Abstract
Citizen science (CS) and citizen humanities (CH) are increasingly engaging people in participatory and contributory activities that support research conducted by universities, museums, and archives. These relatively new terms describe different types of public interactions with tangible and intangible cultural, natural, and scientific heritage, often involving digital archives, museum-collection databases, or crowdsourcing platforms. Although public involvement with the work of science and cultural heritage research institutions is not a modern phenomenon, the rapid development and accessibility of digital tools is broadening and transforming knowledge practices in significant ways. Emerging from different trajectories of disciplinary and professional development, citizen projects in the sciences and in the humanities are not easily compared. This chapter approaches topics in CS and CH as tacking stitches, binding disciplines in the exploration of shared, pertinent questions: In which ways do perspectives on democratization inform communication models in CS and CH? How are knowledge and communication practices in citizen projects in the sciences and humanities organized? What are the respective and shared motivations of institutions and volunteers? What are some emergent trends and issues in the development of CS and CH, and how are these relevant for museum and heritage studies? The chapter identifies principles, challenges, and implications of public participation in citizen projects on both general and domain-specific levels and introduces the interdisciplinary background and approach in the book.
Link to chapter.