Citizen science

The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or amateur/nonprofessional researchers or participants of science, social science and many other disciplines. There are variations in the exact definition of citizen science, with different individuals and organizations having their own specific interpretations of what citizen science encompasses. Citizen science is used in a wide range of areas of study including ecology, biology and conservation, health and medical research, astronomy, media and communications and information science.

There are different applications and functions of "citizen science" in research projects. Citizen science can be used as a methodology where public volunteers help in collecting and classifying data, improving the scientific community's capacity. Citizen science can also involve more direct involvement from the public, with communities initiating projects researching environment and health hazards in their own communities. Participation in citizen science projects also educates the public about the scientific process and increases awareness about different topics. Some schools have students participate in citizen science projects for this purpose as a part of the teaching curriculums.

The first use of the term "citizen science" can be found in a January 1989 issue of MIT Technology Review, which featured three community-based labs studying environmental issues. In the 21st century, the number of citizen science projects, publications, and funding opportunities has increased. Citizen science has been used more over time, a trend helped by technological advancements. Digital citizen science platforms, such as Zooniverse and iNaturalist, store large amounts of data for many projects and are a place where volunteers can learn how to contribute to projects. For some projects, participants are instructed to collect and enter data, such as what species they observed, into large digital global databases. For other projects, participants help classify data on digital platforms. Citizen science data is also being used to develop machine learning algorithms. An example is using volunteer-classified images to train machine learning algorithms to identify species. While global participation and global databases are found on online platforms, not all locations always have the same amount of data from contributors. Concerns over potential data quality issues, such as measurement errors and biases, in citizen science projects are recognized in the scientific community and there are statistical solutions and best practices available which can help.

The term "citizen science" has multiple origins, as well as differing concepts. "Citizen" is used in the general sense, as meaning in "citizen of the world", or the general public, rather than the legal term citizen of sovereign countries. It was first defined independently in the mid-1990s by Rick Bonney in the United States and Alan Irwin in the United Kingdom. Alan Irwin, a British sociologist, defines citizen science as "developing concepts of scientific citizenship which foregrounds the necessity of opening up science and science policy processes to the public". Irwin sought to reclaim two dimensions of the relationship between citizens and science: 1) that science should be responsive to citizens' concerns and needs; and 2) that citizens themselves could produce reliable scientific knowledge. The American ornithologist Rick Bonney, unaware of Irwin's work, defined citizen science as projects in which nonscientists, such as amateur birdwatchers, voluntarily contributed scientific data. This describes a more limited role for citizens in scientific research than Irwin's conception of the term.

The terms citizen science and citizen scientists entered the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in June 2014. "Citizen science" is defined as "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" is defined as: (a) "a scientist whose work is characterized by a sense of responsibility to serve the best interests of the wider community (now rare)"; or (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". The first use of the term "citizen scientist" can be found in the magazine New Scientist in an article about ufology from October 1979.

Muki Haklay cites, from a policy report for the Wilson Center entitled "Citizen Science and Policy: A European Perspective", an alternate first use of the term "citizen science" by R. Kerson in the magazine MIT Technology Review from January 1989. Quoting from the Wilson Center report: "The new form of engagement in science received the name 'citizen science'. The first recorded example of the use of the term is from 1989, describing how 225 volunteers across the US collected rain samples to assist the Audubon Society in an acid-rain awareness raising campaign."

A Green Paper on Citizen Science was published in 2013 by the European Commission's Digital Science Unit and Socientize.eu, which included a definition for citizen science, referring to "the general public engagement in scientific research activities when citizens actively contribute to science either with their intellectual effort or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources. Participants provide experimental data and facilities for researchers, raise new questions and co-create a new scientific culture."

Citizen science may be performed by individuals, teams, or networks of volunteers. Citizen scientists often partner with professional scientists to achieve common goals. Large volunteer networks often allow scientists to accomplish tasks that would be too expensive or time-consuming to accomplish through other means.