Participatory science: a great learning tool

In a galaxy far, far away, participatory science, also known as citizen science, was being deployed with zeal. They formed one of the main learning dynamics offering everyone an opportunity to get involved to the extent of their motivation.

If the idea of the mass of citizens contributing to the advancement of science through the multiplication of tiny but repeated questions, actions or observations sounds like science fiction, the vitality of the phenomenon is very real.

Not content with carpooling, creating collaborative banks, setting up and financing projects directly and collectively, here the "co world" is now attacking the bastion of science. Participatory science has been invented since the early 2010s.

This is how the "world of co" is now attacking the bastion of science.

In Germany, for example, 5,000 amateurs were able to capture 17,000 mosquitoes and identify a new invasive species, while in 2014 in England 66,000 volunteers made their computer's computing power available to help test 33,000 flood forecasting models linked to climate change.

While the participation of non-scientists in research is nothing new, it has taken on a new scope with the performance of information and communication technologies. Participatory science brings together two words.

• The science requires validation by peers, and conditions of refutability and reproducibility.
  
• The participation is defined as the competence of citizens to be concerned and mobilized by a problem and to act to understand it.
  

Research objects and methods vary, as does the level of participation. Thus, citizens can be simple data collectors (crowdsourcing), they can contribute to data interpretation (distributed intelligence), they can be involved in problem definition and data collection (participatory science), or they can be involved in all phases of the research (full collaboration).

The posture of actors in the research process can be very different from the posture of citizens in the research process.

The posture of the players varies from simple volunteer, to initiated citizen, to informed collaborator in the research.

Action research

Action research dates back to the early twentieth century, and with the rise of learned societies it has certainly contributed to a breeding ground for civic engagement. The scientometry shows an exponential increase in the number of publications since the early 2000s. The phenomenon is not only growing and spreading in various sectors of activity, but is also the subject of analysis and research.

For example, the motivations expressed are scrutinized and reveal interests in knowledge production, professional interests, passion, social interests, curiosity or the response to ecological commitments. In short, participatory science is a global phenomenon, on the rise, highly unifying, with diverse and contrasting purposes.

A developing social impact

The benefits lie in the production of knowledge and societal impact, on a variety of subjects. Risks also exist. They may be technical (project management, data interpretation, project fatigue), but they are often expressed by scientists themselves: disillusionment with the results, poor data quality, risks to researchers' autonomy, lack of rigor or even manipulation of citizens.

The benefits are in terms of knowledge production and societal impact, on a variety of subjects.

To sum up, what participatory science brings us is the missing link in helping to give a taste for learning to a mass of individuals who may be passionate about it, but don't always have access to sufficiently stimulating support, leverage or project to begin in-depth work on the subject.

Illustration: Bruce Rolff - ShutterStock

Going further

Reading the report on "Participatory science in France"
http://www.sciences-participatives.com/Rapport