2018 Conference

Poster Presentation

Citizen science increases public inclusion in the creation and use of environmental science data, affording scientists and members of the public the opportunity to collaborate on research projects that address specific problems. Chesapeake Bay scientists recognize that collaborations with citizen groups are instrumental in developing a comprehensive understanding of watershed health. To promote such partnerships, the Chesapeake Bay Program recently launched the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative, inviting volunteer groups to share their data so that it can support large-scale watershed health assessments. However, the research goals of professional and citizen scientists often differ, and this perceived misalignment of priorities can discourage citizens from engaging and sharing data with professional scientists. This poster describes how the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative project is successfully recruiting volunteer groups to contribute their data. The poster also shares results from two comparison analyses used to investigate the goals of both professional and citizen scientists in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and highlights areas of consensus where citizen and professional scientists can work together to answer research questions and fulfill scientific and community needs. Exploratory analyses of interview and survey responses conclude that many citizen scientists’ goals initially appear to be unrelated to the goals of traditional scientists; however, further investigation reveals that these differing goals can be reached with the same re-purposed data. Similarly, a second comparison analysis of volunteer-collected data and the Bay Program’s defined goals reveals substantial overlap. Collaboration between professional and citizen scientists has demonstrated potential to support research that is not only more comprehensive and thus better able to inform policy and management decisions, but also more inclusive and useful for the public. To effectively collaborate, scientists should legitimize citizen monitoring objectives, facilitate collaborative dialogue, and actively empower citizen scientists to contribute to the development of a new, more integrative understanding of the Bay.