SYMP 3: Racial Bias in Ecological Citizen Science

Monday, August 2, 2021

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Pacific

Session Organizer(s)

Zakiya Leggett

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC, USA

Moderator(s)

Zakiya Leggett

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC, USA

Volunteer(s)

Andrea Valcarcel Abud

Session Co-organizers: Caren Cooper, Forestry & Environmental Resources, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, Gillian Bowser, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

Is there a racial bias in citizen science and, if so, why does it persist? What are the consequences for data quality and for justice? How can we reduce the racial bias? Top-down, large-scale citizen science projects engage predominantly white participants. Grassroots, community-driven projects engage BIPOC. Citizen science activity is racially segregated across projects that differ by scale, goals, priorities, and power dynamics. Top-down, crowdsourcing projects with large numbers of volunteers, however, allow volunteers autonomy in selecting where and how frequently individuals collect data. Consequently, citizen science datasets can have significant spatial bias of data obtained from opportunistic and haphazard locations based on the preferences of the volunteers, and the bias is compounded by lack of standardized volunteer effort. Another common feature of volunteers in large-scale citizen science projects is that they are overwhelmingly white and affluent. Consequently, citizen science data has a racial-spatial bias….which results in data quality issues and environmental justice issues.

Presentations:

ON DEMAND

A racial bias is a spatial bias: The impact of majority white participation in citizen science projects
Presenting Author: Chris Hawn – University of Maryland
ON DEMAND

Connecting with the outdoors by learning and using iNaturalist while protecting vulnerable communities
Presenting Author: Bryan I. Rodriguez – Latino Outdoors
ON DEMAND

Designed for inclusion: Using community-engaged research to advance equity and urban watershed restoration
Presenting Author: Na'Taki Osborne Jelks – Environmental and Health Sciences, Spelman College
ON DEMAND

Racial bias in ecological citizen science
Presenting Author: Caren Cooper – NC State University