James Riley and Will Mason-Wilkes: Dark Citizen Science

Article Title: Dark citizen science Authors: James Riley and Will Mason-Wilkes

Journal: Public Understanding of Science

URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09636625231203470

Publication Date: October 20, 20

Abstract Citizen science is often celebrated. We interrogate this position through exploration of socio-technoscientific phenomena that mirror citizen science yet are disaligned with its ideals. We term this ‘Dark Citizen Science’. We identify five conceptual dimensions of citizen science – purpose, process, perceptibility, power and public effect. Dark citizen science mirrors traditional citizen science in purpose and process but diverges in perceptibility, power and public effect. We compare two Internet-based categorisation processes, Citizen Science project Galaxy Zoo and Dark Citizen Science project Google’s reCAPTCHA. We highlight that the reader has, likely unknowingly, provided unpaid technoscientific labour to Google. We apply insights from our analysis of dark citizen science to traditional citizen science. Linking citizen science as practice and normative democratic ideal ignores how some science-citizen configurations actively pit practice against ideal. Further, failure to fully consider the implications of citizen science for science and society allows exploitative elements of citizen science to evade the sociological gaze.

Video: Reproduced with permission.

Audio/Visual Sources-

(1) “Light Bulb (Royalty Free Stock Video)” by Jeffrey Beach (Beachfront Productions) [https://archive.org/details/LightBulbroyaltyFreeStockVideo], licensed under CC BY 3.0 / Clipped, Filter: Vignette

(2)“Starlings” by Yersinia pestis [https://archive.org/details/Flickr-2401055284], licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / Clipped

(3)“MammalWeb citizen science project” by Laura Degnan [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MammalWeb_citizen_science_project.webm], licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 / Clipped

(4)NASA-HubbleLegacyFieldZoomOut-20190502″ by NASA [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-HubbleLegacyFieldZoomOut-20190502.webm]public domain / Clipped

(5)“Souris conseillé de la main gauche” by Vi..Cult/IRSST [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Souris_conseill%C3%A9_de_la_main_gauche.ogv], licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 / Clipped

(6)“Internet Archive’s Book Scanning Robot” by Molly Davis [https://archive.org/details/scanning_robot], public domain / Clipped

(7)“Beachfront B-Roll: Night Traffic Time Lapse” by Beachfront B-Roll: Free Stock Footage [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nWGxekX_4&t=0s], licensed under CC BY 3.0 / Clipped & slowed down

(8)“CD DVD Drive Laser (Free to Use HD Stock Video Footage)” by Jeffrey Beach (Beachfront Productions) [https://archive.org/details/CdDvdDriveLaser], licensed under CC BY 3.0 / Clipped

(9)“Ford assembly line(1930)” by Ford Motor Company/ U.S. National Archives and Records Administration [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_assembly_line(1930).webm], public domain / Clipped

Audio

Café Regrette by Asher Fulero – YouTube Audio Library – Copyright free Drum Meditation by Jeremy Black – YouTube Audio Library – Copyright free Mysterious Strange Things by Yung Logos – YouTube Audio Library – Copyright free Digifunk by Divkid – YouTube Audio Library – Copyright free

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