LibGuides: Citizen Science/Participatory Science: What is Citizen Science

Defining Citizen Science

Also sometimes referred to as crowdsourced science, the Oxford British and World English Dictionary defines citizen science as:

"The collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists."

The oldest citizen science project is the the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, which was initiated in 1900. Today, citizen scientists participate in a wide variety of projects covering an array of scientific disciplines. Smart phone apps have made it much easier for people to contribute data.

To locate a citizen science project, see the Find a Citizen Science Project page. To learn more about how to researchers use data from such projects, as well as how reliable the data are, see the Citizen Science in Research page. This page also includes resources for researchers who want to begin a citizen science project of their own.

Volunteers Make Citizen Science Work

Citizen Science Overview

CitizenSci: PLOS Blog
Projects, people, and perspectives fueling new frontiers for citizen science.
Citizenscience.gov
Citizenscience.gov is an official government website designed to accelerate the use of crowdsourcing and citizen science across the U.S. government. The site provides a portal to three key assets for federal practitioners: a searchable catalog of federally supported citizen science projects, a toolkit to assist with designing and maintaining projects, and a gateway to a federal community of practice to share best practices.
EPA's Air Sensor Toolbox for Citizen Scientists
Extreme Citizen Science blog
Extreme Citizen Science is a situated, bottom-up practice that takes into account local needs, practices and culture and works with broad networks of people to design and build new devices and knowledge creation processes that can transform the world.
Green Paper on Citizen Science
This Green Paper aims to foster the interaction between the Citizen Science stakeholders and the EU policy officers, reinforcing the culture of consultation and dialogue in the EU.
How Citizen Scientists Are Using The Web to Track the Natural World
By making the recording and sharing of environmental data easier than ever, web-based technology has fostered the rapid growth of so-called citizen scientists — volunteers who collaborate with scientists to collect and interpret data. Here is a sampling of some of these projects. From Yale Environment360.
Monitor Change
National Geographic Encyclopedia > Citizen Science
This National Geographic Encyclopedia article about citizen science includes a glossary and links to projects and videos.
Oh, Snapchat: Your smartphone just became a climate scientist
Article from Grist summarizing how smart phone apps are being used to advance citizen science.
Science's Amateur Hour
This article in Newsweek discusses the rise and impact of crowdsourced science.
U.S. EPA Region 2 Citizen Science
Although developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 2 office, which covers the Northeastern U.S., the site includes resources of interest to those in other parts of the country. Includes links to current EPA citizen science projects.

Citizen Science/Participatory Science: What is Citizen Science

Defining Citizen Science

Volunteers Make Citizen Science Work

Citizen Science Overview

Organizations and Labs for Citizen Scientists