers: who decides data governance structures, who receives attribution for a data set, which data are accessible and to whom, and whose interests are served by the data use/re-use. We highlight ethical issues that citizen science practitioners should consider when making data governance decisions, particularly with respect to open data.

Civic Code for Social Change: Lessons in Civic Tech Grassroots for Software Engineers

“…This is essential to grassroots civic tech since data created by the community using FOSS artifacts should be free and open. 13 Related empirical research supports the findings that free and open source artifacts and open data are key success factors in scaling up efforts in citizen sciencerelated civic tech 15 and actors in the field recommending concrete accountability mechanisms. 1 In Sensor.Community, openness in the form of transparency is the key as it provides evidence for the presence of poor air quality in the local area.…”

“…10 Care should be taken that the project's outcomes, such as data created in citizen science initiatives, become coowned by the community. 13 In Sensor.Community, this pillar is reflected in its porous, open, and supportive organization. The network of communities comprising Sensor.Community includes activists, NGOs, citizen groups, and more technical groups that maintain and contribute to the platform.…”

Developing a framework for investigating citizen science through a combination of web analytics and social science methods—The CS Track perspective

“…Although micro level analyses like those based on participation data from forums and talk pages allow for identifying individual contributors, we would not use these for individual profiling in adherence to privacy-related ethical principles (cf. Cooper et al, 2021). Accordingly, our units of analysis are single projects, i.e., we characterize projects by certain participation patterns and make comparisons between projects on that basis.…”

Applied citizen science in freshwater research

“…Additionally, scientific communication can be insular and limited to scientific journals with paywalls and scientific conferences that are not attended by members of the general public. Citizen science provides an opportunity to break this boundary (Cooper, Rasmussen, et al, 2021). Especially in situations where citizen scientists are collecting data but are not contributing to analyses, writing, and other post data collection tasks, it is important for scientists to communicate results with their collaborators.…”

“…The departure from the traditional scientific method wherein scientists collect, process, and distribute data to a model where scientists are stewards of citizen collected data creates a disconnect that raises privacy concerns. To protect the rights of participants, it is important transparent planning and data governance, participant consent, and consideration of ethical ramifications occur prior to any data dissemination, especially in open access settings (Cooper, Rasmussen, et al, 2021). Finally, it is important to recognize that participation in a citizen science endeavor can create added stress on participants, especially those that have limited resources such as money and time.…”