This is a high-level, 1 hour 45 minutes course introducing the ethical imperative for conducting citizen science as open science, including what open science is and how its outputs and processes can be incorporated into all aspects of citizen science.
The primary audience are citizen science practitioners such as those already managing a project or starting a new one. However, no prior knowledge about open science is assumed, and anyone with an interest in open science is encouraged to take this course.
After completing this module, you will be able to:
Start here!
Welcome to this course on doing citizen science as open science! Here, we introduce what you can expect to learn in this course, as well as a little information about the creators.
Before we begin, take a moment to reflect on your current understanding of the course topic. We will revisit your response later in the course.
If you ask 10 people what open science means, you may get 10 different answers. Before going into the processes and outputs of open science, it is important to reflect on the motivations for doing open science and introduce some definitions.
Doing open science means openly sharing the outputs from throughout the scientific process for others to study and build upon.
Since open science is so central to this course, it is important to establish a common understanding with the learner on what the term means.
Reflect and test your knowledge on the information you learnt in this section.
In this section we provide instructions and best practice advice on how to publish your scientific outputs. We several specific examples, but remember this information applies to other types of outputs too.
Some advice and tips on how to facilitate sharing and reuse of your work.
We've covered some best practices for sharing your work, but where should you share those files?
Publishing papers with Open Access is integral to doing open science.
Reflect and test your knowledge on the information you learnt in this section.
Software and hardware are increasingly integral to running a citizen science project. This section provides an overview of the types of relevant software and hardware outputs from citizen science. It will also outline the tools to help publish the research and development lifecycle for software and hardware.
And why are they integral to open science?
Software is integral, sometimes in subtle ways, to many citizen science projects. It is worth being familiar with the ways to publish it as open science.
Best practices for
publishing software also applies to hardware. But on top of that, there
are a number of international standards that you should try to adopt
when developing your hardware.
In this section we dispel common misconceptions regarding permissions for reuse of published material, and why it matters to citizen science and open science. We provide a basic summary of key legal concepts for open science (e.g. copyright), introduce the use of open licenses that enable sharing and reuse and give some citizen science examples.
Legal
concepts related to open science are abstract, but help the learner appreciate
that by pro-actively addressing legal issues, open science and citizen science
both benefit.
Legal concepts can feel very abstract, so here we introduce copyright via two concrete examples.
Much of what citizen science does are examples of open science processes. This is where citizen science can set an example for open science practitioners.
This section explains how citizen science has broadened and diversified ways to civic engagement.
Real world examples of citizen science projects that practice open science processes.
Get inspired by a documentary about citizen science.
Overview of topics covered and final quiz for completion badge.
Reflect back on your original thoughts before starting the course, and leave with some food for thought.
Please look here for more information and resources.
Link(s) to where the content of this course has been archived.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this course possible.