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Citizen Science I: Co-Constructing Citizen Science

Sat, September 2, 9:00 to 10:30am, Sheraton Boston, Floor: 3, Beacon A

Session Submission Type: Traditional (Closed) Panel

Abstract

Citizen science constitutes a rich and fast-evolving arena in the production of scientific knowledge, raising questions that speak to the core of STS scholarship. In its various forms, ranging from expert-driven crowdsourced and participatory sensing models to citizen-driven social and ecological justice initiatives, citizen science offers a rich empirical setting. This track will expand the dialogue around this growing practice of knowledge creation through traditional and cutting edge STS perspectives. Building on STS scholarship exploring the sociomaterial construction of scientific knowledge across settings and methods, we invite researchers to unpack citizen science’s spoken and unspoken sensibilities. Relevant themes include: the entanglement and evolution of technologies and communities in citizen science; the influences of policy, technology, and professional scientific communities on emergent practices of knowledge co-production; the production of novices and experts, and how roles in citizen science are defined and negotiated, tracing information flows between contributors and project leaders; how stakeholders attempt to shape volunteer contribution to fit a particular need; the (in)sensibilities of peer production; how data quality is constructed and reconstructed; and how both formal and informal data quality standards are embodied in practices, technologies, and social structures. Beyond questions of building and deploying citizen science practice, we also invite research that examine how stakeholders resist or repurpose existing models in order to meet their personal needs, the role of traditional and local knowledge in citizen science, and the impacts of scientific disciplines and scientific methods on the perceptions of citizen science practices and products.

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