Citizen Science ThinkCamp (and Disco)

The more open science becomes the more opportunity there is for society to participate and share in the scientific process. The term citizen science covers a whole range of practices that do just that. Opening up the ivory tower to participation from other disciplines, communities and members of the public has the potential to enrich our culture, boost research, and democratise science. Science for all, and all for science!

For 3 days, 19-21st May, around 250 international academics, scientists, project leaders and policy makers will gather in Berlin at the Kulturbrauerei for the first conference of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) – Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy (#ECSA2016). They will share stories and strategies for engagement, develop best practices, make plans, discuss funding and policies to support the development of citizen science in Europe. This is your invitation to connect with this community, get inspired, find out about existing citizen science initiatives, share your own projects, experience and perspective, and help shape future endeavours. 

For local Berlin citizen scientists – science hackers, kitchen biologists, amateur astronomers, open hardware tinkerers, makers, SciArtists and other enthusiasts – there will be 2 opportunities to take part in this event free of charge.

1. Citizen Science Disco

Friday 20th May, 7PM - late

This will be an open social shindig of an evening for connecting communities - conference participants will be kicking back after 2 full days of conference and the invitation for an evening of science fun will be extended to the local Berlin communites. We will have a line-up (to be announced) of inspiring lightning talks from the grassroots front-line of citizen science, representing both the local Berlin scene and international projects, followed by the chance to mingle and make new friends. There will be some snacks, a cash bar and music. Please register (for free) by 19th May so we know roughly how many people to expect.

2. Citizen Science ThinkCamp

Saturday 21st May, 11AM - 4PM

With so many inspirational examples of Citizen Science in action across many fields, plenty of emerging hardware and software tools that offer flexibility as well as fresh solutions, and a range of juicy challenges just waiting to be tackled – all the right elements are in place at the first ECSA conference for a Citizen Science ThinkCamp. We invite you to join on the third and final day of the conference, for a day of collaboration, sharing and the exchange of ideas, open to all! ThinkCamp participants also get full entry to the entire last day of the conference - lunch and drinks will be provided, and you are welcome to attend any other sessions or talks on that day (check out the programme here).

• What is a ThinkCamp?
  ThinkCamps are a hybrid “unconference” style event (drawing on the Open Space, BarCamp and Hackathon formats) that provide an open and creative environment for developing new ideas and projects. ThinkCamps invite participants from a diverse range of disciplines, skill-sets and experiences to collaborate together on addressing problems, rising to challenges, and taking advantage of new opportunities. At the ECSA ThinkCamp these will take the form of Citizen Science Challenges.
• How does it work?
  On the day, you will be presented with a number of Challenges to explore and invited to join the discussion at the ‘working group’ table around that issue. You may be drawn to a Challenge based on your experience, your skills, your personal interests, or simply because you have a fresh take on the problem. The goal is to harness some of that fantastic gathered brain-power and experience for creative problem-solving and the generation of new ideas.
  As with any Open Space the ‘Law of 2 Feet’ applies - you should feel free to move amongst the Challenges based on what you can learn, contribute, or simply enjoy being part of.
  There will be a Show & Tell at the end of the day, for each Challenge ‘owner’ and the teams that emerged to present back to all Conference attendees what took shape during the ThinkCamp. Support will be offered by the ThinkCamp organisers to take any of those ideas forward beyond the event itself.
• What are the Challenges?
  Our current list of challenges, curated together with partners and participants of the conference. For a full explanation of each challenge, visit the ThinkCamp site.
  
  1. The ECSA Inclusiveness Challenge - How can we ensure that ECSA becomes an inclusive organisation?
  2. The WeCureALZ ‘Engaging Diversity’ Challenge - Help us design unique & effective strategies to engage and retain diverse communities. 
  3. The CitSci Communities of Europe Challenge - Mapping the citizen science communities of Europe: how and why should we do this?
  4. The Overleaf Collaborative Writing Challenge - How can Overleaf support collaborative writing between academics and citizen scientists?
  5. The Museum Data Visualisation Challenge - How can the visualisation of observation data gathered in the field be made more engaging and dynamic for participants?
  6. The HealthSites.io ‘CitSci for Health’ Challenge - What Citizen Science projects become possible with the health facilities geo data being mapped on the HealthSites.io platform?
  7. The Motion-sensing Camera Trap Challenge (to be confirmed)
  8. YOUR Citizen Science Challenge! - If you are interested in setting a ThinkCamp Challenge in relation to your own project or project idea, please contact Margaret Gold of The Mobile Collective (margaret@tmc.bz), who will be facilitating the event. We will also have ‘Open Pitches’ for anyone wanting to issue a Challenge on the fly on the day itself. So you can just rock up and get creative with a Poster and pitch to all who are participating!
• Sounds great! How do I sign up?
  If you'd like to attend, please register (for free). Places are limited, so if for any reason you can't attend, please cancel your registration so that someone else might take your place.