public engagement | The Pipettepen

Science is not just for scientists. There are ways for everyone to be involved and contribute, and citizen science is opening the door. Citizen science is defined by the involvement of the public in scientific research – through either community-driven research or global investigations. A citizen science project can involve one person or millions of people collaborating towards a common goal. All fields of science can benefit from this form of public engagement. So far citizen science projects have been involved within the fields such as ecology, astronomy, medicine, computer science, psychology, genetics, and more. Typically citizen scientists are involved in the categories of data collection, analysis, or reporting. Over the past few decades, the massive collaborations that have arisen from citizen science collaborations have promoted investigations on both national and international scales. This sort of citizen science collaboration can lead to discoveries that a single scientist could never achieve on their own.

The four common features of citizen science are:

Anyone can participate.
Participants use the same protocol as the scientists.
Data is of of high quality and can be combined such that scientists can generate conclusions.
A wide community of scientists and volunteers can work together and share data which everyone (the public and scientists alike) then has access to.

Citizen science, if utilized correctly, has the potential to significantly augment scientific research. Involving more people who are science curious and motivated will help bridge the gaps in manpower that currently exist within some scientific ventures. For example, there are many challenges that come with collecting large samples of data. However, with today’s interconnected world we can now leverage the thousands of potential citizen scientists from around the globe to remotely contribute and participate in the research process. With citizen science, we can increase public engagement and ideally cultivate a citizenship that is knowledgeable and unafraid of the scientific enterprise. As a result, the hope is that a more informed public, and more importantly a more involved public, will help push for valuable changes in science policy.

Although citizen science has great potential, we must also consider the limits of its reach and whether it is the tool we imagine it to be. A recent research article found that “…mainstream scientist-led projects…may appeal more to a narrower type of audience, that is, one that is already paying attention to and is supportive of science”. This means that if we want to utilize citizen science as a tool for public engagement, we will have to consider more ways to reach those potential citizens who are most likely NOT to engage in the scientific process.

Want to learn more?

Check out this TEDTalk and the episode on citizen science from the NPR TED Radio Hour.

How can I get involved?

If your research could benefit from an internet-based citizen science project, check out Citizen Science Alliance.

Looking to become a citizen scientist? Scientific American, Citizenscience.gov and SciStarter have more information on current research studies that need your help!

Peer edited by Matthew Varga.

Follow us on social media and never miss an article:

Facebook

Twitter

Social media has become a ubiquitous part of our lives, completely changing the way we share information and connect with others. As scientists, we would be remiss to not combine the opportunities that social media presents with traditional mentoring strategies to improve scientific communication and inspire the next generation of researchers. One of the most important advantages of social media is that it fosters communication between people from all walks of life on a familiar and comfortable platform. This can therefore open a line of communication between scientists and students, encouraging a meaningful and mutually beneficial discourse. Wielded correctly, social media could inspire a new generation of scientists by fostering an environment of exploration, rational discourse, and critical thinking.

We cannot ignore the important role social media plays in the development of children and students in today’s digital society. In a culture of celebrity worship, where ideas and opinions can spread globally in an instant, pseudoscience can grab a foothold dangerously fast. Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vaccine crusade has contributed directly to a devastating rise in measles cases. Kyrie Irving’s support of the “flat Earth” conspiracy highlights the danger of scientific illiteracy. Kim Kardashian’s paid endorsement of Diclegis, a morning sickness pill, prompted the FDA to issue a warning letter to drug maker Duchesnay USA for misleading patients and omitting any information regarding the risks of the drug. When these misinformed opinions and pseudoscience are presented to such a large audience, they can pose a major threat to public health and scientific literacy.

We can help to stem the tide of these uninformed ideas by utilizing social media as a tool to foster conversations between scientists and students, from grade school to university level. Social media supports the exchange of opinions and ideas and students could benefit enormously from communicating with scientists by being encouraged to think critically about what they read and developing their own informed opinions. Additionally, having the ability to interact with scientists on familiar and comfortable social media platforms could reduce the feeling of intimidation (page 38) that they may feel towards researchers. By increasing the number of scientists adept at social media and cultivating thoughtful and critical conversations with students, we can encourage the next generation to think critically about what they read in the news, which could eventually stop dangerously misinformed opinions from gaining momentum and spreading across the social media universe.

There are, of course, challenges to creating an open environment for scientific discourse between the research community and the general public. Celebrity culture is a behemoth with an established global audience, and we therefore need a rapid and exponential increase in the number of scientists properly proficient at navigating the various social media platforms. This involves presenting their ideas in a respectful, interesting, and non-intimidating way that is easily understandable and not heavy with technical jargon. One particularly powerful tool for this is a personal narrative, which has been shown to help communicate science to non-scientists. Simply providing data and facts are unlikely to convince a skeptical audience or engage young minds, but the skillful use of culturally appropriate storytelling and a personal narrative will help students feel personally invested and reduce the likelihood of your argument being automatically discounted. Since the majority of the general public gets their science information from narrative formats, engaging students on this level could help them gain both understanding and enthusiasm about the world of scientific research.

Both young and established scientists absolutely need to develop an online presence to engage with students and laypeople in thoughtful discussion about current research. Fostering an open discourse between students and scientists using social media and personal narratives could be immeasurably beneficial to society by promoting engagement in the scientific enterprise, encouraging critical thinking and forming verifiable conclusions, and inspiring the next generation of scientists.

Peer edited by Mikayla Armstrong

Follow us on social media and never miss an article:

Facebook

Twitter

The Pipettepen

Tag Archives: public engagement

Science is not just for Scientists