Author Archives: citizenscience.org

Discussion hosts:

Anne Toomey

Lancaster Environmental Centre

Daniela Soleri

UC Davis Agricultural Experiment Station

UC Santa Barbara Geography Department

The growing field of ‘Public Participation in Scientific Research’ is increasingly recognized to have benefits for environmental education and scientific and community-based research. This month’s discussion is most concerned with this last component, particularly with a focus on how PPSR can help foster collaboration between scientific and local knowledge. Healthy partnerships between local communities and scientists are essential in PPSR, making that research more accurate, complete and capable of positive contributions to local communities.

To start the discussion, we’d like to ask:

1. What methods have been, or look promising for supporting collaboration between local and scientific knowledge in PPSR? What methods or processes have not worked and why?

2. What assessment tools exist, or could be developed, to investigate the success or failure of these methods?

3. What model or models of knowledge do we each implicitly (or explicitly) adhere to, what are the accompanying assumptions, and what do those mean for collaboration between local and scientific knowledge?

**NEW QUESTION as of 12 DEC 2011:

4. What kind of ‘cultural competence’ is needed to facilitate collaboration between different kinds of knowledge, and how can we continue to learn and grow and gain such competence?

Know of good books/papers on this topic? Join our Zotero group to add some and/or find others: http://www.zotero.org/groups/local_knowledge_in_ppsr

Discussion hosts:

Kate Crawford Association of Science-Technology Centers, Project Manager, Communicating Climate Change	Lila Higgins Natural History Museum of LA, Manager, Citizen Science and Live Animals, Community Science Program	David Sittenfeld Museum of Science, Boston, Forums Director, Toxic Traffic

Citizen science and informal science education institutions (ISIs) seem like a match made in heaven. Science centers, natural history museums, botanical gardens, planetariums, parks, and more… ISIs share an interest, along with citizen science, in both research and education, as well as particular strengths at bringing science alive for the general public. How might citizen science and ISIs be even better, together?

There are exemplary citizen science projects, and project partnerships, at ISIs. There is also a current groundswell of interest from both ISIs and existing citizen science projects to explore new and expanded collaborations around innovative ideas such as:

• integrating citizen science into exhibits
• strengthening relationships between scientists and educators
• inspiring community conversations around locally collected data

What opportunities do you see for bringing together citizen science and ISIs? What challenges have you experienced on this front, or what successes?

What ethical issues should be considered in the design or management of a citizen science project?

This spring, a conference working group looking at the Toolkit for Project Development said the Toolkit needed an “ethics step.”

This working group was specifically interested in enhancing the Toolkit for conservation projects… a context where ethics can be tricky (for example, just who gets to decide on the conservation goals to strive for?). But projects in any context can face ethical issues such as:

• Privacy (e.g., observations linked to home addresses)
• Authorship or attributions for discovery
• Data accessibility
• Learning about participants’ experiences

In developing an “ethics step” (or steps!) for the Toolkit for Project Development, what should be included? What resources are available, and what experiences might new project leaders learn from?

Where do you go to hear or share new ideas about public participation in scientific research?

PPSR spans so many disciplines that it can be hard to find (and easy to miss) good conversations.

Presenting at an upcoming conference or workshop? Seen a call for papers or announcement about a new meeting? Have a link to past abstracts, proceedings, or presentation videos? Please share here!