Dr Vickie Curtis, University of Glasgow
Can projects increase the inclusivity of scientific research?
Citizen science is a collective term for projects that engage both professional scientists and non-specialists in the process of gathering, evaluating or computing scientific data.
The number and scope of citizen science projects has increased dramatically over the past two decades – much of this is a direct result of developments in information and communication technology (ICT) and the Internet.
Some citizen science projects are now conducted entirely via the Internet and participants help to analyse large sets of data that have been provided by scientists.
How and why people participate in such projects are the subjects of my new book Online Citizen Science and the Widening of Academia.
Some projects have attracted thousands of registered participants, leading some to claim that they open up scientific research and ‘democratise’ science. But how inclusive are they in reality?