Getting to Know Other Ways of Knowing: Boundary Experiences in Citizen Science

Oswald, Emily C.

doi:10.5334/cstp.310

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The large percentage of transcriptions (90%) assigned to a user group shows the dedication of known citizen scientists to the project (Table 1 and Table S2). Recruiting local citizen scientists through three training workshops in Northwest Arkansas added local knowledge, enhancing the transcription effort through awareness of changes in place names, knowledge of confusing names, or accepted spelling variations, such as the spelling of Lake Wedington near the town of Weddington (e.g., see Subject 38876584), which can otherwise require extensive time and research to learn [33]. This effort made available 8,855 specimen records from 13 herbaria, 67% of all Symbiota records from Benton and Washington Counties [44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several localities georeferenced through this project emphasized the benefits of citizen scientists' local knowledge and proximity to the area being georeferenced [33]. A major landscape change in Northwest Arkansas occurred when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed Beaver Dam across the White River in 1960-1966, creating a 12,800 ha reservoir called Beaver Lake [49].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Citizen scientists acquire scientific knowledge, such as taxon identification by documenting observations on iNaturalist [10] while contributing to biodiversity research. Local citizen scientists also benefit from giving back to their community [32], and local knowledge improves the quality of transcription and georeferencing in digitizing historic biodiversity records [33,34]. Citizen science is a viable tool to increase biodiversity data availability [11,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Citizen Science Contributions to Address Biodiversity Loss and Conservation Planning in a Rapidly Developing Region

2021

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Biodiversity data support conservation research and inform conservation decisions addressing the wicked problem of biodiversity loss. However, these data often need processing and compilation before use, which exceed the time availability of professional scientists. Nevertheless, scientists can recruit, train, and support a network of citizen scientists to prepare these data using online platforms. Here, we describe three citizen science projects sponsored by the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission to transcribe and georeference historic herbarium specimens and document current biodiversity through iNaturalist for two highly biodiverse and rapidly developing counties in Northwest Arkansas, USA. Citizen science-generated data will be used in a county natural heritage inventory (CNHI) report, including a comprehensive list of taxa tied to voucher specimens and records for rare plant populations. Since the CNHI project started in 2018, citizen scientists have transcribed 8,855 and georeferenced 2,636 specimen records. From iNaturalist observations, 125 rare plant populations of 39 taxa have been documented. This CNHI report will determine the most critical taxa, habitats, and sites for conservation action in the region and will inform conservation stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels as they engage in land acquisition, ecological restoration, natural resource management, planning of growth and development, and environmental review/regulation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Citizen Science Contributions to Address Biodiversity Loss and Conservation Planning in a Rapidly Developing Region

2021

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“…Emily Oswald explored boundary making in a cooperation between members of a local botanical society and the Natural History Museum at Oslo University, investigating how participants in citizen science projects experience boundaries, and how these boundary experiences are addressed. She showed that such an analysis contributes to “a more nuanced understanding of the challenges for collaboration in citizen science” (Oswald 2020:2).…”

Section: Theories Of the Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Boundary Making in Translation Zones

Walther

2022

Adv. archaeol. pract.

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The article discusses practices of cooperation between metal detectorists and professional archaeologists in Germany by exploring the approach of the regional office for historic preservation (Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe) in Speyer (Rheinland-Pfalz, southwest Germany). Its model is based on open access to a permit for detecting in a certain area, combined with regular meetings in order to establish knowledge circulation between volunteer and professional spheres. Relying on ethnographic fieldwork and questionnaires, the research shows that the approach creates a symmetric coproduction of knowledge, recognizing the metal detectorists as volunteer researchers producing genuine knowledge. Several theoretical aspects of knowledge circulation are analyzed with regard to their relevance for practices of knowledge production. The enactment of the boundary between public and professionals is the result of boundary work actively performed. As a consequence, this boundary should rather be seen as a fluid, hybrid zone, conceptualized as a translation zone. The concept of boundary objects points to the importance of specific elements for enabling circulation of knowledge between different spheres. Various communities of practice and their shared practices, conventions, perceptions, et cetera, influence the relationship and knowledge circulation, and these should be taken into account in coproduction processes.

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“…Other challenges, such as data verification and reliability (Haklay 2013;Kosmala et al 2016;Parrish et al 2018) and boundary issues between different involved groups (Shirk et al 2012;Oswald 2020), have found multiple solutions in the broader realm of citizen science. In many cases, these solutions were known to citizen science practitioners prior to the mainstream emergence of online distributed humanitarian mapping (e.g., participant training, label aggregation and validation, and uniform data coverage; Lintott et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster, Infrastructure and Participatory Knowledge: The Planetary Response Network

Simmons

Lintott

Reece

et al. 2022

CSTP

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There are many challenges involved in online participatory humanitarian response. We evaluate the Planetary Response Network (PRN), a collaboration between researchers, humanitarian organizations, and the online citizen science platform Zooniverse. The PRN uses satellite and aerial image analysis to provide stakeholders with high-level situational awareness during and after humanitarian crises. During past deployments, thousands of online volunteers have compared pre-and post-event satellite images to identify damage to infrastructure and buildings, access blockages, and signs of people in distress. In addition to collectively producing aggregated "heat maps" of features that are shared with responders and decision makers, individual volunteers may also flag novel features directly using integrated community discussion software. The online infrastructure facilitates worldwide participation even for geographically focused disasters; this widespread public participation means that high-value information can be delivered rapidly and uniformly even for large-scale crises. We discuss lessons learned from deployments, place the PRN's distributed online approach in the context of more localized efforts, and identify future needs for the PRN and similar online crisis-mapping projects. The successes of the PRN demonstrate that effective online crisis mapping is possible on a generalized citizen science platform such as the Zooniverse.

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Getting to Know Other Ways of Knowing: Boundary Experiences in Citizen Science

Cited by 7 publications

References 39 publications

Citizen Science Contributions to Address Biodiversity Loss and Conservation Planning in a Rapidly Developing Region

Citizen Science Contributions to Address Biodiversity Loss and Conservation Planning in a Rapidly Developing Region

Boundary Making in Translation Zones

Disaster, Infrastructure and Participatory Knowledge: The Planetary Response Network

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