<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<bold>Background:</bold> Citizen science offers an attractive paradigm for addressing some of the complex problems facing society. However, translating the paradigm’s potential into meaningful action and sustainable impact remains a formidable challenge. Historically, the citizen science landscape was fractured into silos of activities; nonetheless, it has demonstrably delivered credible results. An innovative concept of the Citizen Observatory offers a tractable means of mitigating many of the recurring issues that historically afflicted citizen science initiatives, thus empowering a new generation of citizen scientists. Citizen Observatories may be regarded as open, standardised software platforms for community-based monitoring of any phenomenon of interest.
<bold>Objectives:</bold> This paper seeks to validate a Citizen Observatory in a traditional citizen science context, that of butterfly recording.
<bold>Methods/Approach:</bold> A case study was undertaken in a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve.
<bold>Results:</bold> A community of citizen scientists successfully recorded various observations concerning butterflies, their feeding behaviours, and their habitat. The resultant dataset was made available to the local government environmental agency.
<bold>Conclusions:</bold> The Citizen Observatory model offers a realistic basis for enabling more sustainable participatory science activities. Such developments have implications for non-government organisations, businesses, and local governments.
</abstract>

Background: Citizen science offers an attractive paradigm for addressing some of the complex problems facing society. However, translating the paradigm’s potential into meaningful action and sustainable impact remains a formidable challenge. Historically, the citizen science landscape was fractured into silos of activities; nonetheless, it has demonstrably delivered credible results. An innovative concept of the Citizen Observatory offers a tractable means of mitigating many of the recurring issues that historically afflicted citizen science initiatives, thus empowering a new generation of citizen scientists. Citizen Observatories may be regarded as open, standardised software platforms for community-based monitoring of any phenomenon of interest.
Objectives: This paper seeks to validate a Citizen Observatory in a traditional citizen science context, that of butterfly recording.
Methods/Approach: A case study was undertaken in a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve.
Results: A community of citizen scientists successfully recorded various observations concerning butterflies, their feeding behaviours, and their habitat. The resultant dataset was made available to the local government environmental agency.
Conclusions: The Citizen Observatory model offers a realistic basis for enabling more sustainable participatory science activities. Such developments have implications for non-government organisations, businesses, and local governments.

The Citizen Observatory: Enabling Next Generation Citizen Science

Business Systems Research Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The Citizen Observatory: Enabling Next Generation Citizen Science"}

Background: Citizen science offers an attractive paradigm for addressing some of the complex problems facing society. However, translating the paradigm’s...

The Citizen Observatory: Enabling Next Generation Citizen Science

Published Online: Apr 10, 2022

Page range: 221 - 235

Received: Nov 05, 2020

Accepted: Jun 24, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bsrj-2021-0029

Keywords
citizen science, Citizen Observatory, open science, participatory science

© 2021 Michael O’Grady et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Citizen Observatory: Enabling Next Generation Citizen Science

Published Online: Apr 10, 2022

Page range: 221 - 235

Received: Nov 05, 2020

Accepted: Jun 24, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bsrj-2021-0029

Keywordscitizen science, Citizen Observatory, open science, participatory science

© 2021 Michael O’Grady et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
citizen science, Citizen Observatory, open science, participatory science