January 6, 2016

Science? Yes, we can!

Science? Yes, we can!

This slogan was not only used by “Bob the Builder” or Barak Obama during his campaign, it implicit describes a new way of science. Everyone is able to do research. Citizen Science is obviously a new trend in research and is used and communicated as new way of science. We all can participate and contribute to science; it is no longer a very exclusive activity of some nerds in white coats. Science is open to people like you and me. But, to be honestly, is this really a new thing? Is it just an invention of some creative marketing guys and a relatively easy approach to distract attention from major problems of science and society? The overall title of this currently very popular phenomenon “Citizen Science” is used for programs, strategic papers and much more. This blog article summarizes some aspects of a discussion a class of STS scholars had in December 2015. How can we classify Citizen Science contributions and what is missing? What are the drivers and what motivates to participate and which problems can occur? I will put some spots on these questions and give my opinion on some aspects.


If it is not a new trend, why is citizen science so prominent in all publications, discussions and strategic documents? And is it a problem if the dialogue between science community and society is now new labeled and sold as an invention of last decade? I want to explain, why I am on one hand so critical on citizen science and why on the other hand I am very happy about these developments. First I want to underline by giving some examples that the involvement of citizen in science activities is definitely not new, nevertheless the term entered the Oxford Dictionary in 2014. It goes back in the late 18-hundreds and was very popular these days. In this time it was popular to have own observations, exchange of knowledge with like-minded people and generating high quality of documentations which was used by experts as well as by other interested citizen. Most of these historical examples are observations of nature and wildlife, space and weather. There was no real incentive than the own curiosity and satisfaction to be an expert on a specific field; sometimes it was an honor to find a new species or a specimen of a seldom creature. I can understand that curiosity is the driver for the majority of participants. After both world wars the society steps more and more back and leaves the field of research to the experts. New technologies and platforms like social media generate a renaissance of these motivations and during the last years it becomes popular to post every activity in the web and motivate others to do the same. The more an activity is like a game people are attracted by science.


(c) W. Schneider 
Calculators 
Contemporary projects of Citizen Science are working along the same scheme but with the use of new technologies it is simpler to support the activities. To hacking of genomes is very exciting and is seen together with other unknown field like space or deep-sea. We all know it is out there but only a few have knowledge about details. Delfanti (2011) described in his article the problems and motivations to participate in a bio-hacking project. I personally find the definition hacker a bit problematically because hacking has the notion of something illegal. Maybe some persons feel attracted by this word. They can to do something outside the traditional, socially given boundaries without committing a real crime. But I won’t stuck in definitions, better leave the definition as it is and look a bit closer to the motivations. The genetic code is still a mystery and we know only a few things about the functionality and mechanism behind the DNA. To solve a piece of the puzzle is for sure a challenge what makes more sense than having your Sunday Sudoku solved in minimum time. I have no experience with cracking DNA codes but I know how satisfying it is to solve a Sudoku. It would be a small step to shift from a challenge without a social impact to a challenging activity where I can contribute to one of the grand questions. What exactly these questions are cannot be answered in one sentence but I think there is no clear definition what is really relevant for the society. This spectrum goes from the mentioned DNA code over the exploration of space to the counting of animals, dead or alive. To classify participation we can define the first group of people: “calculators”, they provide volunteer computing, brainpower and time to generate a social benefit. Coming back to my headline, everybody can do this depending on personal interests and capabilities. Yes, we can…


(c) W. Schneider
Makers 
In the article of Delfanti (2011) another important aspect was pointed out. While traditional science takes place at research institutions the citizen science community works on different places. Sometimes a laboratory with very expensive equipment is substituted by a kitchen with some household machinery, far away from professional tools. Can a blender, an oven and some pots really be the basis of science? I think it is not always necessary to have 100% perfect tools if the method or the approach is not fitting to the experiment. We face the problem that the budgets on research are more and more cut down and the infrastructure becomes more expensive than ever. Not to mention the conditions how young researchers work and how they are paid in comparison to other fields. Therefore it is an existing problem that citizen science is not always a warm welcomed option to traditional research approaches. Researchers will argue that here occurs a competition and a reduction of expected quality in research. As long as citizen science is not influencing other fields of science nobody will care about this activities. But this doesn’t happen. There is always an idea of commercialization. If someone provides DIY kits for some experiments they will think about selling tools, samples, complete sets or simply books “how to…”. This is not a real threat for science but opens a door in this direction. I am convinced that most of the (semi-) professional providers and platforms have more or less an interest in earning money. Gen sequencing platforms like 23andme.com are using data from the curios people. As mentioned in the first argument I am sure that curiosity is the primary cause of interest. To continue the classification scheme these people will count as the “makers”, doing DIY research. And they can… because there are enough offers to do this!

