Criteria for citizen science – A source of community empowerment or a barrier?

Gitte Kragh, Daniel Dörler, Darlene Cavalier, Annelies Duerinckx, Liesbeth Gijsel, Patricia Tiago, Jacqueline Goldin, Cristina Luís, Andrea Sforzi, Florian Heigl

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference abstract for conferenceResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Citizen science comes in many shapes and forms, and we use a variety of
different terms to describe what we do. This sometimes causes confusion,
both among researchers, but also when we interact with other citizen science
stakeholders, e.g., funders, evaluators or collaboration partners. This confusion
needs to change to a shared understanding, and there are opportunities to
more clearly delineate what citizen science is, e.g., through use of vignettes
or criteria. The ECSA Working Group on citizen science Networks has, over
the last 3 years, co-created transparent, impartial criteria with citizen science
researchers, practitioners and citizen scientists that can help decide if a project
should be listed as citizen science on online platforms. If implemented, criteria
could facilitate a system change in how citizen science networks collaborate,
enabling citizen science project listings across platforms. The criteria could
also be useful for funding bodies, researchers and other citizen science
stakeholders.
The goal of this workshop is to familiarise participants with the criteria and
discuss how and where citizen science criteria might be useful in their work,
where criteria might be barriers and how to overcome such challenges.
In this workshop, we invite researchers, practitioners and other citizen science
stakeholders to share their experiences with and reflections on criteria for
citizen science and discuss how criteria can be most beneficial for all involved,
especially when applied to create shared understandings between researchers
and other stakeholders in citizen science projects.

After a brief introduction to the developed criteria, participants are invited to join discussions in several ways:
• First through a fishbowl approach, where they share their own experiences,
case studies, and reflections on where and how criteria can most usefully be
applied (20 min.)
• Secondly, through a mind mapping exercise of important topics, raised in the
fishbowl or through new reflections (15 min.)
• And finally, through World Café discussions based on chosen most important
topics from the mindmapping (35 min.)
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2024
Publication statusPublished - 2024
EventEuropean Citizen Science Association 2024 Conference: Change - Vienna, Austria
Duration: 3 Apr 20246 Apr 2024
https://2024.ecsa.ngo/

Conference

ConferenceEuropean Citizen Science Association 2024 Conference: Change
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVienna
Period03/04/202406/04/2024
Internet address

Keywords

  • Citizen science
  • Criteria

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  • Criteria for Citizen Science – A source of community empowerment or a barrier?

    Kragh, G., Gijsel, L., Luís, C., Sforzi, A., Duerinckx, A., Heigl, F., Tiago, P., Goldin, J., Cavalier, D. & Dörler, D., 2024, (Accepted/In press) Change – The transformative power of citizen science. Sofia: Pensoft Publishers, (ARPHA Proceedings; No. 6).

    Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

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