How does it feel to be a "guinea pig" in an experiment? What have you learnt from your solitary involvement? Were you able to imagine what it would be like if you truly participated in citizen science where you had a role in formulating the research question and approach and were able to discuss findings with other participants, and perhaps were even able to agree on adapting and improving the approach, and then contribute to discussing the outcome. Given that the circumstances of the anthropause currently limit this level of enagagement, it is depressing that so much "citizen science" is nevertheless is always subservient.
Indeed, I was struck when I read Isabel Hardman's book, The Natural Health Service, that many of the benefits she cited sprung from the social element. I don't think that's a good reason to discount the benefits (or not) that may come from engaging with nature in a more solitary fashion. I also think it's naive to think that everyone who engages in citizen science will want to be involved in formulating in research questions and suchlike; some people may just be in it for being able to look in rock pools, for instance. Not that it wouldn't be interesting to conduct a experiment that explicitly separated the social elements from the nature side of things!
How does it feel to be a "guinea pig" in an experiment? What have you learnt from your solitary involvement? Were you able to imagine what it would be like if you truly participated in citizen science where you had a role in formulating the research question and approach and were able to discuss findings with other participants, and perhaps were even able to agree on adapting and improving the approach, and then contribute to discussing the outcome. Given that the circumstances of the anthropause currently limit this level of enagagement, it is depressing that so much "citizen science" is nevertheless is always subservient.
Indeed, I was struck when I read Isabel Hardman's book, The Natural Health Service, that many of the benefits she cited sprung from the social element. I don't think that's a good reason to discount the benefits (or not) that may come from engaging with nature in a more solitary fashion. I also think it's naive to think that everyone who engages in citizen science will want to be involved in formulating in research questions and suchlike; some people may just be in it for being able to look in rock pools, for instance. Not that it wouldn't be interesting to conduct a experiment that explicitly separated the social elements from the nature side of things!