Cristina Capineri, DISPOC – Università di Siena

Story of Citizen Science Then why should I care? It is a way to support fundamental rights for people to access methods of knowledge production. Hey, what is Citizen Science? Eh, a way to get volunteers to collect data.

How do we know the population genetic structure of sea turtles? How do we know that 90% of garbage on the beach is plastics?  Knowledge from scientists  Knowledge from citizen science  Indigenous knowledge

Citizen Science & Science

Citizen Science as Gentlemen/ Gentlewom en science Mary Anning ( )

Map of whales, 1851 Mentioned in «Moby Dick»

William Whewell, tides and volunteers William Whewell, Trinity College, Cambridge 1833: coined the term “scientist” 1835: tides observation Thousands of “subordinate labourers” assisting the scientist in his tasks Source: Caren Cooper, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Citizen Science & Science Citizen Science as Gentlemen/ Gentlewom en science Citizen Science diminishing

The era of Big Science Involvement continued: archaeology, astronomy, ornithology, conservation, meteorology … No recognition, views of volunteers as ‘untrustworthy’ contributors Expectation that automated sensors will eventually replace them

Citizen Science & Science Citizen Science as Gentlemen/ Gentlewom en science Citizen Science diminishing Citizen Science as part of open & inclusive science

A bit of history Audubon Society, «Christmas Bird Count» Birds census Conservation vs hunting

WHY NOW? Technological trends: Internet access (broadband) Mobile devices Collaborative Web DIY electronics

Why Now? Societal trends: – Education and qualifications – Leisure – Sharing economies / peer production systems

In 2013 In 2014 Citizen science and institutions

Oxford English Dictionary, 2014 citizen science: «scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions»

Citizen Scientist (OECD 2014) citizen scientist n. (a)a scientist whose work is characterized by a sense of responsibility to serve the best interests of the wider community (now rare); (b)a member of the general public who engages in scientific work, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions; an amateur scientist.

Here! Creativity - curiosity – motivation - fun Pro-active communities Discoveries

Story of Citizen Science MANY PEOPLE WONDER WHERE KNOWLEDGE COMES FROM. IN THE STATUS QUO, SCIENTISTS MAKE KNOWLEDGE INSIDE THIS BLACK BOX Caren

Story of Citizen Science SCIENCE COMMUNICATORS… TRANSLATE & DELIVER NEW KNOWLEDGE INTO THE EVERYDAY LANGUAGE OF STICK PEOPLE (HUMANS) HERE’S NEW RESEARCH ON AVIAN OLFACTORY RECEPTOR GENE REPERTOIRES Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda BIRDS CAN SMELL… Caren

Participation matters Passive Sensing (smartphone) Participatory sensing (progetto collettivo) Community science Volunteered computing(es. computer sharing) Volunteered thinking (citizen + scientists) Environmental monitoring – (es. inquinamento, Everyaware)Everyaware

Fields of application (Fonte: Theobald et al., 2015)

The added value of Citizen Science  A lot of data in short time  Expert volunteers can produce accurate and relavant data  Very useful to measure diversity or trends or assessment of given threshold values  Low cost technology (DIY science)

DIY electronics

A new era of citizen science Haklay, M., 2013, Citizen Science and Volunteered Geographic Information – overview and typology of participation in Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge

A new era of citizen science Haklay, M., 2013, Citizen Science and Volunteered Geographic Information – overview and typology of participation in Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge

Biodiversity/Ecology Participating in Big Garden Bridwatch (source: RSPB) Participating in BioBlitz (source: OPAL)

Biodiversity/Ecology: iSpot

Environment Agency (EEA) Global Citizens’ Observatory for Environmental Change: «Often the best information comes from those who are closest to it» Eye on Earth Summit (2011,2013)

© WMO–No. 919 © Audubon Cal. Jennifer Jewett / USFWS CoCoRaHS Volunteers in the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) © WMO–No. 919 Volunteer rainfall observer Rick Grocke checks the rain gauge at Tanami Downs cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia Meteorology

Citizen Science: since Government Experts Citizens

Citizen Science in the 3 rd Era Benefiting from societal transition (levels of education, longevity of healthy life, increase in leisure time) and technological changes (smartphones, web, standards) Citizen Science increasingly accepted by scientists & decision makers Integrated in legislations and operational programmes (EEA, SEPA, US EPA …)

Citizen science in schools New alliances between hard sciences and humanities (cultural heritage, identities, memories.etc.) New investigation tools New teachers’ skills

CS creates communities.. Public Lab Mapping for change Indigenous knowledge

" Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act." ~ Einstein