Citizen Science Association Data & Metadata Working Group: Report from CSA 2017 and Future Outlook

Abstract

In 2016, the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) celebrated its centennial anniversary with over 100 Bioblitzes hosted in parks around the country. Because these events engaged local communities in documenting their natural environment, each park was given the freedom to decide how their celebration should unfold, for example by specifying which species to document or when to collect information. Still, all parks across the United States used the iNaturalist1 mobile application for data collection. Because iNaturalist collects and stores biodiversity data in line with the Darwin Core standard, information collected in each local park can be verified by a community of experts and shared with GBIF,2 a global database of biodiversity observations. This case study illustrates how — through interoperable data standards — information considered important by local communities can “scale” to be used in national or global research and policymaking. The goal of the Citizen Science Association (CSA) Data and Metadata Working Group (WG) is to make this vision a reality by promoting interoperability not just in one research domain like biodiversity, but across each and every research domain where citizen science is taking root and growing.