Jump to content

Citizen Science

From Kula

Definition

Citizen Science is participatory research. Image: Time4CS, CC-BY 4.0

Citizen Science is an umbrella term for an approach to knowledge production (especially scientific enquiry) in which the general public plays an active role. Its core idea is that non-academic members of the public – "citizens" – conduct or even lead scientific/scholarly research that has real-world impacts.[1]. The European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), for example, defines it as "any activity that involves the public in scientific research and thus has the potential to bring together science, policy makers, and society as a whole in an impactful way."[2]

Background

Perceptions of Academia

The relationship between academia and the wider world has sometimes been contentious. Terms like Academic Bubble, Ivory Tower, and Town and Gown describe universities and other academic institutions as being secluded, exclusionary, and not interested in the "real world". Such terms imply that the knowledge the academy produces is not always practical, or that the scholarly community is not interested in working with people who are positioned 'outside the gates' of its institutions. [3]

Towards A More Open University

Academic institutions have begun to recognize these criticisms and address them by breaking down silos – those that exist within the academy as well as barriers towards the outside world. Academy-internal efforts include increasing the ways scholarly knowledge is gained and shared by acknowleding novel forms of publications like podcasts and by encouraging collaboration across disciplines [4]. The external opening process towards the wider world includes broadening academic perspectives by engaging with other knowledge systems like [5], and encouraging members of the public to actively participate in academic research – an approach known as citizen science.

History

The contemporary term citizen science can be traced back to the late 20th century [6] when it first appeared, but the history of this concept is much older than the term. Not only are there examples of research projects throughout the history of modern science that, from today's perspective, could be characterized as citizen science because they involved the general public[7]. The very concept of what we now call citizen science is much older than the scientific method of the Western university. Early humans learned to survive in an often hostile environment by methodically observing their surroundings, drawing conclusions that were relevant to their community, and passing on the knowledge they gained from the evidence they collected in a variety of ways were. From that perspective a case can be made to consider these early collectors of evidence the first (proto-)scientists, and citizen science to be the original scientific method.

Relevance & Impact

Citizen science is a scholarly concept of growing relevance. Some of the world's biggest issues like climate change demand science-based solutions. Some of these solutions are tackled in projects that would not even be scalable without broad engagement of non-academic contributors. Thus, the citizen science landscape consists of a wealth of projects across the globe which are backed by diversifying stakeholders across all sectors of society. Benefits for different stakeholder groups include:

Image from 'Citizen Science for Librarians: Self Paced Learning Course'. © Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2024

Conceptual Diversity

Various Definitions Of Citizen Science

Non-academics participating in actual scientific research projects – this idea may be the essential connector between the numerous definitions of citizen science. However, the exact interpretation of what this or alternative descriptors mean can vary greatly depending on the scientific background of a project, the community involved, the research methods used, and in some cases depending on where in the world it is located [1].

Recognizing Citizen Science's Conceptual Breadth Has Value

In 2021, researchers analyzed 34 definitions of "citizen science" used across the international stakeholder landscape. Due to the concept's diverse purposes and contexts they found it difficult to extract one exhaustive definition and concluded that it will benefit citizen science stakeholders, especially practitioners and policymakers, to be aware of the range of existing definitions and their differences when aiming to leverage the many opportunities that the overall concept provides [8].

Types & Methodologies

See: Citizen Science Types & Methdologies

Community Engagement Levels

Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation provides a useful way of describing the different levels of research engagement with communities.

Criticism

Terminology

The term Citizen Science is increasingly drawing criticism. Especially the label ‘citizen’ is being contested as exclusionary by some stakeholders, as it implies that formal citizenship is required to qualify as a contributor to participatory research projects.

While the term 'science' in the concept's legacy name refers to a broader definition of knowledge that can be proved rather than being discipline-specific, limited to 'the Sciences', or restricted to research based in academic institutions[9], it has become the subject of debate. The discussion centers on whether the terminology adequately reflects the breadth of approaches to knowledge creation and the individual character of all project scategorized under it.