Sensors
While the first group is volunteering and the second group is more on the doing side I will describe in this paragraph the third group of citizen science which is called the “sensors”. They act as observers and are from my point of view the oldest group in this context. Bird viewing, plant counting, weather observation and many other examples need a lot of activities spread over time and place. Researchers are depending on these activities and have a benefit in their projects. Over the years the methods have changed only in minor details like how the observations are reported. New electronic devices (such as smartphones and tablet computers) are able to have an easy access to databases and transmit data directly without time consuming transmissions and different formats. Additional information e.g. position, time, pictures, temperature, etc. can be combined with other information to generate an added value. But in principle is this the same way of participating as it was 150 years ago. The social media generate extra motivation and awareness on a specific topic. Some current projects work with social media to share observations and inform others about new information and results. We can argue this is a new development – but I keep my standpoint – it is not new, only the technology changed and can be used for better marketing. And again, we can… because we have the technology and the choice what, where and when we act as observers.

Analysers
Last but not least there is a fourth type of citizen science contribution. They are called “analysers” and work as crowd. The main difference to the third group (sensors) is the interpretation of data. Existing observations like space images are selected and the crowd can do the huge effort of interpreting the more or less obvious pattern ore structures in the pictures. This cannot be done by software; you need special skills to identify relevant patterns. And finally the fourth “we can…!” is possible but not that easy than the other three. But give it a try, it is worth of it.

Who is missing? 
We have now a classification of possible citizen science contribution but our class was not happy with the completeness of this list. What is missing? At the beginning of the value chain we have a lack of generating questions. Who is asking the (new) questions, which are not discussed before? I think this is a relevant field but should not be given into the hand of some nerdy people. Not without accompanying discussion with researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders. It sounds so nice if we ask the people out there what is relevant. But I am afraid about the sample of answers which can be easily come from the loudest but not wisest corner. The internet is today full of so called experts with new methods to find energy, health and happiness. Most of their statements are simple not correct and are denying simple principles of physics, chemistry or medicine. There is no perpetum mobile or healing with good vibrations if you really work hard on it. Most cases turn out as fraud. So how can we distinguish these research approaches and ideas from the real good ideas and inventions? If there would be a simple answer, I will not write it in a blog. I would sell this for a fortune and spend all the money for research. Sorry, to be not serious but the problem is multi-dimensional and fills hundreds of pages of strategic documents. The Austrian ministry of Research has had several attempts to involve people in this question, the result was frustrating. Most of the ideas were simply weird or impossible and only a few ideas can be counted as an interesting topic. It was surprising that these contributions were not from real lay people but from researcher looking for more attention on their research field.
But our classification of citizen science misses another group – who is evaluating at the end of a project or a research activity the results? I think this is much more sensitive than asking questions. A dull question can be identified and sorted out. If we talk about results of citizen science and other research projects we face the problem of bias in the evaluation. Can personal interest or a specific type of mindset in the broader society modify the evaluation? I mentioned above the DNA cracking experiments. In Austria is it common understanding that a modified plant cannot be cultured and planted out. Citizen science will be accepted by the community and by the society as long as it happens in a cozy environment and doesn’t hit some sensitive issues.

