We are proud to announce our Deliverable 3.7 Citizen Science as a communication tool in the Post-Factual Era is available for download on Zenodo and in our Deliverables page!
This document aims at initiating a reflection on how citizen science can become a science communication tool with potential to tackle misinformation. To achieve this, we envisioned to open the discussion with the citizen science projects enrolled in NEWSERA as pilots; at the same time, we considered how to bring both research and practice experts to enrich the debate and open a new direction in this matter of timely global concern. NEWSERA organised and tested two workshops with the collaboration of the NEWSERA pilots and invited experts.
During this research, NEWSERA found that citizens involved in citizen science projects become important data collectors and producers and can play a key role when it comes to science information and education. The document analyses the ways in which citizen science projects can contribute to tackling one of the main problems we face nowadays in science communication: misinformation. After a comprehensive reflection on the matter, in a co-creation process with the NEWSERA pilots, partners and other stakeholders such as H2020 SwafS-19 sister projects (for instance, TRESCA and ENJOI) and communication experts, we provide as a main output a set of take-away ideas on how to use data and information in CS projects to help tackling misinformation, such as:
- publish your methodology and data following FAIR principles;
- discuss current existing gaps in knowledge and limitations of the scientific methods;
- act on the 3 phases of misinformation, with a holistic and transversal approach.
To read more recommendations on how to combat misinformation in citizen science initiatives, download the full document on Zenodo.
Cover photo: Timotej Nagy/Pexels