The Citizen Observatory: Enabling Next Generation Citizen Science

Abstract

Background: Citizen science offers an attractive paradigm for addressing some of the complex problems facing society. However, translating the paradigm’s potential into meaningful action and sustainable impact remains a formidable challenge. Historically, the citizen science landscape was fractured into silos of activities; nonetheless, it has demonstrably delivered credible results. An innovative concept of the Citizen Observatory offers a tractable means of mitigating many of the recurring issues that historically afflicted citizen science initiatives, thus empowering a new generation of citizen scientists. Citizen Observatories may be regarded as open, standardised software platforms for community-based monitoring of any phenomenon of interest. Objectives: This paper seeks to validate a Citizen Observatory in a traditional citizen science context, that of butterfly recording. Methods/Approach: A case study was undertaken in a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve. Results: A community of citizen scientists successfully recorded various observations concerning butterflies, their feeding behaviours, and their habitat. The resultant dataset was made available to the local government environmental agency. Conclusions: The Citizen Observatory model offers a realistic basis for enabling more sustainable participatory science activities. Such developments have implications for non-government organisations, businesses, and local governments.