Exploring Citizen Science over Time: Sensing, Technology and the Law

Abstract

People over the course of history have survived by developing their ability to ‘sense’ their environment as an embryonic form of citizen science. With the emergence of modern states, governments have assumed responsibility for monitoring the quality of the environment, and progressively the practice and role of citizen science has changed. This review explores the different manifestations of citizen science over time, with a focus on its law and governance dimensions, reading this evolution as a critical analysis of the current discourses around citizen science. The evolution of citizen science throughout history and its transformation shows certain patterns that are highlighted in this article as ‘constant’ features, whereas other features are instead interrupted and reversed, and new ones emerge. We thus examined citizen science over time by asking what is really new about this phenomenon, focusing on constants—permanent features—and turning points—changes in direction. We argue that these dynamics are central to understanding the promises and perils of the practice, to fully grasping the forms of uninvited, reactive environmental citizen science and to scoping foreseeable future scenarios.

Conceptualising the Link between Citizen Science and Climate Governance: A Systematic Review

“…The close relationship between reactive and autonomous CS initiatives and justice claims, especially those linked to industrial risks, played an important part in emancipating citizens from the role of human sensors and legitimating their epistemic competence in monitoring and influencing official decisions. This breakthrough has been assisted and boosted by AI-based and geo-information technologies that can make citizen-led scientific initiatives more accessible and impactful [126].…”

“…They could also help us to understand people's motivation, maintain engagement and guide learning processes [152]. Indeed, the act of "sensing" the environment at the basis of CS practice, in addition to concerning data collection, has been understood as emotional engagement with ecological issues [126]. Concepts of sense of place, place attachment, identity and dependence [154] may prove to be vital in research about climate-concerned CS.…”

Civic Monitoring for Environmental Law Enforcement

“…Civic environmental monitoring is the use by ordinary people of monitoring devices (e.g., a sensor) or their bare senses (e.g., smell, hearing) to detect environmental issues. It can be regarded as a form of reaction to environmental injustices (Ottinger 2010), a reactive practice to the status quo of institutional and corporate environmental monitoring (Berti Suman and Alblas 2023; Berti Suman and Bollon 2023), a new paradigm in how people engage with daily environmental stressors to foster change (Berti ), a form of political contestation through data (Beraldo and Milan 2019;Gabrys, Pritchard and Barratt 2016) and as a practice of care (Berti Suman 2022a).…”

Assessing Environmental Literacy and Exploring Citizen Science Capability Among Grade Six Learners in the Philippines

“…This is about the participation of the community in scientific research and knowledge production for global benefit (12) . Because of current environmental issues and problems, people are not vigilant, safeguarding, and monitoring the environment (13) . Citizen Science is a method to increase the participation of the community in public health research.…”