Definition
When a data collection and/or analysis project is distributed amongst members of the public, the project is often referred to as citizen science. Members of the public are recruited to collect data or a dataset is made publicly available and members of the public will analyze it. Citizen science is particularly useful for gathering complex observational data simultaneously or performing pattern analysis. Popular citizen science projects include Galaxy Zoo where a series of telescope images has been released and members of the public have been asked to classify the galaxies.
Further Resources
Darch P. (2014). Managing the Public to Manage Data: Citizen Science and Astronomy. International Journal of Digital Curation, 9(1). doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v9i1.298
Duke M. (2012). ‘Citizen Science’. DCC Briefing Papers. Edinburgh: Digital Curation Centre.
Lagoze C. (2014). eBird: Curating Citizen Science Data for Use by Diverse Communities. International Journal of Digital Curation, 9(1). doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v9i1.302