Citizen Science for Disasters: A Guide for Community Groups

This toolkit is designed to provide guidance to a broad range of community groups (e.g., volunteer or faith-based institutions, social service organizations, private or other nonprofit organizations) on designing and implementing disaster citizen science projects. It is primarily directed toward groups that are interested in creating and leading their own projects, small or large, rather than supporting projects carried out by others. The field of citizen science may hold the key to performing better research and delivering better results for communities everywhere. Citizen science, also sometimes called community science or street science, is public engagement in scientific research as scientists rather than study subjects. When applied to disasters, the field is called disaster citizen science. With the invention of new technologies, scientific knowledge, tools, and methods have become accessible to everyone in ways that did not exist before. By harnessing these advancements, community groups could obtain data that answer critical questions while using an approach that is inherently designed to promote public participation, education, and understanding of science. Everyone benefits.