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Short Abstract

Citizen science platforms govern knowledge production through embedded design choices, yet lack tools to examine these power dynamics. This paper presents SEXTANT, a model integrating knowledge commons, infrastructure studies, and data ethics to analyze platform governance.

Abstract

Digital infrastructures in citizen science are commonly treated as neutral conduits, yet design choices about licenses, APIs, privacy settings, and data flows actively structure who controls knowledge, who accesses it, and under what conditions. These embedded decisions shape power distribution among contributors, researchers, and platform operators, often invisibly. Current scholarship critiques platform politics but lacks systematic tools for analyzing and comparing governance across different systems.

This paper introduces the SEXTANT Governance Model, synthesizing knowledge commons theory, infrastructure studies, knowledge management, and reflexive data governance instruments. The model maps three action arenas where governance is contested: Ownership (rights and obligations over data and tools), Sharing (technical and policy conditions governing data circulation), and Accountability (mechanisms ensuring transparency, consent, and reciprocity). Within these arenas, platforms occupy three fluid positions: Enabler (expanding opportunities through open configurations), Mediator (balancing competing interests through conditional access), and Gatekeeper (concentrating control through restrictive defaults).

Grounded in three years of action research within the EU-funded Cos4Cloud project, including participant observation across nine citizen observatories, content analysis of platform policies, and longitudinal case studies, SEXTANT translates abstract governance critiques into actionable analysis. The model provides researchers, platform developers, and funders with vocabulary and diagnostic tools to map power distribution, identify imbalances, and negotiate fairer governance arrangements. SEXTANT provides a flexible analytical approach to understand how citizen science platforms shape and structure knowledge governance.