https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9516-876X
Citizen science practitioners are inherently busy people. This is because truly successful citizen science, which is a means of public engagement in scientific work that can expand the scope, reach, and impact of research (Shirk and Bonney 2020), nearly always requires herculean effort by a team of leaders with diverse skills. The payback is well worth it, but due to excessive workloads, citizen science practitioners (myself included) find it challenging to keep up with the quickly expanding literature and other resources meant to help develop and guide better citizen science. Over the last few decades, the field of citizen science, and especially its application to ecology and conservation, has matured immensely (see MacPhail and Colla 2020 for a comprehensive review). For instance, the practice now has dedicated guiding organizations (e.g., Citizen Science Association, https://www.citizenscience.org/) linked by a global “network-of-networks” (Citizen Science Global Partnership, http://citizenscienceglobal.org/). It even has a scholarly peer-reviewed journal (Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, published by Ubiquity Press for the Citizen Science Association) and is endorsed by the US government (https://www.citizenscience.gov/#). Globally, millions of citizen scientists are engaged in bird conservation every year: for example, in North America by the National Audubon Society (https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science), Cornell Lab of Ornithology (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/citizenscience), and Birds Canada (https://www.birdscanada.org/you-can-help/citizen-science/). Citizen science data now fill a critical role in advancing wildlife conservation around the world: for example, by providing the bulk of the information in the “State of the Birds” reports in the United States (North American Bird Conservation Initiative, U.S. Committee 2019) and Canada (North American Bird Conservation Initiative Canada 2019).
As a result of this rapid growth, there is now plenty of information on how to successfully practice citizen science, but it is spread across various websites, journal articles, online reports, blog entries, and so on. This makes finding all of the best citizen science resources challenging and time-consuming. Furthermore, many citizen science practitioners are not professional scientists, and, therefore, they often face the financial costs of hefty “pay walls” to access some of the sources. What is needed is an effort to consolidate the many useful resources in one place and in a format that is easily accessible and readable for a diversity of busy citizen science practitioners. In my opinion, this is precisely what the editors and authors of Handbook of Citizen Science in Ecology and Conservation have achieved.
To be sure, there are previous treatments that cover some or even most of the material contained in this book (e.g., Bonney et al. 2009, Dickinson and Bonney 2012, Tweddle et al. 2012). Nearly all of the authors of these previous works, however, are among the book’s 58 contributors, and it appears that their best material has migrated nicely into this book in a generalized, accessible, boiled-down, “how-to” manner. In this sense, a unique strength of the book is that it strips away unnecessary detail and focuses on the core information that is essential for frontline citizen science practitioners. The effectiveness of the book’s brevity and simplicity is, perhaps, to be expected, as the editors had lots of time (12 years) to ponder the most essential components, boil them down, and then present them in the most effective way.
The book aims to be a practical and comprehensive manual for creating, implementing, or improving natural science research and monitoring projects that involve collaboration between scientists and the general public. It focuses on field-based environmental projects, which makes it highly relevant for most ornithologists, but the principles apply more generally to all types and areas of citizen science. It is arranged in 3 parts: 1) background, 2) planning and implementation of citizen science projects, and 3) citizen science in practice. Each part is excellent reading, but I particularly found the second section succinctly (155 pages) presents the core essentials a busy citizen science practitioner should know. Topics include the history of, and current approaches to, citizen science; project planning and design; recruiting, training, and retaining participants; collecting, maintaining, and storing high-quality data; reporting findings; program evaluation; and how participation impacts individuals. Information is kept well organized by numerous subtitles, chapter summaries, checklists of take-home points, helpful figures, and information boxes. I found sections on legal, ethical, and policy considerations and on inclusion and diversity in citizen science especially useful and timely. I think the editors wisely chose to exclude coverage of funding and experimental design, which are not unique to citizen science, as well as the pros and cons of citizen science, the value which is now so well established.
The editors might have considered an additional but brief chapter on how to build and maintain stakeholder buy-in, especially for long-term programs. Such a chapter might have included approaches like coauthoring peer-reviewed papers based on citizen science data with individuals from partner organizations or agencies who will be the end users of the results, analyses, and associated conservation implications. This topic is addressed briefly in descriptions of real-world examples of various citizen science programs in part 3 of the book, but it could have been discussed more explicitly. However, this detracts little from the overall effectiveness of this excellent book.
We live in an age when a scientifically literate populace is critical for bird conservation and the health of our planet. Citizen science for many ornithologists may mean nothing more than relatively cheap field labor for obtaining larger sample sizes. The book very correctly makes clear throughout that citizen science is, and should be, much more than this. Yes, citizen science can increase the scale of ornithological research projects by truly impressive amounts that are otherwise unobtainable, but perhaps the most important achievement of the practice is the impact it has on people. By including members of the public in the scientific process of bird conservation, especially, as the book urges, in a meaningful and engaged manner, we stand to change the behavior of people for the benefit of all. This can happen, for example, by increasing public awareness of bird conservation issues and, in turn, by increasing public involvement in advocacy to affect policy change, among numerous others. By making the successful application of citizen science in ecology and conservation easier and more accessible, the book’s biggest contrition to ornithology will, ultimately, likely be a more scientifically literate populace that is willing and knowledgeable to fight for the well-being of birds and the health of our planet.
In conclusion, Handbook of Citizen Science in Ecology and Conservation is a must for anyone creating, implementing, or improving citizen science projects, from professors and graduate students to agency staff and nongovernmental organizations.
Book Review Editor: Jay Mager, [email protected]
