The new episode of our podcast "Wissen macht Leute" is about the participation initiative "IdeenLauf" in Germany, organized by Wissenschaft im Dialog. Our guests were Martin Gora from Wissenschaft im Dialog and Miriam Schwendtker, who participated as a citizen in the Citizen Panel. Listen in!

The climate crisis repeatedly exposes existing weaknesses in democratic practice.On the one hand, groups that are most affected by the consequences of climate change are often underrepresented in the prevailing political and planning practice. On the other hand, social inequality and the exclusion of people from political decision-making processes increases the loss of trust in political decision-makers and institutions. The new project GUMPI aims to explore possible applications of Citizen Social Science (CSS) in urban development, especially regarding the potential of involving usually underrepresented groups. Interested? Then have a look at the project's website and join the research!

The aim of the new project Urban Heat Stories is to collect personal heat experiences of senior citizens in the area around the Quellenplatz in Vienna's 10th district, because older people are considered particularly vulnerable on hot days. Take a look at the project and join the project!

WG for quality critera (ongoing)

At the annual platform meeting of Österreich forscht on 1 March 2017, the partners decided to set up a working group on quality criteria for citizen science projects. This became necessary because, due to new funding programmes and the level of awareness of citizen science that has been achieved in the meantime, more and more projects consider themselves as citizen science, which also requested to be included in Österreich forscht. Up to this point, projects were examined by the platform coordinators for consistency with the different definitions of citizen science before they were accepted. In order to create objective, comprehensible and, above all, transparent criteria for the future, the working group for quality criteria was founded. The working group consists of project leaders and partners of Österreich forscht and is headed by Florian Heigl and Daniel Dörler.

Results:

• Mentoring programme (in German)
• Publications
  • Heigl F, Dörler D, Bartar P, et al (2018) Qualitätskriterien für Citizen Science Projekte auf Österreich forscht. Zenodo
  • Heigl F, Dörler D, Bartar P, et al (2018) Quality Criteria for Citizen Science Projects on Österreich forscht. Zenodo
  • Heigl F, Dörler D (2017) Public participation: Time for a definition of citizen science. Nature 551:168.
  • Heigl F, Kieslinger B, Paul KT, et al (2019) Opinion: Toward an international definition of citizen science. PNAS 116:8089–8092.
  • Heigl F, Kieslinger B, Paul KT, et al (2019) Reply to Auerbach et al.: How our Opinion piece invites collaboration. PNAS 116:15338–15338.
  • Heigl F, Kieslinger B, Paul KT, et al (2020) Co-Creating and Implementing Quality Criteria for Citizen Science. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice 5:23.

WG for Legal Aspects (closed)

In the course of developing quality criteria for citizen science projects at Österreich forscht, it soon became apparent that recommendations for existing and new citizen science projects are needed for certain areas, which project coordinators can use as a guideline. One very important area is legal aspects, which often arise for project coordinators for the first time in the context of citizen science projects. Therefore, the working group on legal aspects in citizen science has developed a recommendations for general legal questions in the context of citizen science projects. The recommendations are based on questions from ongoing projects on Österreich forscht and the input of lawyers who have dealt specifically with this topic.

Results

• Events:
  • Citizen Science & Legal Aspects Part 1: GDPR
  • Citizen Science & Legal Aspects Part 2: Copyright and licensing law
• Publications:
  • Reckling T, Hofer A, Dörler D & Heigl F (2018) Empfehlungskatalog für juristische Fragen in Citizen Science Projekten (Version 1).

WG Biodiversity (closed)

During the annual platform meeting of the Citizen Science Network Austria on 31.01.2018, the participating partners decided to establish a working group on open biodiversity databases. The following objectives were addressed in the working group: (1) Creation of a questionnaire to help assess the feasibility/meaningfulness of opening specific citizen science biodiversity databases (tested on existing and theoretical projects).(2) An implementation/experience report from an Austrian citizen science project that is opening its biodiversity database.

