Citizen Science Phenotypes Typologies & Implications of Project Design Andrea Wiggins Postdoctoral Fellow DataONE & Cornell Lab of Ornithology 28 September, 2012 iDigBio Workshop on Public Participation in Digitization US NSF Grant #OCI #OCI

2 What is citizen science? Members of the public engaging in real-world scientific research Crowdsourcing Collaboration Community

3 By any other name...

2 What ’ s in a name? LabelResearch DomainKey Features Civic scienceScience communicationPublic participation in decisions about science People ’ s sciencePolitical scienceSocial movements for people-centered science Citizen scienceEcologyPublic participation in scientific research Volunteer/community- based monitoring Natural resource management Long-term monitoring and intervention Participatory action research Behavioral scienceResearcher & community participation & action Action scienceBehavioral scienceParticipatory, emphasizes tacit theories-in-use Community sciencePsychologyParticipatory community-centered social science Living LabsManagementPublic-private partnership for innovation

4 A few typologies Consultative, functional & collaborative Lawrence, 2006 Contributory, collaborative, & co-created CAISE report, 2009 Action, conservation, investigation, virtual, & education Wiggins & Crowston, 2011 Typologies based on goals & tasks Wiggins & Crowston, 2012

6 Participation in scientific tasks

6 Types of participation tasks Data collection Most common Observations & measurements Data processing On the rise Entirely virtual Image recognition & puzzle solving Data transcription On the rise Mostly virtual

6 Framing participation tasks Sharing my data/experiences Fits into daily life People like to share their passions Working on their/our tasks New, often unfamiliar tasks Can reinforce us/them divisions Playing games & solving puzzles Fits into daily life Explicit symbolic rewards, entertaining

8 Other important factors

9 (Relative) pros & cons ContributoryCollaborativeCo-Created ScalabilityHighVariesLow Technology dependency HighVariesLow Volunteer management LowVariesHigh Task complexityLowVariesHigh Data qualityVaries SustainabilityVaries

10 Implications for design

11 Implications for design Honestly evaluate project resources & goals, work backwards

12 Implications for design Honestly evaluate project resources & goals, work backwards Recognize tradeoffs and make choices accordingly

13 Implications for design Honestly evaluate project resources & goals, work backwards Recognize tradeoffs and make choices accordingly Design to address resource constraints

14 Implications for design Honestly evaluate project resources & goals, work backwards Recognize tradeoffs and make choices accordingly Design to address resource constraints There ’ s more than one right answer

15 dataone.org citizenscience.org andreawiggins.com

16 Typologies Lawrence, A. (2006). “ No Personal Motive? ” Volunteers, Biodiversity, and the False Dichotomies of Participation. Ethics, Place & Environment, 9(3), Bonney, R., Ballard, H., Jordan, R., McCallie, E., Phillips, T., Shirk, J., et al. (2009). Public Participation in Scientific Research: Defining the Field and Assessing Its Potential for Informal Science Education. A CAISE Inquiry Group Report (Tech. Rep.). Danielsen, F., Burgess, N., Balmford, A., Donald, P., Funder, M., Jones, J., et al. (2009). Local participation in natural resource monitoring: a characterization of approaches. Conservation Biology, 23(1), 31–42. Cooper, C. B., Dickinson, J., Phillips, T., & Bonney, R. (2007). Citizen Science as a Tool for Conservation in Residential Ecosystems. Ecology and Society, 12(2). Wilderman, C. C. (2007). Models of community science: design lessons from the field. Proceedings of Citizen Science Toolkit Conference. Wiggins, A. & Crowston, K. (2011). From Conservation to Crowdsourcing: A Typology of Citizen Science. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Wiggins, A. & Crowston, K. (2012). Goals and Tasks: Two Typologies of Citizen Science Projects. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences.