Citizen Science: it's still science

It's science, Jim, but not as we know it... Here in the Netherlands, more and more amateurs help out with research projects in their spare time, writes Dutch daily NRC this week. A win-win situation?

One of the first 'Citizen Science' projects NIOO was involved in dates back to the beginning of this century, when the phenomenon was still largely unknown in the Netherlands.

Secondary school pupils were asked by NIOO and the Central Institute for Test Development to keep track of the numbers and behaviour of coots over a five-year period. Already at that time, internet was considered the perfect tool for communication.

Everyone a scientist?

In recent years, the popularity of projects such as this one has gone through the roof, writes NRC. 'Professional' scientists are not complaining, according to the paper: faced with tight budgets they can see the advantage of having potentially millions of unpaid helping hands.

This summer, the science magazine EOS even launched a special website in the Netherlands: iedereenwetenschapper.nl ("everyone a scientist"). Projects that users of the website can participate in range from solar flares to the urban climate in the city of Amersfoort.

Specific data

But Wim van der Putten, NIOO's head of Terrestrial Ecology, says in NRC that in order to be more than platforms for - welcome - enthousiasm, Citizen Science projects also need to generate "specific data".

A successful project first launched by NIOO last year, Bodemdierendag ("soil animal day") will be 'upgraded' for its second edition to allow for this: participants will have the option to submit more detailed observations that can help answer specialist questions.

Tea bags & tights

Another project NIOO has been involved in, NETLAKE Citizen Science, may be 'amateur science' in name but its protocols and European framework are both precise and demanding. Even if researchers Laura Seelen and Lisette de Senerpont Domis (AKWA) make use of such unconventional tools as tea bags and black tights.

Those tea bags, incidentally, can only be a specific brand (Lipton) and flavour (green tea or rooibos). Otherwise comparisons between different locations would be less than exact, and the project's validity would be compromised.

No easy way out

Of course managing projects such as NETLAKE, and subjecting the fruits of the amateur scientists' labours to vigorous scrutiny, involves a lot of work. So it would be wrong to conclude that Citizen Science offers researchers an easy way out.

At the end of the day, Citizen Science is still science: if it's to have any validity, it has to be rigorous, well-managed and taken very seriously.
 

• Amateurs diving into science: article in Dutch daily NRC (in Dutch)