No "we can..." at all? 
Ups, we have now two fields opened where we cannot easily agree on the “we can…!” statement. It is complicated and there is no real willingness to open it to a broader society. We cannot. Not yet because we are not ready for this kind of participation. I mentioned the citizen science movement is not new. Therefore it was easy to label existing forms of participation and the use of new technologies as a new approach for science. It was not a real problem and not a real effort to define citizen science as the new way of research. But if we are serious about involving the society we have to change cultures and behaviors to allow asking and evaluating. Science is much more than doing some funny experiments and counting rare species. It is based on knowledge which is the fundament of every discussion, activity and research. Combined with ethics and legal issues we define a framework which exclude some very open minded ideas. Privacy, protection of rights and other issues must be considered and not everything what is possible should be elaborated.

(c) W. Schneider 
So, what do we need?
We need a lot of education starting in the primary schools to teach children the principles of research without destroying their natural curiosity. This can be done in class or in institutions where young people get in touch with science. We send our kids to sports and music lessons teach them in culture and whatever – but barely anything is provided to have a permanent education in science. Why? I cannot give a clear answer but have the feeling that citizen science could be the key for more awareness and consciousness for research to change the culture in our society. As the example of the biohackers show – it is a very positive way of knowledge production and is driven by curiosity and fun. Especially for Kids is the game factor highly relevant. If it makes fun and sense it would attract them later as adults and they will contribute to citizen science. I am convinced some day we also ask questions and evaluate results as citizen. Independently how we call it in the future – someday we can… 

About
This blog was generated as assignment for the lecture "Open Science, the better science?" in January 2016. It is based on a discussion from December 2015. 
Born in 1969, I work in the field of research since 1998, currently as strategic advisor, for science communication and science festivals. I am an alumni of BOKU and hold a master degree in civil engineering. Since 2014 I am a student at the STS institute, University of Vienna. 
Find me on twitter: @WaSch_DC 

References
Delfanti, A. (2011). Hacking genomes. The ethics of open and rebel biology. International Review of Information Ethics, 15(09), 52-57.

8 comments:

  1. Citizen science is not real science anyway.

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  2. This is a rather silly and unproductive comment. Why and how is citizen science not real science? What is real science?

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    1. I agree, the diversity of science is important. You can not compare CS with blue sky research, applied sciences and other forms of science. Every approach has plus and minus but to have a polemic argument which excludes CS from beginning is not helping in a discussion...

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  3. It is crucial to put the magnifying glass on how and where, citizen science informs policy makers and the public at large. Citizen science could also be "scientifically" problematic and it could lack from social robustness too. Systematic and rigorous peer review should play a role in this controlling role. By whom? Who pays that? Not sure... but someone should be taking care of the validity of knowledge, always.

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  4. What do you think about the ownership of the data which is produced in the citizen science initiatives of the future you envision Walter? I worry that we nowadays produce lots of data, such as DNA records, which others monetise - like biomedical Mark Zuckerbergs, our information enriches those at the top. How can we mitigate against this as we move citizens into the design and evaluation phases?

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    1. Ownership is always a problematic issue. But more relevant seems privacy regarding personal date like DNA. Is there a direct link to the contributor of data? I think it depends strongly to the research field. Anonymous contribution has some advantages but can lead to misuse by trolls or faked data. My recommendation is transparent rules on one hand and consciousness about where and what data I want to share.

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  5. Oops something went wrong here with my initial post, so this will be my second atempt. I hope I'll be able to hit the right button this time.
    Thank you for the read Walter!
    In your paragraph headed with MAKERS you give the impression as if you deemed people enabling citizen science practices that want to earn their lives with what they are doing as of somewhat inferior standing in - whatever that may be - researcher's ethics? My question is, what is wrong with economic interests as one of the guiding rationales for engaging in (citizen) science in capitalist societies?
    Generally I like your classification and I think you are highlighting those groups of people that are most often forgotten in descriptions of citizen science projects, research designers and those people earning academic for the presentation/publication of results. But still I come to another conclusion than you do, I would rather say: Open Science, yes we do, even if some guys inside of traditional academia have roblems with acknowledging our work and with making sense out of differing practices.
    And there as a last remark, I would have preferred reading your post in German, as I think that your argumentation would gain through this.

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    1. Steve,thank you - as a reply to the last remark: as far as you know I am used to have discussions about science in German. This topic was not new to me. To rethink some thoughts and bring them in another language cuts off the details and some losses are given. If you start the argument in a foreign language the expression is different...

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