Growing the Base for Citizen Science
Growing the Base for Citizen Science
Recruiting and Engaging Participants
This chapter examines strategies for recruiting and retaining participants in national citizen science projects based on insights that have emerged during fifteen years of marketing and communicating such initiatives at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It stresses the importance of understanding participant motivations and designing projects to appeal to targeted groups. It also discusses ways of publicizing citizen science projects through national and local media campaigns, Web communications, and engagement of volunteer “ambassadors.” Finally, it considers how project participants and program staff broaden and deepen their relationships with one another through online communities and on-the-ground community involvement. Three case studies are presented to demonstrate the importance of participant engagement in citizen science: the eBird project, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and the Celebrate Urban Birds project.
Keywords: project participants, citizen science projects, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, citizen science, media campaigns, online communities, community involvement, eBird, Great Backyard Bird Count, Celebrate Urban Birds
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