Citizen science can also feature in a discussion about community concern over a news issue. For example, the issue of local pollution from fracking activities for the extraction of gas and oil in the US gained attention in the early 2010s. This provided an opportunity for the US National Public Radio (Npr) to develop a story about the involvement of local people in monitoring the impact. Local reporter, Katie Colaneri, focuses her story on Joanne Martin, a resident of Pennsylvania, who has been carrying out water quality monitoring in the Brady Run stream for three years. The reporter uses her story to link the monitoring of environmental quality and the activism about the pollution that oil drilling can cause. In this case, the article focuses on the aspects of citizen science, but in other cases, the personal story takes centre stage.

The image shows a woman making a sample

Screenshot of the State Impact website: https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/12/19/gas-drilling-draws-citizen-scientists-to-the-field/ (or here as a PDF)

Another example for such a story is the detailed profile of Hugh Brown and his effort to collect and monitor kissing bugs. The profile puts Hugh in the centre of the story, but also conveys the challenges of the Chagas disease and the wider context. 

Source:

https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/10/chagas-disease-kissing-bugs-hunt/ (or here as a PDF)

Last modified: Monday, 21 June 2021, 6:57 PM