Send message to Authors

Short abstract:

Citizen science is frequently being facilitated through online platforms that operate in a tension between calls for democratising science and academic impact. Using a lens of commons-based peer-production, this contribution explores how different citizen science platforms address these challenges.

Long abstract:

“Citizen science” describes a broad set of methodologies centered around involving citizens as volunteers in the process of scientific knowledge production – including in data collection, analyses or research co-leadership. As a transdisciplinary approach, citizen science is frequently viewed as one of the dimensions of "open science", i.e. by opening up science to societal contributors. Thus, citizen science is commonly presented as democratising research.

As for open science broadly, many forms of citizen science rely on digital infrastructures and online platforms to facilitate their efforts. With this come similar questions as for other open science platforms: How are they being developed, funded and governed, and to whose benefit are they being run? In case of citizen science platforms, these questions are particularly relevant, given the inherent tensions between the larger ambition of democratising science while also wishing to produce "impactful" science within the larger academic framework in which the mostly academic-led citizen science platforms typically exist.

Taking the lens of commons-based peer-production, this contribution examines how different citizen science platforms are trying to address these challenges and which trade-offs are being made. This includes both the design decisions made on a practical level, in terms of how participation and different ways of contributing are being enabled generally, but also how the high-level platform design contributes to different types of governance and power sharing and how impact metrics contribute to such operationalisations. Overall, this will explore how citizen science platforms can or can not contribute to a deeper, democratic citizen science.