Each month, this forum offers a new discussion topic, posed by a colleague in the field of public participation in scientific research. Your responses help advance the field, improve the citizenscience.org resources, and (we hope) help all of our projects grow. (Read more…)
Data management: Resources and strategies. Hosted by members of the DataONE Citizen Science Working Group.
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Throughout March, we pilot-tested the usefulness of a discussion forum as part of citizenscience.org, through an initiative exploring PPSR and conservation. The huge response indicates that this is a needed, and used, resource for sharing ideas.
We are pausing to reflect and regroup, improve functionality, and line up new questions for future discussion. Interested in joining in? Start here!
Stay tuned…
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How can public participation in scientific research initiatives be connected – across scales, taxa, or traditions – for greater conservation impact?
With the explosion of PPSR initiatives and support mechanisms, there are new opportunities to partner and achieve conservation outcomes that go beyond what a single initiative or approach might achieve alone. We also know that PPSR projects operate at different geographic scales, and that different conservation outcomes can be affected through large- vs. small-scale initiatives. In what ways might projects partner across taxa or habitats, enhance design to work at multiple scales, or otherwise creatively collaborate to maximize conservation potentials? Continue reading
Posted in aside, Uncategorized
What types of learning facilitate deep engagement with conservation through PPSR?
Many of the conservation outcomes discussed over the past few weeks have involved learning and action on the part of public participants. Some provocative questions have also been raised about the first step in that process, the connections between participation and different learning outcomes, such as knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and so on.
What types of learning facilitate conservation outcomes? What might be different if we think about learning for literacy, vs. learning for capacity building, for example? What are the implications that must be considered if we approach PPSR as a means for influencing, or enabling, conservation values and behaviors, or empowering participants? And who do we hope are the learners, and empowered actors, in these conservation activities?
*Note: thread closed to comments March 2011; reopened August 2011
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