Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences (Apr 2023)
Agile collaboration: Citizen science as a transdisciplinary approach to heliophysics
- Vincent Ledvina,
- Vincent Ledvina,
- Laura Brandt,
- Laura Brandt,
- Elizabeth MacDonald,
- Elizabeth MacDonald,
- Nathaniel Frissell,
- Justin Anderson,
- Justin Anderson,
- Thomas Y. Chen,
- Ryan J. French,
- Francesca Di Mare,
- Francesca Di Mare,
- Andrea Grover,
- Karl Battams,
- Kristine Sigsbee,
- Bea Gallardo-Lacourt,
- Bea Gallardo-Lacourt,
- Donna Lach,
- Joseph A. Shaw,
- Michael Hunnekuhl,
- Burcu Kosar,
- Burcu Kosar,
- Wayne Barkhouse,
- Tim Young,
- Chandresh Kedhambadi,
- Dogacan S. Ozturk,
- Seth G. Claudepierre,
- Chuanfei Dong,
- Chuanfei Dong,
- Andy Witteman,
- Jeremy Kuzub,
- Jeremy Kuzub,
- Gunjan Sinha
Affiliations
- Vincent Ledvina
- Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States
- Vincent Ledvina
- Aurorasaurus, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Laura Brandt
- Aurorasaurus, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Laura Brandt
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Elizabeth MacDonald
- Aurorasaurus, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Elizabeth MacDonald
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Nathaniel Frissell
- Physics and Engineering Department, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, United States
- Justin Anderson
- High Hopes Aurora, Brandon, MB, Canada
- Justin Anderson
- Citizen Scientist, Osnabrück, Germany
- Thomas Y. Chen
- School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
- Ryan J. French
- National Solar Observatory, Boulder, CO, United States
- Francesca Di Mare
- Aurorasaurus, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Francesca Di Mare
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Andrea Grover
- College of Information Science and Technology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, United States
- Karl Battams
- 0U.S.Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, United States
- Kristine Sigsbee
- 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
- Bea Gallardo-Lacourt
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Bea Gallardo-Lacourt
- 2Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States
- Donna Lach
- Citizen Scientist, Osnabrück, Germany
- Joseph A. Shaw
- 3Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Montana State University Bozeman, Bozeman, MT, United States
- Michael Hunnekuhl
- Citizen Scientist, Osnabrück, Germany
- Burcu Kosar
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Burcu Kosar
- 2Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States
- Wayne Barkhouse
- 4Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, United States
- Tim Young
- 4Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, United States
- Chandresh Kedhambadi
- Citizen Scientist, Osnabrück, Germany
- Dogacan S. Ozturk
- Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States
- Seth G. Claudepierre
- 5Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences Department, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Chuanfei Dong
- 6Astronomy Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
- Chuanfei Dong
- 7Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- Andy Witteman
- Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States
- Jeremy Kuzub
- Citizen Scientist, Osnabrück, Germany
- Jeremy Kuzub
- 8Jufa Intermedia-Capture North, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Gunjan Sinha
- Citizen Scientist, Osnabrück, Germany
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2023.1165254
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 10
Abstract
Citizen science connects scientists with the public to enable discovery, engaging broad audiences across the world. There are many attributes that make citizen science an asset to the field of heliophysics, including agile collaboration. Agility is the extent to which a person, group of people, technology, or project can work efficiently, pivot, and adapt to adversity. Citizen scientists are agile; they are adaptable and responsive. Citizen science projects and their underlying technology platforms are also agile in the software development sense, by utilizing beta testing and short timeframes to pivot in response to community needs. As they capture scientifically valuable data, citizen scientists can bring expertise from other fields to scientific teams. The impact of citizen science projects and communities means citizen scientists are a bridge between scientists and the public, facilitating the exchange of information. These attributes of citizen scientists form the framework of agile collaboration. In this paper, we contextualize agile collaboration primarily for aurora chasers, a group of citizen scientists actively engaged in projects and independent data gathering. Nevertheless, these insights scale across other domains and projects. Citizen science is an emerging yet proven way of enhancing the current research landscape. To tackle the next-generation’s biggest research problems, agile collaboration with citizen scientists will become necessary.
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