From citizen science to citizen action: analysing the potential for a digital platform to cultivate attachments to nature
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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DOI
Identifying private gardens in the U.K. as key sites of environmental
engagement, we look at how a longer-term online citizen science
programme facilitated the development of new and personal attachments
of nature. These were visible through new or renewed interest in
wildlife-friendly gardening practices and attitudinal shifts in a large
proportion of its participants. Qualitative and quantitative data, collected
via interviews, focus groups, surveys and logging of user behaviours,
revealed that cultivating a fascination with species identification was key to
both ‘helping nature’ and wider learning, with the programme creating a
space where scientific and non-scientific knowledge could co-exist and
reinforce one another.
engagement, we look at how a longer-term online citizen science
programme facilitated the development of new and personal attachments
of nature. These were visible through new or renewed interest in
wildlife-friendly gardening practices and attitudinal shifts in a large
proportion of its participants. Qualitative and quantitative data, collected
via interviews, focus groups, surveys and logging of user behaviours,
revealed that cultivating a fascination with species identification was key to
both ‘helping nature’ and wider learning, with the programme creating a
space where scientific and non-scientific knowledge could co-exist and
reinforce one another.
Keywords
- Citizen science, Environmental communication, Public understanding of science and technology
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | A07 |
| Journal | Journal of Science Communication |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Jan 2019 |