2019 personal communication
The problem with delineating narrow criteria for citizen science
Auerbach, J., Barthelmess, E. L., Cavalier, D., Cooper, C. B., Fenyk, H., Haklay, M., … Shanley, L. (2019, July 30).
Heigl et al. (1) propose an international definition of citizen science based on quality criteria for projects. As an international group of scholars with extensive background in the theory and practice of citizen science, we find the Opinion by Heigl et al. (1) antithetical to the creativity, innovation, and bottom-up pathways to knowledge generation that are embodied by citizen science. The minimum quality standards Heigl et al. (1) propose do not represent the interdisciplinary consensus of the international citizen science community*, and we fear that such a definition would confine rather than define the field. Many citizen science professionals, including some of the authors of this … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: jeremy.auerbach{at}colostate.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1