Citizen science and citizen journalism.

Bit of a whirlwind of a week 2, exploring some new and old concepts.

In JSB's lecture last week, we heard about some examples of technology or scientists opening things up for others to explore and add to research. Citizen science and journalism is just that. That any of us can have a role in this. The activity introduced us to the Evolution Megalab. This project looks at banded snails and encourages us to go out hunting and record our findings. Having grown up as a somewhat nature freak, this is actually quite exciting - to think that I can add to the research being done.  So basically citizen science is about getting the public involved in science research - is this social learning or just a way for scientists to get others to do their work?! Citizen journalism works much the same way, but with journalism. We are probably more familiar with this, with mobile recordings now being regularly used by news programmes.

JSB said that we start to defines ourselves by the society we belong to - that we contribute to. Contribution helps us to build our identity and feel valued. So these are good examples of how traditional communities of practice are opening up to the rest of the world. For me the things to think about though are the quality  of the research or journalism; the motivations of those taking part and the actual sources. These make the 'sourcing' of evidence particularly hard, when you have no control over the content. It's a brave step to open up like this - or is the step just a response to lack of resources and having to think creatively in order to get the research done?