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- Frögren, Joakim, et al.
(author)
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Characteristics and Attitudinal Changes of Senior Citizens and Persons with Functional Impairments Involved in a Citizen Science Project on Housing Accessibility
- 2023
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In: Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. - 2057-4991. ; 8:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Citizen Science (CS) projects targeting senior citizens and persons with functional impairments are rare, and interest among citizens to become involved in such remains uncertain. There is a lack of systematic analyses as to what distinguishes citizens’ willingness to contribute, and what such involvement could lead to in terms of acquired skills or changed attitudes. Based on a Swedish CS project on housing accessibility – the Housing Experiment (HX) – this study aimed to investigate: 1) the characteristics of senior citizens and persons with functional impairments involved in the HX; and 2) changes in attitudes and mobile digital literacy after completing the HX. Data were collected via online questionnaires before and after the HX (N = 147), and were analyzed statistically. The response rates were lower than anticipated. Study participants completing the HX reported high levels of mobile digital literacy and functional ability, and a higher education level than the general Swedish population. The only attitudinal change was that significantly more participants rated the importance of housing accessibility lower after their involvement in the HX compared with those rating it higher. This study confirms indications from previous studies that limitations in mobile digital literacy and functional ability affect the willingness and ability to get involved in research. Further research is warranted to investigate how similar CS projects could be designed to attract more participants and to create the conditions for greater gains for citizen scientists.
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| 2. |
- Granbom, Marianne, et al.
(author)
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Involving Members of the Public to Develop a Data Collection App for a Citizen Science Project on Housing Accessibility Targeting Older Adults
- 2023
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In: Citizen Science - Theory and Practise. - 2057-4991. ; 8:1, s. 1-12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: While citizen science approaches are emerging within both social and health sciences, projects aimed at improving the living conditions of older adults remain rare. To enable forward-looking housing provision for the ageing population, valid and detailed information is needed on environmental barriers in the housing stock. Moreover, to promote active ageing and avoid involuntary moves to residential care facilities, there is a need for both increased public knowledge and raised awareness about accessible housing among older adults. Thus, Swedish senior citizens were engaged in a citizen science project—the Housing Experiment 2021—using a smartphone application to report environmental barriers in dwellings. Aim: This paper describes in detail the process by which varied members of the public participated to develop an application that assured reliable data collection of environmental barriers by older adults. Methods and Results: The scientific foundation for the app was the Housing Enabler. The development process comprised six iterative phases including participatory activities, namely, developing a citizen science version of the Housing Enabler; developing a print mock-up; developing an app prototype; testing and improving usability; beta version testing for reliability; final tests; and finishing touches. Discussion: Through an iterative development process involving researchers, professionals, and members of the public, a reliable app suitable for senior citizens was created. The results can serve as an inspiration for development protocols increasing the involvement of older adults in app development as well as for citizen science projects targeting older adults.
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| 3. |
- Kasperowski, Dick, 1959, et al.
(author)
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Where Environmental Citizen Science Meets the Law
- 2023
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In: Citizen Science: Theory & Practice. - : Ubiquity Press, Ltd.. - 2057-4991. ; 8:1, s. 1-4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Citizen science often intersects with the legal realm. Communities in different places in the world are demanding environmental justice through civic monitoring (Haklay and Francis 2018) and are pushing for new regulatory standards (Ottinger 2010). Community-based monitoring has been explored in the literature from both the (global and relative) North and South as a creative and constructive response to citizens’ aspiration for justice (Berti Suman 2022; Ahmed et al. 2019; Haklay and Francis 2018). Citizen science broadens the new horizon of environmental justice and flanks traditional environmental (and climate) protest movements (Berti Suman, Schade and Abe 2020). We can identify also a claim to epistemological justice in the systematizing of local knowledge and observations into data that can be used by appointed agencies, in opposition to anecdotal and sporadic evidence (Balazs and Morello-Frosch 2013). Citizen science communities are getting their evidence accepted in court (as the US Formosa case illustrated in Berti Suman and Schade 2021 demonstrates) and are advocating for legitimizing the practice under the Aarhus framework (Berti Suman et al. 2023, in this special issue; Berti Suman 2020). In spite of this, research on the connections between the law, case law, and citizen science is scarce.
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