A nice column in the New York Times by biologist Aaron E. Hirsh explains the rise of Big Science — massive, centralized projects with large staffs and expensive equipment — and the emerging trend of distributed citizen science.
Hirsh lauds the participation of nonscientists for providing the widespread fieldwork needed to study planetary-scale phenomena like climate change. He also said it should give people greater appreciation for and a sense of participation in the Big Science research their tax dollars help pay for.
Hirsh said the Internet is tailormade for supporting citizen science. People can use the Net to log their observations at home, on vacation and even on the go. I hope the trend, and the attention columns like Hirsh’s bring to it, spurs scientists to develop online toolkits and worksheets to help us nonscientists do the job right. It’ll ensure more thorough data collection and lighten the load on the data crunchers. It’ll also make people more likely to participate.