Citizen Science
Citizen science refers to the involvement, participation and engagement of citizens in local or online (global) scientific work relevant to the citizens' interests, usually as a hobby, often as a passion.
Citizen science can include such activities as:
- Reviewing photographs or data online and spotting patterns, anomalies, things of interest etc.
- Taking field samples in local areas such as water from creeks/rivers, monitoring air quality
- Taking note of and listing species spotted, to help scientists assess decline or increase in species in certain areas; for example, see Big Garden Birdwatch as one example of such an activity
- Going through old scientific records and finding relevant data from the past and/or digitizing data for future use
- Taking measurements, keeping specific records, noting changes, etc. related to the local environment
- Sharing scientific information with other citizens in layperson's terms to spread understanding and engagement
News
Science-backed conservation of Colombia’s wetlands led by Indigenous fishers, news.mongabay.com (Sep 24, 2025) - Meet the women who turned beach cleanups into a global movement – and what was forgotten along the way, theconversation.com (Sep 15, 2025)
- Enlisting hearts and minds to save Somerset’s last eels, positive.news (Aug 18, 2025)
- Air quality isn’t just bad in cities – here’s why and how we’re tracking pollution from upland fires, theconversation.com (Jun 30, 2025)
- How citizen science is shaping international conservation, theconversation.com (Feb 05, 2025)
- Indigenous communities get tech and training on vital early warning systems, positive.news (Mar 22, 2024)
Resources
- Zooniverse, world's largest platform for people-powered research connecting professional researchers with millions of volunteers worldwide. added 18:11, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
- Digital Tools for Citizen Science is a Github curated list of awesome software and other resources to enable those who want to use scientific tools to empower communities and/or practice various forms of non-institutional science. https://github.com/dylanrees/citizen-science.
- Learning through citizen science: Enhancing opportunities by design, The National Academies Press at https://www.nap.edu/download/25183
- Public Lab is a non-profit with the mission of democratizing science to address environmental issues by developing open-source tools for environmental exploration and investigation. Public Lab, https://publiclab.org
See also: Community involvement
| Authors | Felicity |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Cite as | Felicity (2016–2025). "Citizen Science". Appropedia. Retrieved November 28, 2025. |