Results:

• Publications:
  • Heigl F, Dörler D, Walter T, & Morawetz L (2019) Citizen Science Network Austria Arbeitsgruppe für Offene Biodiversitätsdatenbanken in Citizen Science Projekten: Fragenkatalog für Projektleiter*innen (Version 1).
  • Heigl F, Dörler D, Walter T, & Morawetz L (2019) Citizen Science Network Austria Working Group on Open Biodiversity Databases in Citizen Science Projects: Catalogue of Questions for Project Managers (Version 1).
  • Implementation and experience report from an Austrian citizen science project that opens its biodiversity database:
    • In the Roadkill project of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, 912 Citizen Scientists reported 17,163 roadkills from 2014-2020. This Austrian citizen science project was selected to try to open up its biodiversity database and to document the hurdles that had to be overcome. The first step was to identify which repository, i.e. public database, would be most suitable for the collected roadkill data. We decided to publish the highest quality data on GBIF. GBIF - the Global Biodiversity Information Facility - is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world's governments that aims to provide open access to data on all species of life on Earth to anyone, anywhere. We wanted to publish the quality level 2 data on Zenodo. Zenodo is an open-discipline repository, based at CERN and funded by the European Commission. In contrast to GBIF, Zenodo does not have any specifications regarding the properties or formats of the data. Publishing data via Zenodo is therefore very simple and straightforward. GBIF currently only allows organisations to publish data, and only data that meets the strict biodiversity data standards accepted by GBIF. The first hurdle was to find an organisation that was willing to publish the data from the Roadkill project. We finally found this in the Biology Centre of the Upper Austrian State Museum, which runs the database ZOBODAT, whose data are also feed into GBIF. Besides the Biology Centre, there are many other organisations in Austria that publish data in GBIF. Another way would be to register your own organisation on GBIF and host the data yourself. The second hurdle was to bring the collected data into a data standard requested by GBIF. This required a lot of time resources and could be avoided by introducing the appropriate standard for data collection at the start of the project. Another important step was to describe exactly how the published data was collected and checked for accuracy, so that researchers and other interested parties could understand how the published data was collected and then use it for their own research or conservation actions. We have published this description of the data in the form of a data paper in the international scientific journal Scientific Data. Such a publication is optional and does not have to be done via a peer-reviewed journal. One can also add such a description in an abbreviated form directly in GBIF. The experiences described above show that the publishing of biodiversity data from citizen science projects can be challenging if the data were not collected according to the specifications of the respective repository. If possible, the repository in which the data is to be published should be determined at the start of the project in order to simplify the publication process. It remains to be seen which advantages will result from publication. However, we are convinced that the publication will contribute to the fact that the time invested by citizen scientists in data collection will be even more appreciated, as the data can now be used not only for the Roadkill project but also for other research projects, thus creating added value.

WG Open Science (ongoing)

The open science trainings working group has set itself the goal of promoting the dissemination of Open Science methods and facilitating their implementation in everyday scientific work. Project managers often lack knowledge of specific tools or their application. The training workshops, which are available to all interested parties, follow a “train-the-trainer” approach, where those who complete them should acquire the knowledge needed to then be able to pass on that knowledge of how to use specific tools to others. The goal is to offer discipline-specific training workshops. Workshops are announced on Österreich forscht.

Results:

• Events:
  • GitHub 4 Newbies (25/10/2018)
  • Finding and getting found: a workshop on academic literature search (26/04/2019)
  • How can I make my data FAIR? (27/06/2019)
  • Open Science & Nursing: Opportunities and Barriers - a Dialogue (25/11/2019)
  • Webinar: Digitization and Participation in Health Research (07.07.2020)
  • Workshop: senseBox - Citizen Science and Open Hardware for SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements (18/12/2020)
  • Workshop: Open Education: Presentations, Slides & open licences (17/07/2021)
  • Webinar & Workshop: Copernicus: Using Europe's satellite data for your own climate research (23/11/2021); in German
  • Webinar & Workshop: How to win grants with open science (10/12/2021, 13/12/2021); in German
  • Webinar: How to address Open Science in EU projects (09/06/2022): Slides & Video recording

WG Conference (ongoing)

The Working Group "Conference" organizes the annual Austrian Citizen Science Conference. It is composed of the local organization team, which changes every year depending on the conference location, and a team of dedicated individuals, which on the one hand takes care of the scientific support of the conference (i.e. mainly evaluating the incoming contributions for the respective conference), and on the other hand also prepares general documents, which enable a flow of information between the different local organization teams from one year to the next. Thus, the conference working group is a core element in the organization of Austria's largest Citizen Science event.

