Citizen science - An introduction video

Citizen science - that means involving people from the public in research! But what precisely does this mean and how does it work? This video gives an overview of different aspects of citizen science, such as communication, data quality and inclusiveness.

Produced by Tim Kiessling, Janosch Walte & Sophia Antoniello; Script & Research: Tim Kiessling; Directing, Filming & Editing: Janosch Walte; Graphics & Visualizations: Sophia Antoniello

Tim Kiessling: Citizen Science & Plastic Pollution Researcher, https://timki.de/

Janosch Walte: Content Creator & Artist, https://ermachtsjunge.de/

Sophia Antoniello: Visual Science Communicator, https://sophiaello.com/

Produced for the Institute of Human Nutrition and Food Science of Kiel University

Kiel, 2025-09-18, video version v2

Permanent link to this video: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17052884

This video was published under Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 NC. We would be happy if you would use, share, distribute and edit this video (in any non-commercial context)!

Please use the following citation to refer to this video: Kiessling, T., Walte, J., Antoniello, S. (2025). Citizen Science – An introduction video. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17052884

The following people provided helpful feedback during the production of this video – thank you! 

• Daniela Honorato-Zimmer – Citizen Science & Plastic Pollution Researcher
• Dilek Fraisl – International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
• Hannah Vonberg
• Julia Lorke – RWTH Aachen University
• Martin Thiel – Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) & Universidad Catolica del Norte (UCN)
• Meritxell Abril – BETA Technological Center, UVIC-UCC
• Wiebke Brink – mit:forschen! & Wissenschaft im Dialog

Links to citizen science platforms

• SciStarter, https://scistarter.org/
• Zooniverse, https://www.zooniverse.org/
• EU citizen science, https://eu-citizen.science/
• mit:forschen!, https://www.mitforschen.org/ (in German)
• Österreich forscht, https://www.citizen-science.at/ (in German)
• Schweiz forscht, https://www.schweizforscht.ch/ (in German)

Links to citizen science initiatives

• iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/
• Plastic Pirates, https://www.plastic-pirates.eu/en
• Our Voice: Citizen Science for Health Equity, https://med.stanford.edu/ourvoice.html
• Lingscape, https://lingscape.app/
• International Coastal Cleanup, https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/
• Marine Debris Tracker, https://www.debristracker.org/
• Marine Litter Watch, https://marinelitterwatch.discomap.eea.europa.eu/
• Litter Scientists “Científicos de la Basura”, https://cientificosdelabasura.ucn.cl/

Reference list

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• Bela, G., Peltola, T., Young, J. C., Balázs, B., Arpin, I., Pataki, G., et al. (2016). Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science. Conservation Biology, 30(5), 990-999. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12762
• de Sherbinin, A., Bowser, A., Chuang, T. R., Cooper, C., Danielsen, F., Edmunds, R., et al. (2021). The critical importance of citizen science data. Frontiers in Climate, 3, 650760. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.650760
• de Vries, M., Land-Zandstra, A., & Smeets, I. (2019). Citizen scientists’ preferences for communication of scientific output: a literature review. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.136
• Den Broeder, L., Devilee, J., Van Oers, H., Schuit, A. J., & Wagemakers, A. (2018). Citizen Science for public health. Health Promotion International, 33(3), 505-514. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daw086
• Dittmann, S., Kiessling, T., Kruse, K., Brennecke, D., Knickmeier, K., Parchmann, I., & Thiel, M. (2022). How to get citizen science data accepted by the scientific community? Insights from the Plastic Pirates project. Proceedings of Science, 124. https://doi.org/10.22323/1.418.0124
• Dittmann, S., Kiessling, T., Mederake, L., Hinzmann, M., Knoblauch, D., Böhm-Beck, M., et al. (2023). Sharing communication insights of the citizen science program Plastic Pirates - Best practices from 7 years of engaging schoolchildren and teachers in plastic pollution research. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 11, 1233103. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1233103
• Eitzel, M., Cappadonna, J., Santos-Lang, C., Duerr, R., West, S. E., Virapongse, A., et al. (2017). Citizen science terminology matters: Exploring key terms. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.96
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• Herzog, L., & Lepenies, R. (2022). Citizen science in deliberative systems: Participation, epistemic injustice, and civic empowerment. Minerva, 60(4), 489-508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-022-09467-8
• Kiessling, T., Hinzmann, M., Mederake, L., Dittmann, S., Brennecke, D., Böhm-Beck, M., ... & Thiel, M. (2023). What potential does the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive have for reducing plastic pollution at coastlines and riversides? An evaluation based on citizen science data. Waste Management, 164, 106-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2023.03.042
• Kloetzer, L., Lorke, J., Roche, J., Golumbic, Y., Winter, S., & Jõgeva, A. (2021). Learning in citizen science. In: Vohland, K., et al. (Eds.) The Science of Citizen Science, 283-308. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58278-4_15
• Knickmeier, K., Kruse, K., Brennecke, D., Nauendorf, A., Kiessling, T., Dittmann, S., Thiel, M., Mederake, L., Knoblauch, D., Hinzmann, M., Lourenço, C., & Grego, M. (2022). Plastic Pirates teaching material English May-2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7986353
• Kosmala, M., Wiggins, A., Swanson, A., & Simmons, B. (2016). Assessing data quality in citizen science. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(10), 551-560. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1436
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• Nicosia, K., Daaram, S., Edelman, B., Gedrich, L., He, E., McNeilly, S., et al. (2014). Determining the willingness to pay for ecosystem service restoration in a degraded coastal watershed: A ninth grade investigation. Ecological Economics, 104, 145-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.02.010
• Paleco, C., García Peter, S., Salas Seoane, N., Kaufmann, J., Argyri, P., Vohland, K., et al. (2021). Inclusiveness and diversity in citizen science. In: Vohland, K., et al. (Eds.) The Science of Citizen Science, 261-281. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58278-4_14
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• Piña-Romero, J., Reyes-Galindo, L., & Novoa, L. A. V. (2022). Citizen science in Latin America and the Global South, Part 1. Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society, 5(1), 2145040. https://doi.org/10.1080/25729861.2022.2145040
• Roche, J., Bell, L., Galvão, C., Golumbic, Y. N., Kloetzer, L., Knoben, N., et al. (2020). Citizen science, education, and learning: challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 613814. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.613814
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• Theobald, E. J., Ettinger, A. K., Burgess, H. K., DeBey, L. B., Schmidt, N. R., Froehlich, H. E., ... & Parrish, J. K. (2015). Global change and local solutions: Tapping the unrealized potential of citizen science for biodiversity research. Biological Conservation, 181, 236-244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.10.021
• Thiel, M., Hong, S., Jambeck, J. R., Gatta-Rosemary, M., Honorato-Zimmer, D., Kiessling, T., et al. (2018). Marine litter–bringing together citizen scientists from around the world. In: Cigliano, J.A., Ballard, H.L. (Eds.) Citizen Science for Coastal and Marine Conservation, 104-131. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315638966
• von Gönner, J., Herrmann, T. M., Bruckermann, T., Eichinger, M., Hecker, S., Klan, F., et al. (2023). Citizen science’s transformative impact on science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. Socio-Ecological Practice Research, 5(1), 11-33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-022-00136-4
• Wagenknecht, K., Woods, T., Nold, C., Rüfenacht, S., Voight-Heucke, S., Caplan, A., ... & Vohland, K. (2021). A question of dialogue? Reflections on how citizen science can enhance communication between science and society. Journal of Science Communication, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.22323/2.20030213