Guest post by Lea A. Shanley, Alison Parker, Sven Schade, and Aletta Bonn, Guest Editors of the Special Issue.
It is with great pleasure that we announce the publication of the first set of papers for the Journal Citizen Science: Theory and Practice standing special issue titled, “Policy Perspectives on Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing.” Full issue available here.
Citizen science and crowdsourcing sit at the intersection of public participation and knowledge production. These approaches can provide the evidence-base to inform a wide range of management and public policy decisions, while at the same time, foster civic partnerships with government. Conversely, the use and impact of citizen science may be constrained by legal, policy, institutional, and regulatory barriers.
To understand the current and potential role of citizen science at all levels of government and in governance more broadly, the manuscripts in this Special Issue address the following questions:
- What are the opportunities and challenges for citizen science and crowdsourcing to work with decision-makers in governmental, and non-governmental organizations? How do we measure success and impact?
- How can we make citizen science and crowdsourcing data and information more trustworthy, efficient, and “actionable” for management and public decision-making?
- What legal, policy, regulatory, and institutional issues must be considered in citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, and what strategies may increase the impact of citizen science on public sector policies and practices?
- How can science and technology policy support citizen science and crowdsourcing, either through opening opportunities or mitigating barriers?
In this Issue
The articles in this issue frame challenges and opportunities for citizen science, crowdsourcing, and policy development and provide relevant case studies in local, regional, national, and international contexts. Topics span from local invasive species management to global sustainable development, and provide both frameworks and recommendations for further consideration.
- How Does Citizen Science ‘Do’ Governance? Reflections from the DITOs Project, by Claudia Göbel, Christian Nold, Aleksandra Berditchevskaia, and Mordechai Haklay.
- How Does Policy Conceptualise Citizen Science? A Qualitative Content Analysis of International Policy Documents, by Susanne Hecker, Nina Wicke, Mordechai Haklay, and Aletta Bonn.
- Empowering citizens to inform decision-making as a way forward to support invasive alien species policy, by Quentin J. Groom, Diederik Strubbe, Tim Adriaens, Amy J.S. Davis, Peter Desmet, Damiano Oldoni, Lien Reyserhove, Helen Roy, and Sonia Vanderhoeven.
- Understanding the Citizen Sscience Llandscape for Eenvironmental Ppolicy: an Aassessment and Rrecommendations, by Anne Turbé, Jorge Barba, Maite Pelacho, Chrysa Tsinarki, Francisco Sanz, Fermin Serrano-Sanz, Shailendra Mugdal, Lucy D. Robinson, Jose-Miguel Rubio, and Sven Schade.
- Adopting Citizen Science as a Tool to Enhance Monitoring for an Environment Agency, by Erin Roger, Eren Turak, and Patrick Tegart.
- Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) Management in the Dungeness Valley, Washington, United States: The Power of Citizen Scientists to Leverage Policy Change, by Clea Rome and Cathy Lucero.
- All Hands on Deck: Local Ecological Knowledge and Expert Volunteers Contribute to the First Delisting of a Marine Fish Species Under the Endangered Species Act, by Kelly S. Andrews, Krista M. Nichols, Chris J. Harvey, Nick Tolimieri, Adam K. Obaza, Ron Garner, and Daniel M. Tonnes.
The manuscripts in this special issue demonstrate good practice for how citizen science may inform public policy and offer strategies for how public policy may support citizen science. A second set of manuscripts will be added to this standing Special Issue on Policy Perspectives in early 2020, and then subsequently on a rolling basis.
This special issue can be cited as:
Shanley, L, Parker, A., Schade, S., and Bonn, A. 2019. Policy Perspectives on Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 4(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.293
Posted on: November 30, 2019 | Category: Blog, Journal, News