• Report on the 2022 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2020 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2019 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2018 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2017 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2016 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2015 Austrian Citizen Science Conference

WG Schools (ongoing)

The working group "Citizen Science at/with schools" was founded during the platform meeting on 26 June 2019 in Obergurgl to bring together the numerous experiences from the cooperation between science and schools. The members of the WG come from research institutions and schools.

Results:

• Publications:
  • Cieslinski M, Heinzelreiter-Wallner G, Scheuch M, Siegele P, Ernst M, Frigerio D, Grabner M, Hofer A, Lampert P, Mädge A-L, Mattenberger H, Pany P, Pirker H, Steurer W, Wagner S & Westreicher F (2021) Citizen Science – Forschen mit Schulen. Grundlagen, Empfehlungen & praktische Tipps für gemeinsame Projekte.

WG Strategy (ongoing)

The aim of this working group is to develop a strategy including an action plan for the development of the Citizen Science Network Austria and the associated platform Österreich forscht until 2027.

Results:

• Vision and Strategic Goals 2022 - 2027 (in German)

The crowdsourcing project "Writing History: Letters 1920-1934" is about the transcription of the unique letter collection of the Vienna City Library from this period. In contrast to historical printed works, which are now subjected to automatic full-text recognition as standard, this is still not so easy to do for manuscripts - especially when the documents come from many different writers, as in this case. If you want to join this new project, then have a look at the projects' website.

It is an open secret that the hardware in our smart devices contains not only plastic, but also conflict materials such as tungsten, tin, tantulum and gold. In the new project Salon of Open Secrets, this topic is addressed with the help of an online game in which players discover alternative technologies. More information on this exciting project can be found on the project preview page on Österreich forscht.

bee produced GmbH launches the first digital B2B marketplace for local electronics production including a white label solution for use in the websites of electronics producers. The new marketplace helps companies to easily and quickly find suitable electronics producers in their vicinity and to coordinate their needs with them in detail using the structured ordering process and the integrated collaboration tool. This significantly simplifies the data exchange between the clients and the producers due to the high degree of systematisation and automation. bee produced GmbH focuses on deep tech solutions for electronics production, but also takes responsibility for relevant social issues such as fairness, education and recycling. In this context, the company participates in various projects that address these topics.

One of these is the “Recycling Heroes” project, which aims to raise awareness about e-waste, especially among schoolchildren, but also in society in general. The project combines the principles of circular economy with citizen science methods. On the one hand, the students work as citizen scientists on quantifying household e-waste and designing specific strategies to promote recycling. On the other hand, other students are involved in the development of electronic products that can be used in other current citizen science projects. For example, these products can collect data on temperature, air quality and noise pollution and make them available on the internet as open data. All students participating in the project can act as citizen scientists and identify challenges and potentials for waste minimization, as well as design and implement appropriate solutions.

Counselling centres for women* are important institutions that have been founded since the 1980s by the second women's movement. In the new project The Psychological is Participatory, researchers are conducting research together with counsellors and clients of Viennese women's* counselling centres on the life stories of women* who seek help at counselling centres. All information on this exciting project can be found on Österreich forscht! Join in the project!

Besides the climate crisis, the global biodiversity crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. In order to protect our biodiversity efficiently and to be able to detect changes at an early stage, close monitoring of our biodiversity is necessary. This can help to build up a reference database that is as complete as possible. In the ABOL-BioBlitzes project, you can help to build up this database. You can find out how this works in practice at Österreicht forscht. Join the project!

With the "ABCs of Dialect" you can rediscover old German dialect words and help us process the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Bavarian-Austrian language area! Check out the project description to find out how you can participate in this new project on Österreich forscht!