Citizen science

[8][11] 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.

[16] 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.

[50] In December 2016, authors M. Kosmala, A. Wiggins, A. Swanson and B. Simmons published a study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment called "Assessing Data Quality in Citizen Science".

A study by J. Cohn describes that volunteers can be trained to use equipment and process data, especially considering that a large proportion of citizen scientists are individuals who are already well-versed in the field of science.

[72] In "Global change and local solutions: Tapping the unrealized potential of citizen science for biodiversity research" by Theobald et al. 2015, the authors surveyed 388 unique biodiversity-based projects.

"[80] The abstract ends by stating that the "chapter takes account of the ways educators will collaborate with members of the community to effectively guide decisions, which offers promise for sharing a responsibility for democratizing science with others.

The authors continue: "With recent studies showing a weakening in scientific competency of American students, incorporating citizen science initiatives in the curriculum provides a means to address deficiencies".

"[84] In November 2017, authors Mitchell, Triska and Liberatore published a study in PLOS One titled "Benefits and Challenges of Incorporating Citizen Science into University Education".

[86][1] Prior to the 20th century, science was often the pursuit of gentleman scientists, amateur or self-funded researchers such as Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles Darwin.

These people included John Campanius Holm, who recorded storms in the mid-1600s, as well as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin who tracked weather patterns during America's founding.

[89] Biochemist Erwin Chargaff advocated a return to science by nature-loving amateurs in the tradition of Descartes, Newton, Leibniz, Buffon, and Darwin—science dominated by "amateurship instead of money-biased technical bureaucrats".

[90] A study from 2016 indicates that the largest impact of citizen science is in research on biology, conservation and ecology, and is utilized mainly as a methodology of collecting and classifying data.

The Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, which began in 1900, is another example of a long-standing tradition of citizen science which has persisted to the present day,[109][110] now containing a collection of six million handwritten migration observer cards that date back to the 19th century.

This mostly volunteer group counts migrating accipiters, buteos, falcons, harriers, kites, eagles, osprey, vultures and other raptors at hawk sites throughout North America during the spring and fall seasons.

Underwater photography has become more popular since the development of moderate priced digital cameras with waterproof housings in the early 2000s, resulting on millions of pictures posted every year on various websites and social media.

This mass of documentation has great scientific potential, as millions of tourists possess a much superior coverage power than professional scientists, who cannot spend so much time in the field.

For example, the Zooniverse project AnnoTate is a transcription tool developed to enable volunteers to read and transcribe the personal papers of British-born and émigré artists.

[142] Another example, is WomSAT,[143] a citizen science project that collects data on wombat roadkill[144] and sarcoptic mange incidence and distribution,[145] to support conservation efforts for the species.

While it is commonly acknowledged that the people involved need to have lived experience of the concerned topic,[149] representation is still an issue, and researchers are debating whether this is a useful concept in citizen science.

Since 2005, the Genographic Project has used the latest genetic technology to expand our knowledge of the human story, and its pioneering use of DNA testing to engage and involve the public in the research effort has helped to create a new breed of "citizen scientist".

Like amateur astronomy, citizen scientists encouraged by volunteer organizations like the International Society of Genetic Genealogy have provided valuable information and research to the professional scientific community.

[150] One of the first Internet-based citizen science experiments was NASA's Clickworkers, which enabled the general public to assist in the classification of images, greatly reducing the time to analyze large data sets.

Citizen science networks are often involved in the observation of cyclic events of nature (phenology), such as effects of global warming on plant and animal life in different geographic areas,[172] and in monitoring programs for natural-resource management.

[180] The member institutions of the CSA work with many academic and other partners around the world to produce projects that use the efforts and ability of volunteers to help scientists and researchers deal with the flood of data that confronts them.

In a case study by Andrea Liberatore, Erin Bowkett, Catriona J. MacLeod, Eric Spurr, and Nancy Longnecker, the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey is conducted as one such project with the aid of social media.

[198][199][200] A growth in internet use and smartphone ownership has allowed users to collect and share real-time flood-risk information using, for example, social media and web-based forms.

Results from 4,531 volunteers showed that over 61% of the freshwater sites "were in a poor state because of high levels of the nutrients phosphate and nitrate, the main source of which is sewage effluent and agricultural runoff".

[242][243] Some such projects are listed below: For coronavirus studies and information that can help enable citizen science, many online resources are available through open access and open science websites, including an intensive care medicine e-book chapter hosted by EMCrit[276] and portals run by the Cambridge University Press,[277] the Europe branch of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition,[278] The Lancet,[279] John Wiley and Sons,[280] and Springer Nature.

[281] There have been suggestions that the pandemic and subsequent lockdown has boosted the public’s awareness and interest in citizen science, with more people around the world having the motivation and the time to become involved in helping to investigate the illness and potentially move on to other areas of research.

[321] Bestowed through Ars Electronica, the prize was designed to honor, present and support "outstanding projects whose social and political impact advances the further development of a pluralistic, inclusive and sustainable society in Europe".