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Important notice

We would like to inform that this project is inactive since December 2022. As a result, the content presented on this website is static, which means it cannot be updated, and no new information will be added. Consequently, interactive features such as the search function, or subscription and commenting capabilities are unavailable.

Internal Content

How to improve citizen science projects?

How to improve citizen science projects?

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.

Is it a match? Motivations on citizen science volunteers and recruitment arguments in project descriptions

Is it a match? Motivations on citizen science volunteers and recruitment arguments in project descriptions

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.

How to automate the extraction and analysis of information for educational purposes

How to automate the extraction and analysis of information for educational purposes

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.

Citizen science project descriptions as science communication texts – the good, the bad, and the ugly

Citizen science project descriptions as science communication texts – the good, the bad, and the ugly

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. 

Research Areas in Citizen Science: One analysis of the CS Track database

Research Areas in Citizen Science: One analysis of the CS Track database

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.

CS Track publishes paper about developing a novel framework for investigating Citizen Science

CS Track publishes paper about developing a novel framework for investigating Citizen Science

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.

Identifying learning dimensions in CS project descriptions

Identifying learning dimensions in CS project descriptions

Educational impacts of participation, such as the development of scientific skills or increased awareness about biodiversity and conservation, are one of the most widely discussed aspects of CS. Whereas most existing studies investigate perceived or observed learning gains of citizen scientists, this study took an alternative perspective by examining learning-related aspects in textual self-representations of CS projects—namely in project descriptions posted online. The aim was to determine which dimensions of learning are reflected most prominently in CS project descriptions.

A short introduction to the CS Track Analytics Workbench

A short introduction to the CS Track Analytics Workbench

How can we make the CS Track database of Citizen Science projects interactively accessible for the purposes of interest-driven retrieval, navigation and comparative analysis as well as for checking and correcting existing information items and adding new ones? To achieve this, we have developed the Analytics Workbench.

Data donation and Citizen Science  – an interview with Elissa Redmiles, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems

Data donation and Citizen Science  – an interview with Elissa Redmiles, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems

Dr. Elissa M. Redmiles is a faculty member and research group leader of the Safety & Society group at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems. She has additionally served as a consultant and researcher at multiple institutions, including Microsoft Research, Facebook, the World Bank, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the University of Zurich.

More information on replicable models – just one of the priorities for CS Track stakeholders

More information on replicable models – just one of the priorities for CS Track stakeholders

In order to better tailor our work to the needs of our different stakeholders, the CS Track team led a series of focus group discussions in September. These focus groups directly involved over 30 people coming from different stakeholder communities including policy-makers and officers, platform and support agency representatives, people interested in CS from an educational perspective and CS project leaders, participants and researchers.

IMDEA Energy. Communicating science to drive citizen engagement in the transition to a Circular Economy model

IMDEA Energy. Communicating science to drive citizen engagement in the transition to a Circular Economy model

IMDEA Energy is a research center created by the Community of Madrid in Spain, whose objectives are to promote and carry out R&D activities related to energy, especially for the promotion of renewable energies and clean energy technologies that allow progress towards a sustainable energy system. 

How do citizen science activities develop and work? Computational analysis techniques can help us find out

How do citizen science activities develop and work? Computational analysis techniques can help us find out

A cornerstone of the CS Track project’s approach to investigating how citizen science (CS) activities develop and work is the use of computational analysis techniques applied to digital sources and traces to characterise and analyse these activities in terms of interactions within certain projects, the interplay with “official” science and their interaction with society.

Who takes part in Citizen Science projects & why?

Who takes part in Citizen Science projects & why?

Identifying who takes part in citizen science projects and understanding what motivates them are key aspects in building our understanding of citizen science. These aspects are at the heart of a recent White Paper published by the CS Track project which highlights interest in the theme, contributing to scientific research and opportunities to learn as key factors when it comes to motivation.

Characteristics and nature of Citizen Science in Europe today

Characteristics and nature of Citizen Science in Europe today

Citizen Science is changing and evolving as highlighted in the recent CS Track White Paper on Themes, Objectives and Participants. This white paper draws on the initial results of a large scale CS Track survey carried out in early 2021 which highlights an increasing use of technology, diversification in terms of themes and a re-assessment of the value that citizen science can bring to the individual as well as society as a whole.

Characterising engagement in citizen science

Characterising engagement in citizen science

Engaging a wide range of participants over time, is key to the successful operation of citizen science projects. But how can projects accomplish this? The short and perhaps simplistic answer is “know your audience” – The whole range of potential audiences your project may have.

Economic considerations in Citizen Science

Economic considerations in Citizen Science

Examining the role of economic considerations in Citizen Science projects may yield some surprising conclusions, for example that those considerations may not be deemed by those involved in a project as important as could be expected. Greater attention seems to be paid to non-economic factors (e.g., educational gains).

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Important notice

We would like to inform that this project is inactive since December 2022. As a result, the content presented on this website is static, which means it cannot be updated, and no new information will be added. Consequently, interactive features such as the search function, or subscription and commenting capabilities are unavailable.