scholarly journals Co-created citizen science: challenging cultures and practice in scientific research

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (05) ◽  
pp. Y01
Author(s):  
Jade Gunnell ◽  
Yaela Golumbic ◽  
Tess Hayes ◽  
Michelle Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Science Literature

Co-created citizen science offers practical tools for implementing science communication theories by increasing public participation in scientific research, empowering communities and advancing situated scientific knowledge. However, delivering such an approach presents a number of key challenges around funding, fostering working partnerships between scientists and citizens and ensuring all stakeholders receive sufficient benefits from the process. In this essay we draw from science communication and citizen science literature to describe these challenges and discuss the opportunities that will enable co-created practices to prosper.

scholarly journals The Microbiome as TED Knows It: Popular Science Communication and Neoliberal Subject

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Ironstone
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Microbiome Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ted Talks

Background  Although criticized for a variety of reasons, TED platforms and conventions have been engaged, often uncritically, as tools for popular science communication. This article critically examines four TED Talks that engage the relatively recent biomedical concept of the human microbiome. Analysis  Neoliberal values underpin both the TED universe and the marketization of science. TED conventions produce a discursive regularity that brings together neoliberal subjectivity and bioeconomic imperatives of contemporary scientific research. This neoliberalization is supported by uncritically championing citizen science and the so-called democratization of science alongside crowdsourcing and crowdfunding appeals.Conclusions and implications  Uncritically embracing TED Talks can implicate science communication in the reproduction of problematic ideological positions that favour economic interests over the social good or even individual health.Contexte  Les plateformes et conférences TED ont contribué à rendre la science accessible, même si elles souvent manqué de discernement en le faisant. Cet article effectue un examen critique de quatre TED Talks portant sur le concept relativement récent de microbiome humain. Analyse Des valeurs néolibérales sous-tendent l’univers TED et la marchandisation de la science. Les conférences TED associent ordinairement une subjectivité néolibérale aux impératifs bioéconomiques de la recherche savante contemporaine. Elles appuient le néolibéralisme en vantant de manière parfois irréfléchie la prétendue démocratisation de la science, les sciences participatives, la production participative et les appels au sociofinancement.  Conclusions et implications  Accepter sans réserve les TED Talks peut entraîner la communication de la science à reproduire des partis pris idéologiques problématiques, favorisant des intérêts économiques au détriment du bien commun ou même de la santé personnelle.

scholarly journals A question of dialogue? Reflections on how citizen science can enhance communication between science and society

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (03) ◽  
pp. A13
Author(s):  
Katherin Wagenknecht ◽  
Tim Woods ◽  
Christian Nold ◽  
Simone Rüfenacht ◽  
Silke Voigt-Heucke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Current Science

Citizen science is a transdisciplinary approach that responds to the current science policy agenda: in terms of supporting open science, and by using a range of science communication instruments. In particular, it opens up scientific research processes by involving citizens at different phases; this also creates a range of opportunities for science communication to happen This article explores methodological and practical characteristics of citizen science as a form of science communication by examining three case studies that took different approaches to citizens' participation in science. Through these, it becomes clear that communication in citizen science is ‘÷always’ science communication and an essential part of “doing science”.

scholarly journals Scaling up and rolling out through the Web

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
Niclas Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Raw Data ◽  
Epistemic Culture ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Web ◽  
Professional Volunteers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate online public participation and engagement in science through crowdsourcing platforms. In order to fulfil this purpose, this paper will use the crowdsourcing platform Zooniverse as a case study, as it constitutes the most prominent and established citizen science platform today. The point of departure for the analysis is that Zooniverse can be seen as a “platformization” of citizen science and scientific citizenship. The paper suggests that the mobilisation of individuals who participate and engage in science on the Zooniverse platform takes place through an epistemic culture that emphasises both authenticity and prospects of novel discoveries. Yet, in the process of turning “raw” data into useable data, Zooniverse has implemented a framework that structures the crowd, something that limits the sort of participation that is offered on the platform. This limitation means that the platform as a whole hardly be seen as fostering a more radical democratic inclusion, for example in the form of a co-production of scientific knowledge, that dissolves the institutional borders between scientists and non-professional volunteers.

