Citizen Science in Austria

Citizen Science, die aktive Einbeziehung von Laien ohne akademische Ausbildung in den wissenschaftlichen Prozess, hat in den letzten Jahren eine massive Zunahme im Rahmen akademischer Disziplinen und Projekten erfahren. Diese aktive Beteiligung kann auf viele verschiedene Arten gestaltet werden, die oft projekt- und kontextspezifisch sind. Die Popularität der Citizen Science geht Hand in Hand mit der Diskussion über Open Science, und tatsächlich sind beide Konzepte in vielerlei Hinsicht eng miteinander verbunden. Während in der offenen Wissenschaft Laien nicht unbedingt in ein Projekt einbezogen werden müssen, nutzt die Bürger*innenwissenschaft häufig Methoden und Werkzeuge der offenen Wissenschaft, um diese aktive Einbeziehung zu ermöglichen. In diesem Text geben wir eine kurze Einführung in die Citizen Science, ihre Verbindungen zur Open Science und die Entwicklungen der Citizen Science in Österreich in den letzten Jahren und in der Zukunft.Citizen Science, the active involvement of lay people without any academic education in the scientific process, has experienced a massive increase in academic fields and projects in the last years. This active involvement can be designed in many different ways, which is often project and context specific. The popularity of citizen science goes hand in hand with the discussion about open science, and in fact both concepts are deeply connected with each other in many ways. Whereas in open science lay people don’t have to be involved in a project necessarily, citizen science often uses open science methods and tools to make this active involvement possible. In this text, we will give a short introduction to citizen science, its connections to open science, and the developments of citizen science in Austria in the last years and in the future

Mutual learning exercise on citizen science initiatives: policy and practice. Fifth thematic report: scaling up citizen science

This publication addresses meanings, dimensions, models and approaches/strategies of scalability in citizen science as well as drivers, success factors and challenges of (up)scaling citizen science projects and initiatives across Europe. It provides a multi-dimension qualitative definition of scaling up, the MLE CSI-PP Responsible and Inclusive Scalability Framework, and eight key areas of action for policymakers aimed at supporting the (up)scaling of citizen science projects and initiatives across Europe. Ultimately it argues that (up)scaling should be a responsible and inclusive process, context- and domain-dependent, aligned with the logics of the projects/initiatives, driven by common scientific questions and common social challenges, and built on proven impact, related to science and scientific literacy, inclusion, regulatory frameworks, and matters of concern (e.g., environmental, societal)

THE VIENNA PRINCIPLES: A VISION FOR SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION IN THE 21st CENTURY

Zur Zeit gibt es starke Bemühungen, die offensichtlichen Defizite des wissenschaftlichen Kommunikationssystems zu beheben. Open Science hat das Potenzial, die Produktion und Verbreitung von wissenschaftlichem Wissen positiv zu verändern; es existiert aber keine gemeinsam geteilte Vision, die das System wissenschaftlicher Kommunikation beschreibt, welches wir erschaffen wollen. Zwischen April 2015 und Juni 2016 trafen sich in Wien die Mitglieder der Open Access Network Austria (OANA) Arbeitsgruppe "Open Access and Scholarly Communication", um diese Angelegenheit zu diskutieren. Das Hauptergebnis unserer Überlegungen sind zwölf Prinzipien, die die Eckpfeiler eines künftigen wissenschaftlichen Kommunikationssystems dedarstellen. Diese Prinzipien sollen einen kohärenten Bezugsrahmen für die Debatte zur Verbesserung des derzeitigen Systems liefern. Mit diesem Dokument hoffen wir, eine breite Diskussion über eine gemeinsame Vision für die wissenschaftliche Kommunikation im 21. Jahrhundert anzustoßen.Currently, there is a strong push to address the apparent deficits of the scholarly communication system. Open Science has the potential to change the production and dissemination of scholarly knowledge for the better, but there is no commonly shared vision that describes the system that we want to create. Between April 2015 and June 2016, members of the Open Access Network Austria (OANA) working group "Open Access and Scholarly Communication" met in Vienna to discuss this matter. The main outcome of our considerations is a set of twelve principles that represent the cornerstones of the future scholarly communication system. They are designed to provide a coherent frame of reference for the debate on how to improve the current system. With this document, we are hoping to inspire a widespread discussion towards a shared vision for scholarly communication in the 21st century

