Citizen Science and Sea Turtle Conservation: Critical Perspectives from Social Studies of Science

这项研究是杜克大学、尼古拉斯环境与地球科学学院和北卡罗来纳州野生动物资源委员会（NCWRC）之间的合作。它检查志愿者收集海龟的数据之间的关系，作为北卡罗来纳州海龟项目的一部分，和科学和官僚机构，他们贡献了这一信息。知识的贡献来自于解决的关键问题：1）知识的本质（例如，某些知识如何被确定为合法的），（2）科学民主化的可能性，以及这种民主化如何改善科学与社会的关系，（3）公民科学家是否以及如何通过参与增强能力，以及这种增强能力对环境活动的影响;（4）对科学与社会关系的理论理解和公民身份的意义。这项研究借鉴了“公民科学”的概念，这个术语既指满足公民需求的科学，也指由公民开发和制定的科学。拟议的研究桥梁两种方法，公民科学：科学和技术研究（STS）的批判性理论方法（有关知识和科学社会关系的理论）和务实的方法占主导地位的保护文献（有关志愿者的动机参与和数据质量）。以北卡罗来纳州海龟项目为案例研究，研究将考察由资源管理机构授权的志愿者，以及谁是资源管理机构所必需的。虽然务实的关注将得到解决，研究将考虑在何种程度上的个案研究可以理解为一种类型的STS传统的公民科学。然而，虽然STS通常侧重于反对环境风险（例如核技术）的公民团体，但本研究审查了受邀参加的公民。因此，它将研究科学和公民的意义时，公民参与科学在没有抗议，公民和资源管理者之间的关系是不那么二分法，更细致入微。这种新的方法，一个带来了一个关键的角度来看，通常从务实的角度评估的情况下，代表了一个重要的智力贡献的研究。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括研究生培训，以及大学研究人员，国家资源管理人员，志愿者组织和个人之间的网络。在研究生培养方面，4名研究生研究助理（1名博士生，3名硕士生）将成为研究团队的成员，协助设计和执行数据收集，分析和演示。理想情况下，他们将确定该项目的相关子组件，这将导致博士或硕士水平的项目。在网络方面，杜克大学和NCWRC之间的正式合作伙伴关系将通过以下方式促进该项目产生更广泛的影响：1）NCWRC对研究成果如何加强他们与志愿者的工作感兴趣，并且该机构的正式参与确保结果得到关注; 2）这种伙伴关系增强了海龟志愿者-通常在学术界以外活动的人-在早期阶段参与研究的潜力，并参与研究设计和获得结果。该项目的一个重要目标是产生不仅在智力上重要，而且对志愿者本身有意义的结果（例如，通过记录，从而承认他们的贡献）。结果也将是有意义的案例研究之外，因为他们是潜在的相关世界各地的许多组织，使用志愿者劳动力的海龟保护项目。此外，虽然由于海龟的地位（列入《濒危物种法》）和公众对其保护的广泛兴趣，有必要将重点放在海龟上，但与其他物种合作的公民团体和管理机构可能会对结果感兴趣。由于关于自然资源的基本数据收集越来越多地在政府机构之外进行，而且往往是由公民团体进行，因此了解两者之间的关系，特别是当这种关系是合作而不是对抗时，对一般的环境管理以及对了解科学与社会的关系具有广泛的意义。

This research is a collaboration between Duke University, Nicholas School of Environment and Earth Sciences, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC). It examines the relationship between volunteers collecting data on sea turtles as part of the North Carolina Sea Turtle Project, and the scientific and bureaucratic establishment to which they contribute this information.Intellectual merit. The intellectual contribution arises from the critical questions addressed regarding: 1) the nature of knowledge (e.g. how certain knowledge is established as legitimate), 2) possibilities for democratizing science and how such democratization might improve science-society relationships, 3) if and how citizen scientists are empowered by participating and the impacts of such empowerment on environmental activities; and 4) theoretical understanding of science-society relationships and the meaning of citizenship. The research draws on the concept of 'citizen science,' a term referring both to a science that meets the needs of citizens and to a science developed and enacted by citizens. The proposed study bridges two approaches to citizen science: the critical theoretical approach of Science and Technology Studies (STS) (concerned with theories of knowledge and science-society relationships) and the pragmatic approach dominant in conservation literature (concerned with volunteer motives for participating and with data quality). Using the North Carolina Sea Turtle Project as a case study, the research will examine volunteers empowered by mandates from, and who are necessary to, resource management agencies. While pragmatic concerns will be addressed, the research will consider the extent to which the case study can be understood as a type of citizen science in the tradition of STS. However, while STS has typically focused on citizen groups that form in opposition to environmental risk (e.g. nuclear technology), this research examines citizens who are invited to participate. Thus, it will examine the meaning of science and citizenship when citizens engage with science in the absence of protest, and where the relationship between citizens and resource managers is less dichotomized and more nuanced. This new approach, one that brings a critical perspective to a case normally assessed from a pragmatic perspective, represents an important intellectual contribution of the research.Broader Impacts. The broader impacts of this research include graduate student training, and networking amongst university researchers, state resource managers, and volunteer organizations and individuals. In terms of graduate student training, 4 graduate research assistants (1 PhD, 3 Masters students) will be members of the research team, assisting in the design and execution of data collection, analysis, and presentation. Ideally, they will identify related sub-components of the project that will lead to PhD or Masters level projects. In terms of networking, the formalized partnership between Duke University and the NCWRC will contribute to the project's broader impacts in the following ways: 1) NCWRC is interested how research results can strengthen their work with volunteers, and the agency's formal participation ensures results will be attended to; 2) the partnership enhances the potential that sea turtle volunteers -- people who normally operate outside of academic circles -- will engage with the research in its early stages, and have input into research design and access to results. An important goal of the project is to produce results that are not only intellectually important, but meaningful to the volunteers themselves (e.g., by documenting and thereby recognizing their contributions). Results will also be meaningful beyond the case study, as they are potentially relevant to the many organizations worldwide that use volunteer labor on sea turtle conservation projects. Furthermore, while the focus on sea turtles is warranted due to their status (listed under the Endangered Species Act) and to widespread public interest in their conservation, results may be of interest to citizen groups and management agencies working with other species. As basic data collection on natural resources is increasingly undertaken outside of government agencies and often by citizen groups, understanding the relationship between the two, particularly when the relationship is cooperative rather than confrontational, is of broad significance for environmental management in general, and to understanding science-society relationships.