29. Science of citizen science II
Parallel session | Chairperson: Marzia Mazzonetto | Thursday, 10 September 2020 | 16:30-17:30
16:30-16:45 | 29.1 Participation in citizen science and science identity: examining the many aspects of science identity across six projects in the U.S.
Author/s: Heidi Ballard, Lina Yamashita, Tina Phillips and Rick Bonney
Presenter: Heidi BallardSummary:
To address the gap in research examining the development and reinforcement of science identity among citizen science (CS) participants across different projects, we conducted annual semi-structured interviews with 71 participants over 3 years in six CS projects across the U.S. We found that science identity in CS is much more complex than simply “identifying as a scientist”, and found seven main aspects, such as identifying with the scientific community. We found CS participation reinforces, rather than develops anew, these aspects of science identity, for the majority of participants. Our findings can help CS professionals support identity development through their programs.
16:45-17:00 | 29.2 SciStarter and Zooniverse: using platforms to cultivate volunteer communities
Author/s: Caren Cooper, Helen Spiers, Naama Dayan, Bradley Allf, Sara Futch, Lincoln Larson, Maria Sharova and Kobi Gal
Presenter: Bradley AllfSummary:
In this presentation, I will explore our research relating to citizen scientists' participation in projects on "SciStarter," a 3rd party platform that allows citizen science volunteers to find and join projects of interest. In particular, I will explore the degree to which citizen scientists are participating across multiple projects, disciplinary topics, and modes of participation, as well as what we know about the impact of cross-project participation on volunteers' learning and trajectory in citizen science.
17:00-17:15 | 29.3 Analysis of the contextual realities of community-based environmental monitoring initiatives in Kenya and the Netherlands
Author/s: Mohammad Gharesifard, Uta Wehn and Pieter van der Zaag
Presenter: Mohammad GharesifardSummary:
Community-based environmental monitoring initiatives do not operate in a void. There are always social, institutional, political and technological contexts in which they operate and with which they interact. Yet, the salience of understanding the initial contextual settings is often underestimated or only considered once an initiative has been established. The objective of this presentation is to share the results of a research that employed a newly developed framework called the CPI framework (Gharesifard et al., 2019) for understanding the contextual realities in which the Kenyan and the Dutch case studies of the Ground Truth 2.0 project were being established.
17:15-17:30 | 29.4 Enacting scientific citizenship in citizen science: a closer look at the notion of scientific citizenship and the construction of citizens and science in two Danish citizen science projects
Author/s: Kristian Nielsen
Presenter: Kristian NielsenSummary:
Citizen science accomplishes scientific obejctives while also enacting specific aspects of citizenship. This paper engages empirically and conceptually with the notion of scientific citizenship in relation to citizen science. The first part of the paper reviews existing ideas about scientific citizenship; the second part looks at three citizen science projects in Denmark to see how they enact scientific citizenship. I will argue that citizen science projects enact scientific citizenship in different ways, but also ask the question if citizen science organizers, often scientists themselves, pay enough attention to the enactment of scientific citizenship.