Michael J. O. Pocock|John C. Tweddle|Joanna Savage|Lucy D. Robinson|Helen E. Roy
The diversity and evolution of ecological and environmental citizen science
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology|Natural History Museum|UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology|Natural History Museum|UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
citizen sciencethe involvement volunteers data collection analysis interpretationsimultaneously supports research public engagement science profile rapidly rising citizen science represents diverse range approaches diversity quantitatively explored conducted systematic internet search discovered 509 environmental ecological citizen science projects scored project 32 attributes based publicly obtainable information used multiple factor analysis summarise variation assess citizen science approaches found projects varied according methodological approach mass participation eg easy participation anyone anywhere systematic monitoring eg trained volunteers repeatedly sampling specific locations also varied complexity approaches simple elaborate eg provide lots support gather rich detailed datasets separate cluster entirely computerbased projects general found range citizen science projects ecology environment showed continuous variation cannot neatly categorised distinct types activity diversity projects begun time period pre 1990 199099 200009 201013 increased found projects tended become increasingly different time progressed possibly due changing opportunities including technological innovation projects still active consequently found overall diversity active projects available participation increased time progressed overall understanding landscape citizen science ecology environment change time valuable informs comparative evaluation success different citizen science approaches comparative evaluation provides evidencebase inform future development citizen science activities