I’m working on a manuscript describing the different and particular challenges scientists in various disciplines face when incorporating citizen science into their research. So, I thought I would go looking for other articles about it, and found one with the promising title A new dawn for citizen science by Jonathan Silvertown.
I’m holed up in a hotel in Florida waiting for SpaceX to launch our experiment to the ISS (I just can’t resist dropping that into conversation). When I try to read the Silvertown’s article, I see this :
Huh. $37.95. Let it not escape your notice that Dr. Silvertown, who I don’t know and is probably a nice fellow, teaches at the Open University.
The. Open. University.
tl;dr : Let’s not involve the public in our discussions about their utility in our research.
ironic, indeed.
More irony – you can’t take courses from Open (a primarily distance education facility) from outside the UK. :S