Introduction

There are two themes to the final week. The first theme is case studies of citizen science projects from around the world that illustrate how the data collected by participants in the example projects contributed to scientific knowledge. The second theme is reflections on the contributions that citizen science and, more particularly, citizen scientists themselves can make to the advancement of our understanding of global diversity in a connected world. This introductory video features a discussion between two of the course authors – Janice Ansine and David Robinson – about how their interest in citizen science was stimulated and what projects particularly excited them from the examples described in the course.

Transcript

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

• use online resources to find and participate in citizen science projects
• understand the scope of existing citizen science projects
• understand the value of data sets and be able to quote examples
• recognise and give examples of the value of technology in enhancing citizen science projects.