Bottom-Up and Reciprocal Citizen Science: Untapped Resources of Novel Ideas. Preliminary Experiences of a Citizen Science As Public Engagement Program

Autor: Evelin Gabriella Hargitai, Attila Sik, Alexandra Samoczi, Milan Hathazi, Csaba Bogdán
Jazyk: English<br />Portuguese
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Revista Lusófona de Estudos Culturais, Vol 9, Iss 2 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2184-0458
2183-0886
DOI: 10.21814/rlec.3996
Popis: In scientific research, citizen science is widely regarded as an involvement of the general public in scientific research initiated by universities, scientific organisations or research centres. In this top-down approach (top-down citizen science), participating citizens usually collect data or provide samples for research — that is, they are considered volunteer research assistants following instructions. This study analyses alternatives of top-down citizen science: one, widely known, which is the bottom-up way of citizen science and another, the reciprocal approach suggested by the authors. Bottom-up is based on local initiatives and is constituted by community-led projects. For bottom-up citizen science, scientific organisations may provide methodological and organisational frames. However, the idea and the implementation remain in the competence of the participant citizens. Reciprocal citizen science emerged from a need for a more holistic policy toward citizen science. As part of this, identifying viable citizen-initiated projects, measuring their scientific and/or innovation potential, and integrating them into a citizen science mentor program are questions to be systematically discussed and solved. This study addresses methodological challenges in mentoring citizen science projects, covering a mentor training concept for citizen science designed by the Institute of Transdisciplinary Discoveries. Encouraging citizen research is needed for a new impetus to scientific discoveries. The perspectives of people with no scientific background can also advance problems — mainly those that require fresh and unbiased approaches. Citizen science may also be a solution for leveraging the knowledge of science leavers.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals