citizen science

Information about citizen science

Citizen science is a term used for a project or ongoing program of scientific work in which a network of volunteers, many of whom may have no specific scientific training, perform or manage research-related tasks such as observation, measurement or computation.

The use of such networks often allows scientists to accomplish research objectives more feasibly than would otherwise be possible. In addition, these projects aim to promote public engagement with the research, as well as with science in general. Some programs provide materials specifically for use by primary or secondary school students. As such, citizen science is one approach to informal science education.

The longest-running currently active citizen science project is probably the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, which started in 1900. Other well-known examples of citizen science programs include World Water Monitoring Day, NASA's Stardust@home and Clickworkers, and a variety of projects run by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Distributed computing ventures such as SETI@home may also be considered citizen science, even though the primary task of computation is performed by volunteers' computers.

Bruce Lewenstein of Cornell University's Communication and S&TS departments points out two additional usages of the terms "citizen science" and "citizen scientist:"

(2) the engagement of nonscientists in true decision-making about policy issues that have technical or scientific components; and (3) the engagement of research scientists in the democratic and policy process.[1]


Among the scientists and science studies scholars who have referred to these other ideas are Frank Von Hippel, Steve Schneider, Neal Lane, Jon Beckwith, and Alan Irwin.[2]

Notes

1. ^ Lewenstein, Bruce V.: "What does citizen science accomplish?" Paper read at CNRS colloquium, 8 June 2004, in Paris, France.
2. ^ Frank Von Hippel, Citizen Scientist: Collected Essays (Springer, 1991) Jon Beckwith, Making Genes, Making Waves: A Social Activist in Science (Harvard, 2002) Irwin, A. (1995). Citizen science : a study of people, expertise, and sustainable development. London ; New York: Routledge. Neal Lane, "Remarks" at Panel Discussion on Future of Federal Funding for Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, April 8, 1996 <http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/lane/slrtgrs.htm> Steve Schneider, remarks at AAAS meeting, February 1997; see <http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/97/970210schneider.html>

Citizen science projects

External links

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The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservancy. Incorporated in 1905, it is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world.
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The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the early Northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birders. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology, though many people
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Motto: For the Benefit of All[1]

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Agency overview
Formed 29 July 1958

Headquarters Washington D.C.

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Stardust@home is a project that encourages volunteers to search images for tiny interstellar dust impacts. The project began providing data for analysis on August 1, 2006.
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