community building in citizen science

This note last modified September 1, 2024

Stolen from Josh:

  • [[Participant Outcomes of Biodiversity Citizen Science Projects: A

    Systematic Literature Review]](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2780)

  • [[Changes in Participants’ Scientific Attitudes and Epistemological

    Beliefs During an Astronomical Citizen Science Project]](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tea.21090)

    • Found that “social components of the program was

      significantly related to their improvement in scientific literacy while other project participation variables (such as amount of data contributed to the project) was not“

    • Lists good design principles to use for successful citizen

      science

    • “practitioners should not expect to see an increase in

      scientific attitudes or epistemological beliefs simply by having volunteers participate in data collection. They need to be more involved in other aspects of the project “

  • [[Bridging the nature gap: can citizen science reverse the

    extinction of experience?]](https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1826)

    • Although **citizen science can affect the behaviors and

      attitudes** of participants, the extent to which it does so is largely unknown

    • A review of the literature indicates that participating in

      nature‐based citizen science (NBCS) can increase emotional and cognitive connections to nature

    • We advocate for the use of NBCS as a means to mitigate the

      effects of this lack of engagement with nature, and highlight the mechanisms that drive this process, as well as existing knowledge gaps and challenges

  • An example of measuring behavioral change: [[Butterfly citizen

    scientists in the United States increase their engagement in conservation]](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715300367)

    • Asked if participants felt a “sense of community” and they

      did

    • There’s a line of research (e.g.

      this) showing how location-based AR games like Pokemon GO can increase sense of community

  • Sense of satisfaction and contribution: [[Beyond Data Points and

    Research Contributions: The Personal Meaning and Value Associated with Public Participation in Scientific Research]](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21548455.2015.1043659)

    • Qualitative measures only
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