Combining Citizen Science with Participatory Research Approaches: A Progress Report on the Use of Participatory Mapping Strategies for Small-Holder Farmer Exploration of Land Access in the California Central Coast

Does citizen science break down or reinforce the barriers between expert and citizen? Many citizen science endeavors view participants as an expanded sensor network that may gain experiential understanding of an important... [ view full abstract ]

Does citizen science break down or reinforce the barriers between expert and citizen?

Many citizen science endeavors view participants as an expanded sensor network that may gain experiential understanding of an important scientific issue in the process. This approach has direct and spin-off benefits, but often forms research questions and methods in academic isolation, creating an exclusive environment in the name of scientific accuracy and research expediency. For our research project, within the newly formed Berkeley Food Institute, we build upon the potential benefits of citizen science by engaging local, small scale growers in data collection on agricultural issues. However, adhering to the tenets of participatory and transdisciplinary research, we attempt to form an inclusive process, where a spirit of collaborative inquiry dictates research questions and methods. We believe that participatory mapping may be an especially useful tool in making citizen science more inclusive. In particular, information technologies may be able to make legible local knowledge forms like lived experience, narrative data, and trial and error. We believe these data, presented and analyzed in the form of a GIS, have the potential to act as a pivot between traditional scientific knowledge and more situated knowledges, thereby improving the “reach, relevancy, and rigor” of science.

Our presentation will discuss our progress thus far in invoking best practices of participatory research on land access for smallholder producers in the agricultural region of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties of California. We will discuss pitfalls and challenges of this approach as well as the potential transformative nature of transdisciplinary research in food systems. In particular, we hope our presentation can challenge citizen science practitioners to reflect on the inclusivity of their research projects and provide insight into ways to take the best from both fields of citizen science and participatory research.