Citizen Science: A Roadmap for Science Centres and Museums

Abstract

The modern era of fundamental sciences is demanding involvement of the general public in scientific research. Over the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the diversity and scale of citizen science. Initiatives range from crowd sourcing activities, in which the time and effort of large numbers of people are used to solve a problem or analyse a large dataset, to small groups of volunteers, who are experts in their own right, collecting and analysing environmental data and sharing their findings. Now, using the power of the Internet and local platform of science centres, non-specialists/scientists can participate in world-class scientific projects for effective and useful production of scientific results in time. The emerging field of citizen science has potential to become one of the strongest pillars for science communication through science centres. This article discusses how citizen science can be benefitted with the involvement of science centres & museums. It also brings the subject in front of the professional science communicators for detailed discussions about its feasibility and appropriateness for science centres & museums in the years to come.