In this interview, we talk to two professionals who have each worked in different research fields which have utilized citizen scientists as part of their profession and research.

Volunteers in citizen science (CS) have different kinds of motivations for participation, ranging from e.g. topic interest, supporting science to personal recognition. Information regarding the existence and characteristics of motivation profile groups of volunteers remains unclear.

Citizen science engages adults of all age groups. According to participants, which are technologies they use to participate in CS activities? What are the differences between different age groups and the technologies they use?

We are delighted to announce that the article entitled “Inclusion and exclusion in citizen science: A matter of context” written by Michael Strähle and Christine Urban has been published in the conference proceedings of the STS Conference Graz 2022 that took place from 2-4 May 2022.

This study aims at understanding how the alignment between the motivational factors of CS participants and the recruitment speech used in the projects’ description is, by performing quantitative triangulation of data collected through a survey about 12 motivational factors for participating in a CS project, and the manual analysis of the projects’ descriptions available in Zooniverse website.

We are delighted to announce that the article entitled “An analytics approach to health and healthcare in citizen science communications on Twitter” written by Fernando Martínez-Martínez, David Roldán-Álvarez, Estefanía Martín, and H Ulrich Hoppe has been published in the Digital Health journal. Their findings suggest that the most addressed topics by Twitter users are sustainable development goals, technologies and health, […]

We are delighted to announce that the article entitled “Inclusion and exclusion in citizen science: A matter of context” written by Michael Strähle and Christine Urban has been published in the conference proceedings of the STS Conference Graz 2022 that took place from 2-4 May 2022.

One of the main objectives of CS Track project has been to realise an explorative study of CS projects in Europe, with the aim to categorize, cluster and build a database of CS projects that would allow an analysis of them. This has allowed: (1) to compile of a database of CS projects (and their corresponding CS activities) in the European Union and Associated Countries; (2) to document of a collection of these projects to explore their availability of data for further analysis following the knowledge gaps identified by the literature review.

A CS Track team of researchers including Reuma De-Groot, Yaela N Golumbic, Fernando Martínez Martínez and H. Ulrich Hoppe recently published a paper entitled “Developing a framework for investigating Citizen Science through a combination of web analytics and social science methods – the CS Track perspective”. This article presents the project’s framework which aims to […]

A CS Track team of researchers including Reuma De-Groot, Yaela N Golumbic, Fernando Martínez Martínez and H. Ulrich Hoppe recently published a paper entitled “Developing a framework for investigating Citizen Science through a combination of web analytics and social science methods - the CS Track perspective”. This article presents the project’s framework that aims to complement existing methods for evaluating CS, address gaps in current observations of the citizen science landscape and integrate findings from multiple studies and methodologies.

Citizen science (CS) projects encompass a variety of different disciplines (e.g. health, biology, education). However, it is not clear whether volunteers’ working i.e. professional discipline is related to the discipline of their selected project. 

Since November 2019 the international research project CS Track has been combining traditional social-science methods with web-based and computational analytics in order to systematically survey the field of Citizen Science.

Since November 2019 the international research project CS Track has been combining traditional social-science methods with web-based and computational analytics in order to systematically survey the field of Citizen Science.

Since November 2019 the international research project CS Track has been combining traditional social-science methods with web-based and computational analytics in order to systematically survey the field of Citizen Science. Based on our findings, we have now developed a set of 10 policy recommendations which identify key issues to be addressed if we want to […]

We are delighted to announce that the article entitled “An analytics approach to health and healthcare in citizen science communications on Twitter” written by Fernando Martínez-Martínez, David Roldán-Álvarez, Estefanía Martín, and H Ulrich Hoppe has been published in the Digital Health journal. Their findings suggest that the most addressed topics by Twitter users are sustainable development goals, technologies and health, […]

Since November 2019 the international research project CS Track has been combining traditional social-science methods with web-based and computational analytics in order to systematically survey the field of Citizen Science.

Since November 2019 the international research project CS Track has been combining traditional social-science methods with web-based and computational analytics in order to systematically survey the field of Citizen Science. Based on our findings, we have now developed a set of 10 policy recommendations which identify key issues to be addressed if we want to […]

Online Seminar on Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 14:00 – 15:00 CET The main mission of the CS Track project has been to observe and analyse the phenomena of citizen science using empirical and theoretical studies. Based on these studies, the team have constructed a set of policy recommendations. Further specific policy recommendations have also been prepared […]

Collect data on some project characteristics which cannot be answered by visiting project websites.

The biannual ECSA conference organised under the theme Citizen Science for Planetary Health got off to a great start in Berlin on 5 October with a welcome reception in the Museum of Natural History. The surroundings, dominated by dinosaurs and other fossils was a fine reminder of the importance of protecting the environment, the theme […]

We are happy to announce that the paper entitled “Identifying learning dimensions in citizen science projects” written by Marius Oesterheld, Vincent Schmid-Loertzer, Miriam Calvera-Isabal, Ishari Amarasinghe, Patricia Santos and Yaela N Golumbic, and the paper entitled “The Activities & Dimensions Grid of Citizen Science” written by Michael Strähle and Christine Urban have been both published […]

The study aim is to investigate how a combination of methods (such as data analysis, computational or quantitative methods) could be applied to gather CS projects information to support teacher’s practice and inspire them. 

In this case study we intended to reflect on how the online data about CS is shared and communicated in the websites, how could this data be extracted massively and stored in a central database to, later be analysed with different purposes. One of its, studied in this article, is the usage of all the information in educational contexts.

The biannual ECSA conference organised under the theme Citizen Science for Planetary Health got off to a great start in Berlin on 5 October with a welcome reception in the Museum of Natural History. The surroundings, dominated by dinosaurs and other fossils was a fine reminder of the importance of protecting the environment, the theme […]

Online Workshop on Thursday, 20 October 2022, 14:00 – 15:00 CET The webinar will provide perspectives and insights on the characteristics of citizen scientists based on our research.  Presentations in the webinar will address central themes on how citizen scientists view their participation in citizen science projects, e.g., learning and motivation. In addition, the webinar […]

The study aimed at assessing the pandemic’s impact on online CS participation and capturing CS project coordinators’ experience of the pandemic and their actions in managing the pandemic’s effects. 

Project descriptions are a central element of a Citizen Science project’s online presence and thus play a key role in recruiting volunteers. Very often, they are the first point of contact between a project and prospective participants. As such, they need to be reader-friendly and accessible, spark interest, contain all the necessary practical information, and motivate readers to join by explaining convincingly how they will benefit from participating in the project. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the project descriptions stored in the CS Track database meet these criteria. 

The biannual ECSA conference organised under the theme Citizen Science for Planetary Health got off to a great start in Berlin on 5 October with a welcome reception in the Museum of Natural History. The surroundings, dominated by dinosaurs and other fossils was a fine reminder of the importance of protecting the environment, the theme […]

The ECSA Conference 2022 will be held from October 5-8 in Berlin, Germany. This year researchers from all disciplines, scientists, practitioners, activists, funders, policymakers, non-governmental organizations, artists, and other interested citizens worldwide are invited to reflect, discuss, and network on the topic of Citizen Science for Planetary Health. The concept of planetary health is based on the […]

CS Track and ECSA teams are organising a half-day symposium under the theme “Understanding the nature of Citizen Science in a rapidly changing world” on 8 October, 9:00-13:00 CET in Berlin. This symposium aims at sharing these results and findings and discussing their implications with the citizen science community. Of course, other researchers and community […]