Goals and Tasks: Two Typologies of Citizen Science Projects

Citizen science is a form of research collaboration involving members of the public in scientific research projects to address real-world problems. Often organized as a virtual collaboration, these projects are a type of open movement, with collective goals addressed through open participation in research tasks. We conducted a survey of citizen science projects to elicit multiple aspects of project design and operation. We then clustered projects based on the tasks performed by participants and on the project´s stated goals. The clustering results group projects that show similarities along other dimensions, suggesting useful divisions of the projects.