Dr. Susanne Hecker: Citizen Science Communication

This interactive workshop is aimed at acquiring a profound understanding of science communication in citizen science and why this is important. We will 

• explore exercises from improvisation theatre to get a deeper understanding of basics of human communication.
• dive further into the heterogeneous aspects of communication actors in citizen science, possible different motivations to participate or do a citizen science project, different expectations, values, communication aims and habits, including media use. 
• reflect on these different views by interactively working in small groups that each represent one actor group.
• identify possible benefits and challenges of communication and interaction in a citizen science project.

The collaboration between scientists and volunteers from society requires communication and interaction to meet the aims of the project and to enable the scientific process. This communication can happen within citizen science projects or as communication from within to actors outside the project and includes communication of research methods, data sampling protocols, training tools, research results or discussions and much more. What makes the communication in citizen science much more complex than traditional science communication is that the audiences of communication are no longer necessarily external audiences while they are not the traditional inner-scientific audiences of scholarly communication either. In any case, communication is no longer separate from the research activities, it becomes an integral part of the project. Simply put: If we scientists fail to communicate with the other actors involved in citizen science, we risk the success of the project. Yet, communication and interactions are highly complex.

While the workshop will include theoretical input, it is mainly an interactive workshop with room for reflection and discussion.

To be most effective and beneficial for your own citizen science project, you are invited to prepare a short description of your citizen science project. This can be an ongoing project or a project you would like to do in the future. The guiding questions are: What is your research question? Why do you choose a citizen science approach? What is special about your project especially related to communication? Why should we work on your project in the workshop?Please feel free to bring an illustration of your project (idea). We will choose one or two projects and collaboratively work on it during the workshop.

For further information about Susanne Hecker, see the Speakers & trainers site

Session: Parallel Workshops 1

Date: Wednesday, June 16th (Part 1 & 2)