Resources

The federal government has been working to validate the citizen science movement as reflected in the Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of 2017. 15 USC 3724. Technology Link. Chapter 63. Many states have similar legislation.

Over the course of two years, members from multiple Sea Grant programs across the country worked together to draft a network visioning document. Published in 2018, this document sets to establish guidance and direction over the next 10 years as Sea Grant develops its crowdsourcing and participatory science capacity.

The fact sheet below summarizes the results of a survey of federal and Sea Grant participatory science programs and a literature review focused on DEI best practices. There two shorter topic focused fact sheets that were developed as a result of the survey: Relationship Building and Program Planning & Funding. 

One of the most challenging aspects of participatory science efforts is collecting, organizing and managing the data collected by participants. Many companies provide software platforms to facilitate this process, each having their own benefits and drawbacks. When creating a participatory science project, the design process needs to consider the data management plan of the effort. CitizenScience.gov has a list of items to consider when establishing how to set up an effective data management plan. Link to data management toolkit.