A talk exploring the different ways to analyse the policy aspects of citizen science, especially from the persepctive of environmental protection agencies in Europe. More information at http://wp.me/p7DNf-mE

1. Citizen Science & Policy – possible
frameworks?
Muki Haklay, Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group, UCL
Source: iMP

3. © Kathmandu Living Labs
• Harnessing of Web
and mobile tools to
create, assemble,
and disseminate
geographic data
provided voluntarily
by individuals
• AKA Crowdsourced
Geographic
Inofrmation
Volunteered GI (VGI)
Mapping in Kathmandu
© MySociety

4. Potential Information flows
Public Government
 Public → Government
 Government → Public → Government
 Public → Government→ Public

5. http://wp.me/p7DNf-gx
3rd era of environmental
information
Government
Experts
Citizens

6. Success factors
Factors that can be identified include:
• Individual level influence (champions,
intrapreneurs)
• Organizational level influence (roles, practices,
laws, complementary information)
• Business models (long/short term, funding
cycles)
• Technical problems (merge and use information)
• Conceptual issues (‘control’/’uncertainty’, threat)

7. Analysis dimensions
• Level of Geography – scale or operation +
jurisdiction / governance structure
• Stage in policy formation – evidence plays
different role and use in different way
• Mode of engagement – The degree of
involvement that is required from a
participant.

8. Geography
• Hyper-local / Neighbourhood - ad-hoc, easy coordination,
short-term projects
• City / Town / County – local government or NGOs, funding
available + easy communication (face-to-face)
• Regional - weak governance structure, lack of funding, ad-hoc
or project based link between local organisations, difficult
communication
• National / Country – national government, national NGOs,
funding available, communication difficult (hence more
towards crowdsourcing)
• Supra-national / continent - weak governance, weak funding,
very expensive communication, cultural differences

9. Mode of Engagement
• Passive Sensing (StreetBump)
• Volunteer Computing (Quake Catcher)
• Volunteer Thinking (Lake Wiki, Galaxy Zoo)
• Environmental and Ecological Observation
(Marine Litter Watch, Enviroza, Riverfly
partnership)
• Participatory Sensing (NoiseWatch, iSPEX,
AQE)
• Civic/Community science (Citclops DIY water
monitoring)

10. Public involvement in policy
Discovery
(define issues &
alternatives)
Education
(about issue &
alternatives)
Measurement of
public opinion
Persuasion
(desired
alternative)
Legitimization
of the
decisions
Implementation
Walters, L. C., Aydelotte, J., & Miller, J. (2000). Putting more public in policy
analysis. Public Administration Review, 60(4), 349-359.

11. Policy aspects
• Policy implementation
• Best practice guidance
• Policy compliance
• Policy enforcement
• Policy legitimation
• Policy review, revision or
evaluation
• Fostering societal
and/or behavioural
change
• Funding strategy
• Identify new policy issue
• Data gathering
• Generate participation
• Awareness raising
• Lobbying
• Supporting interest groups
• Supporting joined-up
government
• Generating policy options

13. Hyper Local
• Geographical scale: neighbourhood
• Policy: environmental monitoring / supporting
interest group
• Engagement: participatory sensing,
civic/community science

17. City Scale
• Geographical scale: city level
• Policy area: smart cities / air quality
• Policy process: data gathering, special interest,
enforcement, monitoring, awareness
• Engagement: passive sensing / Civic science

19. Continental
• Geographical scale: continental
• Policy domain: support of scientific effort
• Policy stage: none (though possible evidence
for climate change impact)
• Engagement: ecological observation