Post by CSA’s Executive Director, Jennifer Shirk

For CSA’s 10th year, we are celebrating and affirming the work and vision of this Association. A major milestone in this process will be the choice of a new name.

[An important to clarification to start: we are not setting out to rename the field itself (for an overview of thoughts on that challenge, try this introduction).]

Renaming the Association is significant, and we have approached both this prospect and this process with intention and care. Over the past year, we have heard and shared some of the many terms that describe related practices for public-research partnerships. Those practices are at the heart of this Association – they are the common innovations and struggles that connect each of our work across disciplines and traditions. Having a single term in the name of this Association limits who chooses to bring their knowledge, inspiration, questions, and support to these shared endeavors.

One major criterion for a new name is one that is more inclusive, that reflects and embraces the many traditions of public-research partnerships (including citizen science, community science, crowdsourcing, volunteer monitoring, and so much more). Trusting the wisdom of the crowd, we took this challenge to our membership (other criterion included that the name be succinct, durable, in line with our work, and easily explainable). Over the past few months, suggestions yielded a list of possibilities currently under review both by members and by CSA’s Board of Directors. A short list of those suggestions will be put to member vote starting at the end of this week.

If you care that this Association is named to reflect your work, please join as a member to be part of this discussion and decision (details on membership are here). Voting will be open to members for two weeks. There is also still time to be present (either virtually or in-person) for the unveiling of the new name, which will be announced during the closing event of the C*Sci2023 Conference, when we will celebrate the history and shape the future of this Association and field.

Posted on: May 10, 2023  |  Category: Blog, CSA Blog, News, Terms