A Citizen Science Community of Practice: Relational Patterns Contributing to Shared Practice

Citizen science networks are a recent global phenomenon, with associated communities of practice that have emerged to support growth in the field and the development of practices. Effective communities of practice are dependent on the interactions from the social network underpinning the community....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Citizen science : theory and practice 2022-01, Vol.7 (1), p.3
Main Authors: Sbrocchi, Carla, Pecl, Gretta, van Putten, Ingrid, Roetman, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
citizen science
Communities of practice
conferences
Knowledge
knowledge sharing
Science programs
science-society interface
Scientists
Social network analysis
Social networks
Surveys
transdisciplinarity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Citizen science networks are a recent global phenomenon, with associated communities of practice that have emerged to support growth in the field and the development of practices. Effective communities of practice are dependent on the interactions from the social network underpinning the community. We examined the Australian citizen science practitioner network, using a combined social network analysis and survey approach. Our goal was to understand the structure and characteristics of this network, to establish who participates in this network, where and how interactions occur, and explore what participation achieves for the users. The Australian citizen science practitioner network has benefited from face-to-face citizen science events to make important connections that have been leveraged to benefit other working relationships and positive outcomes, especially for early-career practitioners and women within the network. How the community of practice continues to navigate successful knowledge exchange across society and science, whether through interactions in face-to-face or virtual settings, will need to be addressed as the community continues to grow in scope and size. In particular, the network will need to consider supporting key individuals who play important bridging functions across the citizen science practitioner network. The emergence of transdisciplinarity amongst those working in citizen science is a promising property of this learning community that is worth working strategically to maintain.
ISSN:2057-4991
2057-4991
DOI:10.5334/cstp.358