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Citizen Science

Citizen Science (CS) represents a growing trend where volunteer non-scientists participate in data analysis for a scientific project. This guide introduces UCLA students, faculty, and staff to CS projects on campus and around the world.

What Is Citizen Science?

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Citizen Science (CS), also known as "crowdsourcing" or "crowd-sourced science," is the growing practice of public involvement in the gathering, analyzing, or sorting of scientific data for research purposes. Formally, citizen science refers to "the general public engagement in scientific research activities when citizens actively contribute to science either with their intellectual effort or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources" (according to the "Green Paper on Citizen Science," page 6). That is, citizen science can refer to a wide range of activities, from pubic involvement in crowdsourcing data analysis to the financial support of research by members of the public.

Citizen Science in the News