CS-Track
Expanding our knowledge on Citizen Science
through analytics and analysis (CS-Track)
Main funder
Funder's project number: 872522
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 240 000,00
Funding program
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/12/2019
Project end date: 31/01/2023
Summary
The Call focuses on Citizen Science (CS), understanding it in a comprehensive way and inviting projects to deepen and
broaden our knowledge on CS activities and their impact. Indeed, overcoming present hurdles on the way to reach that
knowledge will enable the potential benefits of CS – on individual citizens, organizations, and society at large – to be realized more effectively and frequently. This is the aim of our proposed project, CS-Track, which will seek this increased knowledge by “observing” a large and diverse set of CS activities, gathering data from the web, interviews of involved players, etc., and from a more direct inspection of running activities. Vast amounts of data will thus be studied, relying for this on (1) webbased analytics, i.e. the use of computational analyses to study CS activities based on their manifestations and traces on the web and social media, and (2) deepening and combining these analyses with approaches known from social studies through multi-perspective analysis and triangulation. Our data analytics and analysis will target both “own” aspects and developments of the CS activities (organizational/operational characteristics, scientific outcomes, good practices, individual/ group learning, other success or failure indicators, etc.), and societal aspects, related to the impact of those activities on society, such as gender, age, geographical and socio-economic differences; science as a discipline and its role in society, changing attitudes to science, women in science, etc. This will enable us to understand complex processes, disseminate good practices and formulate knowledge-based policy recommendations intended to optimize CS to make it a major, positive factor for EU’s society and economy. The project will last 36 months, involving 9 partners from 7 countries.
broaden our knowledge on CS activities and their impact. Indeed, overcoming present hurdles on the way to reach that
knowledge will enable the potential benefits of CS – on individual citizens, organizations, and society at large – to be realized more effectively and frequently. This is the aim of our proposed project, CS-Track, which will seek this increased knowledge by “observing” a large and diverse set of CS activities, gathering data from the web, interviews of involved players, etc., and from a more direct inspection of running activities. Vast amounts of data will thus be studied, relying for this on (1) webbased analytics, i.e. the use of computational analyses to study CS activities based on their manifestations and traces on the web and social media, and (2) deepening and combining these analyses with approaches known from social studies through multi-perspective analysis and triangulation. Our data analytics and analysis will target both “own” aspects and developments of the CS activities (organizational/operational characteristics, scientific outcomes, good practices, individual/ group learning, other success or failure indicators, etc.), and societal aspects, related to the impact of those activities on society, such as gender, age, geographical and socio-economic differences; science as a discipline and its role in society, changing attitudes to science, women in science, etc. This will enable us to understand complex processes, disseminate good practices and formulate knowledge-based policy recommendations intended to optimize CS to make it a major, positive factor for EU’s society and economy. The project will last 36 months, involving 9 partners from 7 countries.
Principal Investigator
Other persons related to this project (JYU)
Primary responsible unit
Related publications and other outputs
- How Citizen Scientists Learn : Exploring Learning Perceptions Through an International Survey (2023) Peltoniemi, Aaron J.; et al.; A1; OA
- Knowledge building and roles in Citizen Science : findings from the CS Track survey 2021 (2021) Peltoniemi, Aaron; et al.; E1; OA
- What technical devices/platforms are used most by Citizen Scientists in their projects? (2021) Peltoniemi, Aaron; et al.; E1; OA
