Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 23;2(4):100224.
doi: 10.1016/j.patter.2021.100224. eCollection 2021 Apr 9.

Citizen science as a data-based practice: A consideration of data justice

Debora Irene Christine  1 , Mamello Thinyane  1
Affiliations

Citizen science as a data-based practice: A consideration of data justice

Debora Irene Christine et al. Patterns (N Y). .

Erratum in

Abstract

Citizen science has been motivated by several perspectives, including increased efficiency in data collection and distributed analysis, democratizing knowledge production, making science more responsive to community needs, and improving the representation of marginalized populations in public data. Despite the potential of citizen science to achieve social justice agendas through a data-intensive and data-driven participatory scientific enquiry, scholarship in critical data studies offers several problematizations of data-based practices, highlighting risks of exclusion and inequality. To understand the extent to which citizen science supports and challenges forms of injustice, this study used a "data justice" analytical framework to critically explore the assemblages of citizen science. We examined four citizen science cases with different levels of citizen engagement, intended outcomes, and data systems. The analysis suggests instances of injustice occurring throughout the data processes of the citizen science cases across the dimensions of procedural, instrumental, rights-based, structural, and distributive data justice.

Keywords: citizen science; data assemblage; data justice; data practice; data science; equity; marginalization; participation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual model of data justice
Figure 2
Figure 2
The information value chain
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bonney R., Cooper C.B., Dickinson J., Kelling S., Phillips T., Rosenberg K.V., Shirk J. Citizen science: a developing tool for expanding science knowledge and scientific literacy. BioScience. 2009;59:977–984.
    1. Goodchild M.F. Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography. GeoJournal. 2007;69:211–221.
    1. United Nations Universal declaration of human rights. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
    1. UNECE Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. Int. Leg. Mater. 1999;38:517–533.
    1. McKinley D.C., Miller-Rushing A.J., Ballard H.L., Bonney R., Brown H., Cook-Patton S.C., Evans D.M., French R.A., Parrish J.K., Phillips T.B. Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection. Biol. Conserv. 2017;208:15–28.

LinkOut - more resources