This upcoming April 22nd is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and is the perfect time to consider citizen science. This year’s Earth Day theme is climate action. There are many ways to get involved in the fight against climate change, including participation in citizen science. In honor of this auspicious anniversary, here are some useful citizen science resources.
What is citizen science?
“In citizen science, the public participates voluntarily in the scientific process, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications, and solving complex problems. In crowdsourcing, organizations submit an open call for voluntary assistance from a large group of individuals for online, distributed problem solving.” (citizenscience.gov)
To find Citizen Science projects
- SciStarter An online database and platform for citizen science projects. Lists opportunities both online and in person. Also contains tools for scientists to promote their project, find participants, and then manage their projects.
- Nature Groupie A project from the New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. Focuses on citizen science projects in the New England area.
- Zooniverse An online platform for web-based citizen science projects in many subjects. Projects range from counting species, drawing cells, to transcribing historical documents.
- CitizenScience Contains a directory of citizen science projects from federal agencies.
Specific Ongoing Efforts
- EarthEcho Water Challenge: Monitoring bodies of water
- SETI@Home: Looking for extraterrestrials.
- Astroquest: Exploring Galaxies
- Reef Life Survey: Monitoring Coral Reefs
Citizen Science Resources
- EPA Citizen Science Resources
- ArcGIS Citizen Science Resources
- Citizen Science Community Resources: Provides resources for community environmental health and justice campaigns.
- Arizona State University Citizen Science LibGuide: Great beginner’s guide to citizen science.
Books
- Learning Through Citizen Science: Enhancing Opportunities by Design. By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018.
- The Librarian’s Guide to Citizen Science Edited by Darlene Cavalier, Caroline Nickerson, Robin Salthouse, & Dan Stanton. 2019.
- The Crowd and the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse By Chris Lintott. 2020.
Anne Marie Engelsen, Science Reference Librarian, University of Maine
We welcome your comments and suggestions. If you have a resource that you would like to see highlighted, please leave us a comment.
News Yakaja Resources 
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has several bird-related citizen science projects. The one I’m most familiar with is eBird (ebird.org). Described as “the largest citizen science project in the world”, eBird is an open access database of observations made by birders from around the world. Here’s just one example of the way eBird data has been used:
https://ebird.org/news/observations-shared-by-bird-watchers-reveal-migratory-pathways-of-more-than-600-bird-species
There are many other bird-related citizen science projects as well. For example, Cornell has several others that are also ongoing, and Audubon runs the annual Christmas Bird Counts.
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