Reanna Putnam, Author at Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences

07 Jan 2020

Water Quality Monitoring Webinars

Webinars

CSA will be hosting two webinars this month for the National Water Quality Monitoring Council. It was with great sadness that the Advisory Committee for Water Information (a Federal Advisory Committee Act entity) was moved to administrative inactive status until further notice, which included the National Water Quality Monitoring Council (Council). The Council, which existed for 23 years to help coordinate, communicate, and collaborate around the assessment of our nation’s waters, was home to the national volunteer monitoring work group. The volunteer monitoring work group hosted a webinar series for practitioners and interested folks in aquatic citizen science (webinar archives…

30 Dec 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Citizen Science Month Webinar

Citizen Science Month, Webinars

How do we get potential citizen science contributors (the public) more comfortable with participating in real science projects when they have not ‘done’ science since high school, and even then, in a controlled environment? What is important for certain communities, or the general public, to know about your studies, and how can you create mutually beneficial projects? Register Here SciStarter, Arizona State University Library, and the School for the Future of Innovation in Society know that people are interested in learning about and contributing to science that addresses a variety of topics, local to global in scale. In this webinar,…

30 Nov 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Policy Perspectives on Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing: A special issue of CS:TP

Journal, Law & Policy

Photo credit: Lea Shanley Guest post by Lea A. Shanley, Alison Parker, Sven Schade, and Aletta Bonn, Guest Editors of the Special Issue. It is with great pleasure that we announce the publication of the first set of papers for the Journal Citizen Science: Theory and Practice standing special issue titled, “Policy Perspectives on Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing.” Full issue available here. Citizen science and crowdsourcing sit at the intersection of public participation and knowledge production. These approaches can provide the evidence-base to inform a wide range of management and public policy decisions, while at the same time, foster civic…

04 Nov 2019

By Reanna Putnam

CSA Webinar: Approaching Informed Consent in Citizen Science: Legal and Ethical Issues

Ethics, Law & Policy, Webinars

Register Here Presented by the Law and Policy Working Group and Ethics Working Group Date: Friday, November 22, 2019, from 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM EST How do we know when citizen science contributors consent to participation in a research project? What are the risks to citizen science contributors (e..g, privacy and security) and citizen science project owners, respectively? Sometimes citizen science research is subject to federal regulations related to consent, and sometimes it is not. In this webinar, we will briefly review the laws, regulations, and ethical perspectives on informed consent in the United States. Specifically, this webinar will…

29 Oct 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Law & Policy Working Group Hosts Webinar to Launch Question Submission Tool

Law & Policy, Webinars

By Shaun Goho, George Wyeth, and Lea Shanley, CSA Law and Policy Working Group Lea Shanley, Shaun Goho, and George Wyeth. Photos courtesy of authors. Citizen science practitioners can run into a variety of questions about the laws that affect how they can conduct their work, and how their data may be used by government agencies or courts. For example, citizen scientists may want to know whether they need to get a permit before gathering data in state parks, whether there are limits on what activities they can carry out near pollution sources designated as “critical infrastructure,” or what data…

17 Sep 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Announcing CitSci2021

#CitSci2021, Conference

photo by Cody Doherty for Unsplash We are excited to announce that CitSci2021 will be held in conjunction with Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS) on May 25-29, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. CitSci2021 is the third biennial conference of the Citizen Science Association. SAVE THE DATES for CitSci2021:May 25-29, 2021Phoenix, Arizona This ASU partnership opens many topical doors for broadening conversations at the next CSA event, including but not exclusive to citsci in the context of: low cost tools, public policy, public health, rural and native communities, libraries and science centers, space exploration, and…

28 May 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Toward Citizen Science Policy Outcomes

Law & Policy

By: Kasantha Moodley and George Wyeth of the Environmental Law Institute for the Law and Policy Working Group In ways that did not exist even ten years ago, everyday people are acting as scientists: contributing their time and data to make notable discoveries, answer lingering questions, and develop awareness. Motivated by technology innovations, public concern, and limited institutional capacity, citizen scienceis gently reshaping the conventional systems that address human health and environmental protection. Particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements were at one time the sole purview of government agencies, usually sampled only across broad regional areas.…

25 May 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Summer Webinar Series

Education, Ethics, Webinars

We are pleased to be hosting three engaging webinars in the month of June, two from organizational partners, and one from our Ethics Working Group. Webinars are one way that the CSA works to engage citizen science practitioners through the sharing of tools, tips, and reflections that highlight best practices and emerging issues in citizen science. These FREE Webinars are available to all - please register via the links below to confirm your place and receive access instructions. Details below. SciStarter Education: a New EdTech Platform for School Districts and Universities Register Here Monday June 10th, 2pm EST Reflecting on…

18 Apr 2019

By Reanna Putnam

Environmental Justice at CitSci2019

#CitSci2019, Conference

We chose environmental justice as a special track at CitSci2019 to highlight the unique lessons we can learn from community science methods employed by environmental justice groups since the 1980s. Environmental justice (EJ) advocates and activists have for decades used community science to raise awareness about EJ concerns, inpower residents, increase community capacity, and translate research to action. A special panel discussion with activists from across the US and Puerto Rico was held on this topic called, “Environmental Justice and Community Science: A Social Movement for Inpowerment, Compliance, and Action.” In addition the the special panel, there were workshops and…

11 Apr 2019

By Reanna Putnam

CitSci2019 Supports Teachers

#CitSci2019, Conference, Education

Rachael Polmanteer and her students on a camera trapping expedition. Photo courtesy of R. Polmanteer. The education track of the conference explored citizen science both in K-12, classrooms, higher education, and out-of-school settings, with an emphasis on scientific inquiry and civic action. There were three talk sessions devoted to K-12 Classroom educators, each with 6-8 presentations on varying topics. There were dozens of hands-on workshops before and after the main conference program will take educators on a journey of experiential learning, inspiring them to guide their students in designing their own investigations. Attendees learned about cutting edge citizen science happening…

Author: Reanna Putnam