Citizen science: integrating scientific research, ecological conservation and public participation

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 738-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Jian ◽  
Chen Shengbin ◽  
Chen Bin ◽  
Du Yanjun ◽  
Huang Xiaolei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Ecological Conservation

scholarly journals Combining citizen science and public engagement: the Open AirLaboratories Programme

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. A03 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hauke Riesch ◽  
Clive Potter ◽  
Linda Davies
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Literacy ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Public

Citizen Science (or “Public Participation in Scientific Research”), has attracted attention as a new way of engaging the public with science through recruiting them to participate in scientific research. It is often seen as a win-win solution to promoting public engagement to scientists as well as empowering the public and in the process enhancing science literacy. This paper presents a qualitative study of interviews with scientists and communicators who participated in the “OPAL” project, identifying three potential flashpoints where conflicts can (though not necessarily do) arise for those working on citizen science professionally. We find that although participation in the CS project was generally valued, it does not seem to overcome continuing (and widely reported) concerns about public engagement. We suggest that enthusiasm for win-win situations should be replaced with more realistic expectations about what scientists can expect to get out of CS-style public engagement.

scholarly journals Citizens, Scientists, and Enablers: A Tripartite Model for Citizen Science Projects

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Rhian A. Salmon ◽  
Samuel Rammell ◽  
Myfanwy T. Emeny ◽  
Stephen Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Tripartite Model ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
Citizen Science Project

In this paper, we focus on different roles in citizen science projects, and their respective relationships. We propose a tripartite model that recognises not only citizens and scientists, but also an important third role, which we call the ‘enabler’. In doing so, we acknowledge that additional expertise and skillsets are often present in citizen science projects, but are frequently overlooked in associated literature. We interrogate this model by applying it to three case studies and explore how the success and sustainability of a citizen science project requires all roles to be acknowledged and interacting appropriately. In this era of ‘wicked problems’, the nature of science and science communication has become more complex. In order to address critical emerging issues, a greater number of stakeholders are engaging in multi-party partnerships and research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Within this context, explicitly acknowledging the role and motivations of everyone involved can provide a framework for enhanced project transparency, delivery, evaluation and impact. By adapting our understanding of citizen science to better recognise the complexity of the organisational systems within which they operate, we propose an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative delivery of both valuable scientific research and public engagement.

Citizens of the future

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-144
Author(s):  
Colin Milburn ◽  
Melissa Wills
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Responsible Innovation ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Technical Innovations ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Utopian Thought

Over the last decade, a variety of ‘citizen science’ projects have turned to video games and other tools of gamification to enrol participants and to encourage public engagement with scientific research questions. This article examines the significance of sf in the field of citizen science, focusing on projects such as Eyewire, Be a Martian!, Sea Hero Quest, Play to Cure: Genes in Space, Forgotten Island and the ‘Project Discovery’ experiments in EVE Online. The sf stories that frame these projects often allegorise the neoliberal assumptions and immaterial labour practices of citizen science, even while seeming to hide or disguise them. At the same time, the fictional frames enable players to imagine social and technical innovations that, while not necessarily achievable in the present, nevertheless point to a future of democratic science, social progress and responsible innovation - blips of utopian thought from the zones of crowdsourced labour.

scholarly journals Science Slams as Edutainment: A Reception Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Niemann ◽  
Laura Bittner ◽  
Philipp Schrögel ◽  
Christiane Hauser
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Content ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Reception Study ◽  
Positive Sense ◽  
The Common ◽  
Scientific Value ◽  
Method Analysis