Alternative terms are emerging that emphasize the inclusivity and collaborative nature that many stakeholders see as intrinsic to the concept, as well as the different types of knowledge creation that exist under the umbrella. Examples include:

  • community science
  • community-led scholarship
  • participatory science
  • community-based participatory research
  • people-powered research (established by Zooniverse)

French terms include[10]:

  • sciences citoyennes
  • sciences participatives
  • sciences collaboratives

Aim, Purpose, Impact

Cite here:

Kula & Citizen Science

For consistency and recognizability, Kula will use the term Citizen Science when referring to the concepts outlined above, as it is a widely established term and high-ranking stakeholders like UNESCO[11], The United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR), the Canadian government [12] , or the European Association of Reasearch Libraries (LIBER)[13] keep using it in policies, official documents, and on websites.

University of Victoria & Citizen Science

At the University of Victoria, CIFAL Victoria works with The United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) to connect "the region with the global community and supports international knowledge-sharing and partnerships, as well as gathering and measuring data on our impact in advancing the SDGs, with a focus on four key themes:

  • Oceans, climate and sustainability
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Decolonization and Indigenous knowledge
  • Global health and well-being"[14]

See also: University of Victoria & Citizen Science

Subtopics

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Una.Resin. (2023). Citizen Science Toolkit. Una Europa. https://www.una-europa.eu/knowledge-hub/toolkits/citizen-science-toolkit
  2. ↑ European Citizen Science Association. (n.d.). Citizen Science. European Citizen Science Platform. Retrieved May 16, 2025, from https://eu-citizen.science/
  3. ↑ Derounian, J. (2022, December 22). It’s crucial for universities to bridge the ‘town and gown’ divide. Times Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/its-crucial-universities-bridge-town-and-gown-divide
  4. ↑ Nordhaus, W. (2019). Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge for Economics. American Economic Review, 109(6), 1991–2014. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.109.6.1991
  5. ↑ Indigenous ways of knowing. (2023, September 28). Government of British Columbia; Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/research-monitoring-reporting/reporting/indigenous-ways-of-knowing
  6. ↑ Haklay, M. (2015). Citizen Science and Policy: A European Perspective (No. 4; Case Study Series, p. 67). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/citizen-science-and-policy-european-perspective
  7. ↑ Highfield, R. (2015, März 6). Three centuries of citizen science [Science]. Science Museum Blog. https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/three-centuries-of-citizen-science/
  8. ↑ Haklay, M., Dörler, D., Heigl, F., Manzoni, M., Hecker, S., & Vohland, K. (2021). What Is Citizen Science? The Challenges of Definition. In: Vohland, K. et al. The Science of Citizen Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58278-4_2
  9. ↑ Demeter, T., Láng, B., & Schmal, D. (2016). Scientia. In M. Sgarbi (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy (pp. 1–15). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_266-1
  10. ↑ Walker, D., McCord, C., Stradiotto, N., Zhou, M., & Singh, D. (2016). Citizen’s Guide to Open Data. https://citizens-guide-open-data.github.io/
  11. ↑ UNESCO. (2021). UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. https://doi.org/10.54677/MNMH8546
  12. ↑ Government of Canada (2025, March 14). Citizen Science Portal. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/citizen-science-portal
  13. ↑ Ayris, P., Bernal, I., Cavalli, V., Dorch, B., Frey, J., Hallik, M., Hormia-Poutanen, K., Labastida, I., MacColl, J., Ponsati Obiols, A., Sacchi, S., Scholze, F., Schmidt, B., Smit, A., Sofronijevic, A., Stojanovski, J., Svoboda, M., Tsakonas, G., van Otegem, M., … Horstmann, W. (2018). LIBER Open Science Roadmap. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1303002
  14. ↑ CIFAL Victoria—University of Victoria—University of Victoria. (n.d.). UVic.Ca. Retrieved April 7, 2025, from https://www.uvic.ca/about-uvic/cifal/index.php

Author: Christian Schmidt (talk) Editor: Matt Huculak (talk)

Retrieved from "https://kulawiki.library.uvic.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Citizen_Science&oldid=2047"