Citizen science, loosely defined as scientific research in which amateurs help experts gather data, welcomes everyone from amateur star-gazers, plant counters, whale trackers and bee spotters under its roof.
These volunteer inventory-makers, armed with binoculars, microscopes and checklists, may be driven by a general interest in conservation, or they may just want to get outside, searching for some fun and gaining knowledge about the place where they live.
“We aim to inspire people to get a bit of dirt under their nails,” said David Slawson who runs Open Air Laboratories (Opal), a volunteer data-collecting programme at Imperial College London. “We are about science for everyone.”
The UK-wide Opal scheme, launched in 2007, has pulled in the observations of more than 850,000 volunteers from every part of the country and in every season, on everything from the health of soil to the quality of air. To date, almost 23,000 sites have been surveyed by citizen scientists as part of Opal and 21 scientific papers have been published. “If you wanted a scientist to do this on his or her own, you’re talking about a whole career,” said Slawson.
It may be all the rage for scientists at the moment, but it’s a relatively untapped activity for governments, he noted.
“Lots of EU environmental laws have various monitoring requirements. Citizens could help,” Slawson said. By harnessing the work of thousands of volunteers, public bodies could encourage a more active reporting culture and publish more detailed data on pollution in cities or biodiversity health, for example. “It’s cheaper than paying civil servants to do the work,” he added.
Finland’s government, which has oversight of more than 100,000 lakes and ponds, has gone furthest in the field of citizen science. Amateurs are encouraged to maintain observation sites, upload pictures, announce events, or discuss matters related to a specific lake on an online LakeWiki platform. A variety of apps, including AlgalWatch allows users to send or browse observations on algal blooms.
Real science
The question that is invariably asked: with so many laymen involved, is all of this real science? With careful study design, yes, Slawson argues.
“Some scientists have their doubts about it, as do policymakers,” he said. “If it’s molecular analysis of species you want then, yes, this is best done in a lab. But you can ask people to take photographs or send samples to experts. With technology becoming cheaper, you can put more and more in the hands of citizens.”
Scientists can be heard reminding people that this is not a new way to do science. However, it has become more visible and widespread in the age of digital photography, tablets and smartphones. Charles Darwin, clearly an early adopter, constructed his theory of evolution by natural selection on evidence collected by hundreds of citizen scientists all over the world.
Opal competes for the attention of citizens who have more options open to them than ever. In addition to individual citizen science project sites, such as the Christmas Bird Count, BugGuide, Plankton portal, Mammal Tracker, the Big Butterfly Count and the Lost Ladybug Project, a growing number of websites either host or index a vast plethora of citizen science projects, including CosmoQuest, iNaturalist, Zooniverse, Galaxy Zoo and eOceans – to name a few.
Policymakers in Brussels have made some noises on the topic and even drew up a white paper. Some research money has also gone to a project website, called Socientize, with more resources promised under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme.
At a time when parts of the scientific community are ever more stretched financially, encouraging volunteer data envoys is good sense. But cost-effective as citizen science projects are, there are still the unavoidable costs of things like training, printing and web maintenance.
“It’s sort of a precarious existence. Excellent projects have ended before,” said Slawson. Resources for his own project, provided through a grant from the UK Big Lottery Fund, will run out at the end of next year.
But motivating ordinary people to get out in the nature carries a broader reward. “You create more informed citizens who probably will act more responsibly toward the environment,” Slawson said.
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