The Journal of Brief Ideas

By Sven Schade

We envision a web-enabled European Citizen Science Platform that opens research supported by the European Union for collaborations with the public. Our initial investigations concentrate on environmental sciences and sustainability research in order to support the living within the limits of our planet.

This activity shall advance science by (i) providing easy access to data, services, models, publications, etc.; (ii) listening to emerging debates and areas of interest; and (iii) enabling deep engagement in scientific processes for anybody interested. Web technologies will be a key element in order to reach a wide audience, enable re-use of available resources in innovative applications, and foster collaboration beyond the physical space.

We hope to address questions such as:

Which web-tools would allow you to get as involved in science as desired?
What should be done within Europe in order to support European and non-European citizen?
What would you expect as the European Commission’s contribution to a Citizen Science Platform?

The Open Research Accelerator should help to identify and shape expectations, collect potential components and promising approaches, and avoid developments into undesired directions. This first activity of awareness raising and co-design should initiate a collaborative process beyond the event itself.

Comments

Nice idea, but before starting to build yet another platform, would suggest 1) a survey of what's already out there at the regional and national levels and how that could be leveraged and 2) A "market" survey of who the users will be and what will motivate them to contribute/use this platform.

Francois Grey · 4 Nov, 2015

Valid comment, Fancois. Thanks! Re (1): we do not intent a new development, but to re-use existing methods and tools – including sharing of best practices and documentations that allow evaluation of fitness for purpose, but also reflections on robust and flexible technical architectures to enable combined use of heterogeneous solutions. A survey on data management practices in citizen science and discussions with Citizen Science Associations helped in reviewing existing components and to shape a way ahead. Re (2): this is partially matched by these activities. We now hope to get a reality check and additional inputs during MozFest 2015.