Designing (for) change: a taxonomy-based approach to project design

For realising the transformative potential of citizen science, in science, society, and policy, effective project design is essential. The effectiveness hinges on dimensions such as the design of incentives, communication, or the implementation of participation. For evaluating and improving the effectiveness of citizen science projects and enabling structured comparisons between initiatives, entering a dialogue on the various design decisions citizen science practitioners face is indispensable. Nevertheless, to date, there is no guiding schema for assessing the project design of citizen science projects, although numerous classifications have been developed for the degrees and forms of citizen science participation.
In this talk, we present a design taxonomy for citizen science projects and examine its usefulness for citizen science practitioners. We highlight the development and evaluation of the taxonomy and report the findings of its application to 66 projects listed on the German citizen science platform Bürger schaffen Wissen.
The talk introduces the fundamental theoretical principles of the taxonomy and discusses how the classification of citizen science projects could enable structured evaluation of projects, using examples from our survey on Bürger schaffen Wissen. ... mehrOur findings indicate major differences across the design of citizen science projects that can be grouped into multiple design clusters, partially correlated with the projects’ objectives and their type of participation.
The presentation seeks to demonstrate that a project design taxonomy is not merely an ontological instrument that pertains to the realm of theoretical discourse on citizen science. Through making design choices tangible, the taxonomy and the results of its application serve as a baseline to navigate the citizen science design sphere, while empowering a dialogue between practitioners that is necessary to identify needs for change and innovation. Thereby, the taxonomy is intended to encourage a change in project evaluation, promote community sharing of best
design practices, and the creation of new citizen science initiatives.