Citizen science
Citizen Science is “active public/non-academic engagement in the research process.” These activities can be community-driven, in partnership with academic and/or research institutions, or global investigations.
Citizen science and open science
Citizen science can result from the engagement in research process. A common example is crowdsourcing activities, such as data collection, data analysis, volunteer monitoring and distributed computing. It can also be a result from a greater understanding of science because of unrestricted access to information about the research process, such as open data and publications. This access can facilitate independent activities, or “Do-It-Yourself Science” (DIY Science). Advocacy activities such as patient innovation or patient activism can be included here as well as policy engagement, such as agenda-setting in research systems.
Citizen science in Canada
While there is no specific national organization that represents citizen science in Canada, there are resources to discover such projects, particularly in areas of ecology and the environment. Explore the Citizen Science Portal or the Parks Canada Citizen Science page to learn more information about what citizen science projects are available in Canada.
Governing principles for engaging citizens in research
Like all good science, there should be an ethical framework for research participation and citizen science is no different. The European Citizen Science Association created Ten Principles of Citizen Science (Australian Citizen Science Association adaptation) which underlie good practice in citizen science. These have been grouped under the following:
