Knowledge Translation and Its Interrelation with Usability and Accessibility. Biocultural Diversity Translated by Means of Technology and Language—The Case of Citizen Science Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Translation plays an important role in all areas of human activity. Despite its primary role of overcoming language barriers, it is used as an analogy for activities that require transfer, mediation, or negotiation of meaning. Knowledge translation is a concept that links knowledge to action, which is also at the heart of citizen science. Several studies have highlighted the ways in which citizen science can contribute to the definition, monitoring and implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although these studies emphasized the importance of data contributions for SDG reporting and monitoring purposes, this paper applies the concept of knowledge translation to citizen science for achieving the SDGs based on the conceptual framework provided by translation studies. Knowledge translation, citizen science, and the SDGs have their focus on actions and negotiations in common. Citizen science can, thus, be regarded as a mediator between science and the SDGs or a mediator between the public and policymakers. Exemplified by biocultural diversity, this paper analyzes the application of knowledge translation to the SDGs in and through citizen science. Citizen science guided by the SDGs requires different forms of knowledge ((and) translation) that are usable, accessible, and meaningful.

The Role of Translation in Citizen Science to Foster Social Innovation

“…Especially technological progress and shifts toward the democratization of science can instigate (radical) change, also with regard to democratic knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. Therefore, citizen science plays a crucial role in knowledge translation (Heinisch, 2021). Participants in citizen science projects contribute actively to scholarly research and also dissemination, whereas translation is an important means of knowledge transfer.…”

Consensus Building in On-Line Citizen Science

“…This is an important finding that (1) can support greater integration of citizen science in formal and informal science education contexts; and (2) can enable members of the public not only to contribute but also to potentially influence scientific research agendas with novel targets and questions that will emerge from shared experiences in their local contexts. This is a notable contribution particularly in the novel area of citizen science and policy-making in International development contexts which demand greater sensitivity to historical, linguisitic and contextual dimensions of specific environmental problems [33].…”

Understanding the role of cities and citizen science in advancing sustainable development goals across Europe: insights from European research framework projects

“…At the same time, there is evidence that cities also need to engage with the public, as the implementation of these plans and strategies depends on collaboration with citizens. Here, CS can play a role, e.g., in contributing to the definition of new targets and metrics (West and Pateman, 2017), as an accepted methodology and source of generating data and information (Roy et al, 2012;Fritz et al, 2019;Ferrari et al, 2021), in monitoring SDGs indicators (Fraisl et al, 2020), in supporting SDGs targets (Ajates et al, 2020), and raising awareness of SDGs (Heinisch, 2021;Moczek et al, 2021). Our study demonstrates that most CS research activities focus on environmental pollution and resources (e.g., air, soil, water, noise, waste, biodiversity, land cover and land use change) by engaging citizens into diverse types of activities, from contributory (crowd-sourcing and passive sensing) to collaborative (active sensing) and co-creation (that sometimes include co-designing DIY monitoring tools) or combining these three levels of citizen engagement together.…”