Gothenburg the 11 May 2020

Nine principles of citizen science citizen science in the Minerva project

Citizen science – is a changing concept that can be used in a variety of situations and areas. The points below are based on the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), Principles of Citizen Science. The purpose of the paragraphs is to highlight the key concepts that the Minerva project stands for which are in many ways very much in line with ECSA’s principles.

  1. The Minerva project will involve the participants in the scientific work and create new knowledge or understanding of gamification in a learning context. Participants can act as contributors, collaborators or as co-scientists and play an important role in the project.
  2. The Minerva project will generate scientific results. The results may, for example, consist of answering a research questionnaire, providing a basis for different gamification schemes or policy regarding game elements in contexts other than entertainment.
  3. The Minerva project provides benefits for both the professional scientists and the citizen scientists. The benefit may include publishing science results, new knowledge, personal pleasure, satisfaction in contributing to scientific evidence to address local, national and international issues of gamification in a learning context.
  4. In the Minerva project, if desired, the citizen scientist can participate in several parts of the scientific process. This may involve collecting and analyzing data and communicating the results. It is based on the participant’s will
  5. In the Minerva project, the citizen scientist will get feedback from the project, for example about how parts of the collected data are used and what scientific and technological results they lead to.
  6. In the Minerva project, citizen science is seen as a science method among many others, with limitations and distortions that should be considered and controlled. Citizen science offers opportunities for greater public engagement and a democratization of science, but that does not mean that science will not follow the same practice of the science ethics principle set by the European Academy (2018) and will follow the current practice of the Swedish Research Council’s statutes for good science ethics.
  7. In the Minerva project, a large part of non-sensitive data is made publicly available and (when possible) the results are published in an open access format. Data sharing will be done during the project, unless there are security or privacy reasons that prevent this.
  8. Participants’ contributions to the Minerva project will be noted in the project’s results and in publications.
  9. Those responsible for the Minerva project take into account legal and ethical aspects of copyright, intellectual property, data sharing agreements, confidentiality, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), accounting of contributions and responsibilities of various parties, and the environmental impact of activities within the project framework.