Communication & promotion – Page 5 – Australian Citizen Science Association

16Aug 2021 by Amy Slocombe 1 Comment

Finding opportunities in the apparent chaos: citizen science and marine debris

Blogs, Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion

Towards a nationally focused citizen science monitoring strategy for marine debris By Jordan Gacutan, PhD Candidate | Centre for Marine Science and Innovation | UNSW, Sydney As Murphy’s law states, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong", which rings true in the events which partly derailed/delayed the production of training materials for marine debris monitoring, supported by the ACSA seed grant that we won in 2020. But just as often, and as many a PhD student will attest, opportunities arise from the chaos. Tackling marine debris through citizen science At the University of New South Wales, we are tackling the growing problem of marine debris by using citizen science data across Australia to inform practical opportunities for management. The work partners with the Tangaroa Blue Foundation and the Australian…

16Aug 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

ForestEye in the Spotlight during National Science Week

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Meetings and Events

The Australian Citizen Science Association has partnered with the Natural Resources Commission of NSW (NRC, lead partner) and the Atlas of Life to deliver a new and exciting forest monitoring citizen science project named ForestEye. This project will be piloted on the south coast of NSW in October (dependent on Covid-19 restrictions). ForestEye will engage citizen scientists from the local community to collect seasonal data on a range of biodiversity information. They will be trained by experienced ecologists to use a variety of equipment such as remote sensor cameras to undertake data collection at select sites. The results from this project will contribute to the NRC’s decision-making, reporting and management activities to improve biodiversity outcomes. In celebration of this upcoming initiative, Cassie Thompson (Senior Advisor) from NRC together with Libby…

13Aug 2021 by Amy Slocombe 1 Comment

Great Southern BioBlitz 2021

Communication & promotion, Field-based citizen science, International

By Pete Crowcroft (@possumpete), GSB organising team This year between the 22-25th October, join Australia and 13 other countries in the largest scale citizen science biodiversity survey in the southern hemisphere! Using the iNaturalist platform, the Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB) is an annual opportunity to participate in a large, global biodiversity survey. Until recently these bioblitzes have always been centered in the northern hemisphere during their springtime, meaning that those of us south of the equator and coming into winter didn’t always have the greatest amount of biodiversity on show! So the GSB was born from the desire to have a springtime survey of biodiversity for us, down south, during a time of year we know is abounding with emerging life. Flowers are blooming, insects take wing, and birds call…

03Aug 2021 by Amy Slocombe 2 Comments

River Health Assessments Underway in Wingecarribee thanks to ACSA Seed Grant

Blogs, Communication & promotion

By Karen Guymer Getting to know Wingecarribee Waterways The Wingecarribee Shire, also known as the Southern Highlands, features meandering rivers, tranquil creeks and majestic waterfalls. This water supports our towns, farmlands, forests and biodiversity. Council is responsible for many thousands of kilometres of waterways within 3000ha across 38 bushland reserves within Wingecarribee Shire. Winning the ACSA Seed Grant in 2020 was fantastic as it enabled us to train council staff in the Bushcare, Natural Resources and Sustainability Services Teams in understanding more about river heath assessments and the tool used to do this, the Rapid Appraisal of Riparian Condition (RARC). The hands-on field day led by Lori Gould, Rivers of Carbon Program Manager with the Australian River Restoration Centre (ARRC), provided theoretical and practical skills and knowledge for staff. As…

03Aug 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Inclusion in Citizen Science: The Conundrum of Rebranding

Communication & promotion, Social research in CS

Caren Cooper and her NC State University colleagues offer a perspective in the Policy Forum of Science magazine about the need for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in citizen science. Many are already aware that this need is urgent, in particular for top-down, institution-led, large-scale projects that, while 'open to all,' ultimately engage white, highly educated, affluent people. With a range of co-authors, including those with expertise in community science, Caren et al make a case against rebranding the term citizen science with the term community science. More importantly, the article is the start of reimagining a range of diverse and inclusive practices for the participatory sciences. You can freely access the PDF reprint of the article below: https://faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu/carencooper/research/

03Aug 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Youth Citizen Social Science – webinar invitation

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion

Our European Sister Association ECSA has warmly invited the ACSA community to attend 3 Webinars on Youth Citizen Social Science. These events have been organised as part of the ECSA working group on Empowerment, Inclusiveness & Equity together with the YouCount project. "Young people in Europe are facing many challenges with regard to social inclusion (e.g. social participation, employment, social belonging). There is a pressing need to develop more knowledge and innovation to create more inclusive and youth-friendly societies. We aim to contribute to this through Citizen Social Science with young people - Youth Citizen Social Science (Y-CSS). We will organize 3 webinars with the aim to discuss important questions, get feedback on the YouCount plans & start building a community of interest around Y-CSS. Participation is open to everybody and free of charge. (1)…

21Jun 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Seeking citsci researchers to showcase work

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Meetings and Events

As part of National Science Week this year, Greater Sydney Parklands is looking for citizen science groups or researchers who may like to showcase their projects to a broad general public audience. “Science in the Swamp” will be held in Sydney's eastern suburbs on 15 August 2021 and “Science in the Scrub” will be held in the Blacktown/Liverpool area on 22 August 2021. The descriptions of both events are found below. It would be wonderful to see some citizen science projects using these events as platforms to communicate your amazing work! Event details are: Science in the Swamp: Superheroes’ KitchenCentennial Park and Moore Park Trust, Centennial Park, 15-August 2021, 11-3pm Who are the superheroes among Australia’s wildlife, and what keeps them going? Which are the fastest and strongest and who…

08Jun 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Call for Papers, Special Collection on Environmental Citizen Science and the Law

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion

Citizen Science: Theory and Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the Citizen Science Association. The journal currently has a special issue call for papers on Where Environmental Citizen Science meets the Law. Abstracts are due by 15 July, 2021. For full details see link below: https://citizenscience.org/2021/06/04/special-issue-call-for-papers-on-where-environmental-citizen-science-meets-the-law/

08Jun 2021 by Amy Slocombe 5 Comments

Moth Matchmakers Needed

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science

Science has yet to discover who the caterpillars are of 95% of Australian moths. Matching adults to their larvae is fundamental to understanding moths and their conservation. Help us match caterpillars to moths in six easy steps. In celebration of National Moth Weeks 10th year, be a MOTH MATCHMAKER and expand moth science! National Moth Week | July 17-25, 2021 Step 1: Find and photograph a caterpillar. Take clear close-up photos from above, the side and both ends. Also photo the plant or lichen the caterpillar is on. Step 2: Register on Canberra Naturemapr and add your caterpillar and plant photographs as wildlife sightings. Step 3: Place a few centimeters of dry soil, a diagonal stick and dead and live leaves from the food plant the caterpillar is on into…

02Jun 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

ACSA-ACT & Region Seminar: 10 June

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Meetings and Events

"Consolidating and sharing knowledge among citizen science practioneres: the WeObserve co-design approach to Communities of Practice" SPEAKER: UTA WEHN Date: Thursday 10 June 2021 | Time: 7:30PM - 8:30 PM AEST REGISTER NOW Abstract Along with the rapid increase of citizen science initiatives around the world, the number of citizen science practitioners is also growing. Practice-based knowledge on how to address the challenges that citizen science initiatives are facing is advancing. Yet this knowledge and experience is often dispersed among various stakeholders in academia, the private and public sectors and civil society. In order to consolidate and share this dispersed knowledge, the WeObserve project co-designed Communities of Practice (CoP) to serve as the vehicle for sharing information and creating new knowledge on selected key thematic topics related to citizen science.…

Category: Communication & promotion