Can citizen science enhance public understanding of science?

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, thousands of citizen science projects engaging millions of participants in collecting and/or processing data have sprung up around the world. Here we review documented outcomes from four categories of citizen science projects which are defined by the nature of the activities in which their participants engage - Data Collection, Data Processing, Curriculum-based, and Community Science. We find strong evidence that scientific outcomes of citizen science are well documented, particularly for Data Collection and Data Processing projects. We find limited but growing evidence that citizen science projects achieve participant gains in knowledge about science knowledge and process, increase public awareness of the diversity of scientific research, and provide deeper meaning to participants' hobbies. We also find some evidence that citizen science can contribute positively to social well-being by influencing the questions that are being addressed and by giving people a voice in local environmental decision making. While not all citizen science projects are intended to achieve a greater degree of public understanding of science, social change, or improved science -society relationships, those projects that do require effort and resources in four main categories: (1) project design, (2) outcomes measurement, (3) engagement of new audiences, and (4) new directions for research.

Between Vision and Reality: A Study of Scientists’ Views on Citizen Science

“…Scientific data and findings can be communicated to participants through projects blogs, forums, and Facebook pages, which also serve as platforms for participants to discuss their findings, raise new questions, and interact with scientists (Golumbic 2015;Jackson et al 2016). Bonney et al (2015) discuss the ability of citizen science to contribute to democratizing science and promoting a two-way dialogue between citizens and scientists. This dialogue, also termed as Public Engagement with Science (PES), emphasizes democratizing science, determining public desires and needs, encouraging transparency, and encouraging collective decision making (Brossard and Lewenstein 2009).…”

Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations

“…Citizen science is a broad form of cooperation between professional scientists and the public (Bonney et al 2016), which is in theory open to anyone willing to participate. However, experience has shown that different segments of the population are more prone to participate than others (Soleri et al 2016).…”

Transformando la bicicleta en laboratorios móviles. El caso de un self-tracking ciudadano para la ciudad de Santiago

“…La "ciencia ciudadana" se concibe como la participación de personas no-expertas en investigaciones científicas de toda índole, y esta puede adoptar diversas formas partiendo desde la recolección de datos, pasando por el procesamiento de información, hasta la cocreación ciudadana de datos para injerir en las decisiones políticas de autoridades en favor de colectivos y comunidades locales -también llamado por "community science" (Bonney et al 2015).…”