Citizen science: integrating scientific research, ecological conservation and public participation
Citizen science,also known as "public participation in scientific research",is defined as scientific activities in which non-professional scientists participate as volunteers in data collection,analysis and dissemination within a scientific project.With the advent of the information age,citizen science projects,especially in ecological conservation and environmental monitoring,are rapidly expanding our knowledge of the world around us,and contributing to management and policy decisions.Citizen science projects can be classified into five types of models:contractual,contributory,collaborative,co-created and collegial projects.In China,public participation in science related activities has had a long history,but current contributions in citizen science are limited because of relatively low public participation,and the weaknesses in data quality control,data management and analysis.Recently,citizen science has been applied to bird watching and plant monitoring,with some positive and negative experiences.To better increase citizen science activities and enhance such contributions to academic research,improvements are urgently required in financial support,the development of project platforms,the application of new technology,and international collaboration.We believe that the enhancement of citizen science will greatly promote the development of ecological conservation,environmental monitoring and related research fields.To help with this we have established a platform for China citizen science projects (http://www.gongzhongkexue.org) to promote communication and cooperation among scientists,governments,other organizations and the public.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
