Exploring Experimentation in an Innovative Citizen Science Project

Citizen science projects have been classified as contribution, collaboration and co-creation based on the roles between citizens, professionals and scientists, with the majority currently falling into the contribution group.... [ view full abstract ]

Citizen science projects have been classified as contribution, collaboration and co-creation based on the roles between citizens, professionals and scientists, with the majority currently falling into the contribution group. An alternative typology divides projects into five categories: action projects initiated by volunteers, conservation projects with resource management goals, investigation projects focused on scientific research in a physical setting, virtual projects run entirely on-line, and education projects.

A new emerging category of collaborative, or co-created projects, engage citizens who conduct their own experiments at home. They gather, share and analyse the data they collect in partnership with the professionals. They also suggest and test new hypothesis devising and conducting new experiments. PatientsLikeMe is an example where patients with rare diseases record their medical data and condition, and partner with physicians in analyzing the data, suggesting and trialing new treatments.

A case study in aquaponics (the growing together of fish and plants for mutual benefit) explores this approach, involving citizens already experimenting with aquaponics. The project explores the extent that potential benefit to themselves drives commitment to long term participation. It also explores how they analysed the collected data, proposed research questions and created new knowledge. Citizens were invited to contribute to an easy but useful survey and/or keep a detailed structured diary of their systems, requiring considerable commitment to longer term research. The diary is a rich source of data valuable to both the contributor and the researcher which is analysed by the contributors, who suggest hypothesis based on the data. This paper presents results showing that a significant percentage of participants are prepared to take part in the longer term research, and suggest questions based on the data. Participants who were new to aquaponics, with more to learn, were more diligent than experts in contributing.