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Community Science; Participatory Science : Home

Building community engagement with university research.

Steenbock Librarian

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Karen Dunn
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Science & Engineering Libraries (SEL)

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Science & Engineering Libraries

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Science & Engineering Libraries

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Introduction to this guide...

Community scientists advance knowledge by observing phenomena, recording data, and assisting, actively, with professional researchers in the field. This guide has been created to bring together selected resources that speak to community, participatory science as a topic of scholarship and community of practice as well as to opportunities through which our students, general public, and research staff can engage.

While opportunities abound, it has been my intent (primarily) to identify and to link to programs, projects, and educational tools (library collections and services) from within our "neighborhood"-- our institution, Wisconsin, and the Midwest.

Companion Research Guide

Research Impact: Broader Societal Impacts

Community Science; Citizen Science Inspiration

"Citizen Science: Everybody Counts" with Caren Cooper. TEDx Greensboro, 2017.

Engage with Science in Our Community (Campus Calendar of Events)

Citizen Science: Theory and Practice (journal)

  • Research Infrastructures in Citizen Science: State of Knowledge and Taxonomic Framework As a Pathway to SustainabilityThis link opens in a new window Citizen science platforms (CSPs) and citizen observatories (COs) are rapidly expanding research infrastructures (RIs) that support the growth of citizen science. These systems have boosted data collection capabilities and broadened participant engagement across spatial and demographic dimensions. Despite their essential role in advancing citizen science, the current state of knowledge of these infrastructures remains largely unexplored, affecting both theoretical understanding and practical implementation. The study discussed herein addresses this knowledge gap through a systematic review of 474 articles, with in-depth analysis of 72 publications spanning a 15-year period across multiple disciplinary domains. The methodological framework integrates bibliometric analysis with qualitative investigation, utilizing Web of Science and Scopus databases, supplemented by grey literature from Zenodo and Google Scholar. Findings indicate that research in this field has developed across three main waves: technological development and engagement, monitoring systems and openness, and frontiers technologies. This evolution reflects a progression in the CSP body of knowledge from technical documentation to complex socio-technological systems. Analysis of 450 articles identified 98 unique terms referring to CSPs, highlighting conceptual fragmentation. To clarify the landscape of overlapping, we propose a CSP purpose-based taxonomic framework comprising nine platform categories, contributing to a clearer understanding of the CSPs’ role in citizen science. Additionally, our systematic analysis reveals key research trajectories essential for strengthening CSPs and COs as sustainable infrastructures. Jul 6, 2025
  • A Framework for Learning Through Citizen Science: The Case Study of the Big Seaweed Search MexicoThis link opens in a new window Big Seaweed Search Mexico (BSS-Mx), a citizen science study, was implemented to address challenges associated with massive strandings of Sargassum in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, which is one of the complex socio-environmental issues affecting coastal ecosystems in the region. Adapted from the original Big Seaweed Search UK (BSS-UK), where people search for a set of macroalgae related to climate change, BSS-Mx invited young people aged mainly 12–19 years old from two Yucatan coastal communities to evaluate the abundance and species composition of the strandings in collaboration with scientific researchers. We present a critical consideration of the learning framework that was designed to enable participants to achieve the expected learning outcomes, taking into account that BSS-Mx participants had limited technological access and some educational disadvantages. This paper does not report measured learning outcomes but rather reflections from facilitators on the learning observed or self-reported in the CS process conducted. We provide recommendations on how to i) generate environmental and scientific learning and skills through citizen science and ii) motivate and maintain engagement and participation. The results suggest that to encourage learning through citizen science, it is necessary to i) undertake continuous formal and informal training, ii) connect specific topics with real socio-environmental problems in a local context, iii) undertake practical scientific activities, iv) reinforce scientific skills through monitoring activities, v) incorporate game-based teaching strategies, and vi) not fully depend on technology to participate. Internal and external motivators were important to foster and sustain engagement and participation. May 15, 2025
  • Consistency and Validity of Participatory Science Data: A Comparison of Seasonality Patterns of Northern California and Nevada Birds Across eBird and iNaturalistThis link opens in a new window Participatory science platforms like iNaturalist and eBird support large, engaged communities of observers who produce substantial amounts of biodiversity data. Despite similarities across platforms, their participants are quite distinct in profile (e.g., hobbyists versus enthusiasts) and contribute data in different manners, frequencies, and magnitudes, raising questions about platform-specific biases and whether combining species-level data across platforms is advisable. This study establishes a methodology for assessing mergeability of observation records from iNaturalist and eBird using relative temporal distributions. Specifically, we employed circular statistical methods to compare seasonality patterns using records from 254 bird species in Northern California and Nevada during 2019 and 2022. We developed a circular optimal transport-based test to assess statistical equivalence of frequency distributions within species across platforms and years. Using eBird 2022 as a baseline, we found that over 97% of species were mergeable from eBird 2019 and iNaturalist 2022 datasets, and over 88% of species were mergeable using iNaturalist 2019 records. Subsequent comparison of combined data revealed archetypal seasonality patterns that matched known migratory behaviors or otherwise exhibited discrepancies explainable with expert knowledge about observer and bird behavior. Our findings provide quantitative evidence to suggest that only a small minority of species in our study exhibit major differences that prevent them from being reasonably integrated across platforms, and our approach highlights the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in analyzing participatory science data. These results indicate transformative potential for participatory science projects small and large to contribute to broadscale analyses by organizing and pooling data across projects. Mar 27, 2025
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Participatory Sciences in Higher Education

Spotlight

Get involved with Citizen Science at the UW-Madison Arboretum!

Citizen science is well established at the Arboretum. Key projects focus on monarch butterflies, dragonflies, birds, fungal diversity, and water quality monitoring. The Arboretum also partners with state and federal agencies, academic institutions, and nonprofit groups on programs related to its mission and research priorities.

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Spotlight!