Science slams are a prominent form of science communication especially in Germany that seeks to entertain. While some view science slams as an excellent vehicle for disseminating knowledge, others argue that the imperative to entertain undermines the scientific value of this form of presentation. Drawing on empirical data from three science slam events, this explorative study examines how audiences and presenters perceive the science slam, particularly as it relates to entertainment and the communication of scientific knowledge. Our multi-method analysis includes audience surveys (n = 469), an eye-tracking study, and interviews with science slammers (n = 18). Our results show that the main reason audiences attend a science slam is for entertainment, yet they also have a strong interest in scientific content. Assessing the slammers’ aspirations concerning the audience, we find entertainment to be an important part, but the motivation to impart scientific knowledge is key for most. When asked to evaluate individual presentations (n = 20), spectators tended to rate both the entertainment and scientific value of the presentations as high. However, in terms of visual attention within individual presentations, spectators spent more time considering scientific content than entertainment content. Overall, we do not find evidence for the common claim that the focus on entertainment undermines the scientific value of science slam presentations—rather, entertainment and scientific content are combined to produce “edutainment” in a positive sense.

scholarly journals Citizen Science, Communication, and Expertise: An Examination of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's Plastics Project

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Marine Debris ◽  
Communication Media ◽  
Marine Science ◽  
Project Staff ◽  
Educational Benefits ◽  
Science Projects

Citizen science projects have the opportunity to educate participants about environmental issues being studied first-hand and often in the field. The Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s Plastics Project utilized volunteers to collect and sort through samples of sand on beaches to estimate the abundance of plastic marine debris on beaches throughout the Puget Sound of Washington State. Volunteers were surveyed to determine if educational benefits were evident, if participants were educating others and with what frequency, what communication media were used and preferred, and who participants identified as experts. All participants reported being better educated about plastic marine and most reported changes in their consumer behavior. Participants who educated others on a regular basis also attended environmental and plastic marine debris-focused events, and interacted with experts regularly. No other demographic variables examined were able to distinguish more active educators from less active. Participants used and preferred email and in-person communication media while social media and postal mail were among the least utilized. Participants identified a wide array of experts, including university scientists and Plastics Project staff. Citizen science projects may be beneficial at inducing consumer behavior changes and educating participants, and should take care to explore lectures and other in-person communication approaches to increase opportunities for learning. Participants’ wide perception of expertise should be taken advantage of to increase opportunities for participant-expert interaction and address participant questions and concerns.

scholarly journals Promoting Ocean Literacy in Elementary School Students Through Investigation Activities and Citizen Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Boaventura ◽  
Ana Teresa Neves ◽  
Jaime Santos ◽  
Paula Colares Pereira ◽  
Cristina Luís ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Rocky Shore ◽  
School Students ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Ocean Literacy

To enable the process of energy transition towards carbon neutrality, it is important to educate the community on the need for social, economic, environmental and institutional transformation, and to educate and inform citizens to participate proactively in this change. This study evaluated the effectiveness of participation by elementary school students in educational activities and citizen science actions in enhancing their scientific knowledge and skills related to Ocean Literacy in the context of climate change. The activities were directed to children (aged 9–11) and involved pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and researchers, in formal and non-formal contexts. A total of 329 elementary school students participated in interdisciplinary science activities, focusing on the cause & effect of climate change in the ocean. They learned to identify rocky shore marine species used to monitor climate change and acquired ICT skills by inserting species observations in a biodiversity mapping platform. Finally, students worked collaboratively to communicate to the community what they have learned through an exhibition at the Museum João de Deus. To assess the impact of the activities on acquisition of scientific knowledge and skills by the students, a mixed methodology was applied using pre and post-tests, analysis of the data inserted by students in the platform, and content analysis of the students’ work for the museum exhibition. The results of pre and post-tests revealed a significant increase in knowledge of the effects of climate change on the rocky shore species distribution, as well as of the importance of monitoring these species distribution. The data from the online biodiversity platform showed that 42% of the species identifications made by the students were correct. The ability of the students to communicate their learning to the wider community was evaluated by the scientific content, structure, presentation and creativity and of posters, models, videos and games produced. Most of students focused their communications and creations on the greenhouse effect, cause & effect of climate change in the ocean and biodiversity. This study reinforces the importance of addressing Ocean Literacy and climate change through formal and non-formal educational activities with an investigative nature.

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