Types and Levels of Citizen Science

The growth of citizen science has led to the development of three broad categories, with seven levels of demonstrating public engagement.

Main types of citizen science

Citizen science includes a wide range of activities and is gaining increasing recognition among the public and within the area of research. This growth and expansion of citizen science has led to the development of three broad categories, which may also overlap.

The three main types of citizen science are detailed in the chapter Citizen Science for Observing and Understanding the Earth, (Muki) Haklay, M., Mazumdar, S., Wardlaw, J. (2018). [In: Mathieu, PP., Aubrecht, C. (eds) Earth Observation Open Science and Innovation.]

• “Long-running citizen science” which can include ecology & biodiversity, meteorology, and archaeology. An example is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.
• “Citizen cyberscience” which can include volunteer computing, volunteer thinking and passive sensing.  An example of volunteer thinking is Snapshot Serengeti.
• “Community science” which can include participatory sensing, DIY science and civic science. An example is UCL’s Institute of Global Prosperity’s longitudinal study of prosperity and Olympic legacy regeneration in east London.

For more information about the above, see the Open@UCL Blog post and the Introduction to Citizen Science at UCL webinar.

Levels of engagement in citizen science

The various practices of citizen science can be arranged along a continuum demonstrating public engagement activities.

The 'Doing It Together Science' (DITOs) escalator model below estimates the scale of participation in different levels of engagement in science. The 'escalator' concept is focused entirely on an individual and how they move along from passive consumption of science to being fully engaged in DIY science.

Passing through this 'escalator' of participation, a person from any walk of life may become aware of different levels of participation and choose which is best for them, whilst being encouraged to try other levels - either towards higher or lower levels of engagement - in accordance with their needs, interests and availability of free time.

There is further information on the levels of engagement including the DITOs case study in the journal article Citizen science impact pathways for a positive contribution to public participation in science, Skarlatidou, A. and Haklay, M. (2021). [In JCOM 20 (06), A02]