Gender Imbalance and Spatiotemporal Patterns of Contributions to Citizen Science Projects: The Case of Zooniverse

Ibrahim, Khairunnisa; Khodursky, Samuel; Yasseri, Taha

doi:10.3389/fphy.2021.650720

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This does not agree with our temporal trend hypothesis that the gender gap would converge over time, and the gender gap in estimated yearly mean species list length reported per field day actually increased over time for several species groups. The gender imbalance in Artportalen (about 32% female in 2020) mirrors other collaborative online citizen science projects, such as Zooniverse (about 30% female contributors across 17 different projects; Ibrahim et al 2021 ), as well as gender distribution in more formal scientific activities. For example, despite policy changes and targeted outreach in the natural sciences, issues of underrepresentation persist for women and minorities in many fields (Huang et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Inequality persists in a large citizen science programme despite increased participation through ICT innovations

Jönsson,

Kasperowski,

Coulson

et al. 2023

Ambio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological recording is a prominent and widely practised form of citizen science, but few studies explore long-term demographic trends in participation and knowledge production. We studied long-term demographic trends of age and gender of participants reporting to a large online citizen science multi-taxon biodiversity platform (www.artportalen.se). Adoption by user communities and continually developing Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) greatly increased the number of participants reporting data, but profound long-term imbalances in gender contribution across species groups persisted over time. Reporters identifying as male dominated in numbers, spent more days in the field reporting and reported more species on each field day. Moreover, an age imbalance towards older participants amplified over time. As the first long-term study of citizen participation by age and gender, our results show that it is important for citizen science project developers to account for cultural and social developments that might exclude participants, and to engage with underrepresented and younger participants. This could facilitate the breadth of engagement and learning across a larger societal landscape, ensure project longevity and biodiversity data representation (e.g. mitigate gender bias influence on the number of reports of different species groups).

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Inequality persists in a large citizen science programme despite increased participation through ICT innovations

Jönsson,

Kasperowski,

Coulson

et al. 2023

Ambio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The pool of 5335 interested citizens was biased towards well‐educated and male parts of the population, which is in line with previous studies (Curtis, 2018b; Hart et al, 2022). A possible explanation for the education bias could be that to be interested in CS projects, at least a certain level of access to technologies, skills and education is needed, which is often related to a certain level of and wealth and financial stability (Ibrahim et al, 2021). When it comes to gender imbalances, the scientific discipline of a project could play an important role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen science boosts fundamental and applied research for sustainable soybean cultivation in North‐Western Europe

Vlaminck,

Vanden Berghen,

Mertens

et al. 2023

Plants People Planet

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Societal Impact StatementTo help save our planet, we need to shift to plant‐based protein food and enhance sustainable agricultural practices. Cultivation of legumes, including soybean, will be key because they produce protein‐rich beans without high applied fertilizer input. This complex challenge involves many stakeholders beyond the agricultural sector. In the ‘Soy in 1000 Gardens’ project, we engaged more than thousand citizens in a 6‐month gardening project aiming at facilitating sustainable soybean cultivation in Belgium. Our work shows that with the right approach, citizen science can provide insights to develop more sustainable agri‐food systems when integrated with fundamental and applied science.Summary The global food system faces numerous challenges in its pursuit of sustainability. Shifting to more plant‐based protein sources as well as transitioning to self‐reliant agri‐food systems is one way to meet these challenges. This transition requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders beyond the agricultural sector such as the citizens themselves. In this study, we employed a citizen science approach through the ‘Soy in 1000 Gardens’ project, which engaged more than 1000 citizen scientists in a 6‐month gardening project during which citizens not only observed plant growth but also executed plant growth measurements that meet scientific standards. We aimed at increasing the awareness about the power of soybean and its symbionts for sustainable plant protein production and at isolating efficient nitrogen‐fixing rhizobia to be used by local farmers to produce protein‐rich soybeans. The results suggest that the success of citizen science projects depends on the level of engagement and the provision of adequate support, among other factors. This study thus highlights the potential of citizen science to address complex challenges and contribute to more sustainable agri‐food systems when properly integrated. Unique in its scope, the project provided important insights into the drivers of participation, attrition and data quality.

show abstract

“…Our personal, social, and professional lives are now embedded in human-machine networks [57]. Our co-existence with semi-intelligent machines in these multilayer networks [29] naturally leads to unpredictable outcomes [58] some of which could be catastrophic such as pandemics or irreversible changes in the climate, while some could be beneficial such as Internet-based collective intelligence and crowd-sourcing initiatives [59] and citizen science projects [60]. It is important for the complexity science community to identify, study, and understand the features of these interconnected socio-technical environments.…”

Section: • Biggest Challenges In the Next Twenty Yearsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex systems in the spotlight: next steps after the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics

Bianconi

Arenas

Biamonte³

et al. 2023

J. Phys. Complex.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized the fundamental role of complex systems in the natural sciences. In order to celebrate this milestone, this editorial presents the point of view of the editorial board of JPhys Complexity on the achievements, challenges, and future prospects of the field. To distinguish the voice and the opinion of each editor, this editorial consists of a series of editor perspectives and reflections on few selected themes. A comprehensive and multi-faceted view of the field of complexity science emerges. We hope and trust that this open discussion will be of inspiration for future research on complex systems.

show abstract

Gender Imbalance and Spatiotemporal Patterns of Contributions to Citizen Science Projects: The Case of Zooniverse

Cited by 17 publications

References 42 publications

Inequality persists in a large citizen science programme despite increased participation through ICT innovations

Inequality persists in a large citizen science programme despite increased participation through ICT innovations

Citizen science boosts fundamental and applied research for sustainable soybean cultivation in North‐Western Europe

Complex systems in the spotlight: next steps after the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About