The Vienna Principles: A Vision for Scholarly Communication in the 21st Century

Zur Zeit gibt es starke Bemühungen, die offensichtlichen Defizite des wissenschaftlichen Kommunikationssystems zu beheben. Open Science hat das Potenzial, die Produktion und Verbreitung von wissenschaftlichem Wissen positiv zu verändern; es existiert aber keine gemeinsam geteilte Vision, die das System wissenschaftlicher Kommunikation beschreibt, welches wir erschaffen wollen. Zwischen April 2015 und Juni 2016 trafen sich in Wien die Mitglieder der Open Access Network Austria (OANA) Arbeitsgruppe "Open Access and Scholarly Communication", um diese Angelegenheit zu diskutieren. Das Hauptergebnis unserer Überlegungen sind zwölf Prinzipien, die die Eckpfeiler eines künftigen wissenschaftlichen Kommunikationssystems darstellen. Diese Prinzipien sollen einen kohärenten Bezugsrahmen für die Debatte zur Verbesserung des derzeitigen Systems liefern. Mit diesem Dokument hoffen wir, eine breite Diskussion über eine gemeinsame Vision für die wissenschaftliche Kommunikation im 21. Jahrhundert anzustoßen

Citizen science’s transformative impact on science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes

Citizen science (CS) can foster transformative impact for science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. To unleash this impact, a clearer understanding of its current status and challenges for its development is needed. Using quantitative indicators developed in a collaborative stakeholder process, our study provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of CS in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our online survey with 340 responses focused on CS impact through (1) scientific practices, (2) participant learning and empowerment, and (3) socio-political processes. With regard to scientific impact, we found that data quality control is an established component of CS practice, while publication of CS data and results has not yet been achieved by all project coordinators (55%). Key benefits for citizen scientists were the experience of collective impact (“making a difference together with others”) as well as gaining new knowledge. For the citizen scientists’ learning outcomes, different forms of social learning, such as systematic feedback or personal mentoring, were essential. While the majority of respondents attributed an important value to CS for decision-making, only few were confident that CS data were indeed utilized as evidence by decision-makers. Based on these results, we recommend (1) that project coordinators and researchers strengthen scientific impact by fostering data management and publications, (2) that project coordinators and citizen scientists enhance participant impact by promoting social learning opportunities and (3) that project initiators and CS networks foster socio-political impact through early engagement with decision-makers and alignment with ongoing policy processes. In this way, CS can evolve its transformative impact

Citizen Science and the Role in Sustainable Development

Citizen science (cs) has manifold potential in generating new knowledge, raising awareness and enabling learning, as numerous studies have shown in recent years [...

Occurrence of the invasive Spanish slug in gardens: can a citizen science approach help deciphering underlying factors?

Abstract Background The Spanish slug (Arion vulgaris, also known as A. lusitanicus) is considered one of the most invasive species in agriculture, horticulture and private gardens all over Europe. Although this slug has been problematic for decades, there is still not much known about its occurrence across private gardens and the underlying meteorological and ecological factors. One reason for this knowledge gap is the limited access of researchers to private gardens. Here we used a citizen science approach to overcome this obstacle and examined whether the occurrence of Arionidae in Austrian gardens was associated with meteorological (air temperature, precipitation, global solar radiation, relative humidity) or ecological factors (plant diversity, earthworm activity). Occurrence of the invasive A. vulgaris versus the similar-looking native A. rufus was compared using a DNA-barcoding approach. Results Slugs were collected from 1061 gardens from the dry Pannonian lowland to the wet alpine climate (altitudinal range 742 m). Slug abundance in gardens was best explained and negatively associated with the parameters “sum of the mean air temperature in spring”, “number of frost days in the previous winter” and “mean daily global solar radiation on the day of data collection”. Precipitation, plant diversity and earthworm activity were also related to slug abundance, but positively. Out of our genetic sampling of collected slugs, 92% belonged to A. vulgaris. Conclusions Our study showed that citizen science (i) is a feasible approach to record species occurrence in restricted areas across a wide geographical range and (ii) could be more widely employed in order to identify underlying environmental factors of species occurrence