Citizen Science
The izeltlabuak.hu website primarily focuses on arthropods found in Hungary. This entry also deals with Hungarian fauna.
What is Citizen Science?
Citizen Science (community science) is a research approach in which the scientific community involves laypeople – volunteers, students, and local communities – in the research process. Participants contribute to scientific projects through data collection, observations, and analysis, whether it's environmental monitoring, biological surveys, or technological research.
Characteristics of Citizen Science
1. Community Participation
The foundation of citizen science projects is the active involvement of laypeople in the scientific process. Through voluntary data collection and observations, broad social participation is realized, where everyone can contribute to scientific knowledge.
2. Scientific Quality
Citizen science projects ensure scientific quality through expert review and validation. They must meet strict data quality requirements to produce publishable scientific results.
3. Mutual Benefit
Citizen science is beneficial for both science and the community. Scientific education takes place, community awareness grows, and larger databases are created that are useful for both parties.
4. Open Access
The principle of citizen science projects is open access. Data is publicly available, methodology is transparent, and services are free, so everyone can access scientific results.
izeltlabuak.hu as a Citizen Science Project
izeltlabuak.hu is an excellent example of citizen science projects in Hungary. The platform meets citizen science criteria in the following ways:
1. Community Participation
The platform ensures the involvement of laypeople in the scientific process through the active participation of more than 5,732 users. Through voluntary data collection and observations, broad social participation is realized, where nature enthusiasts, photographers, and researchers collaborate in understanding the Hungarian arthropod world.
2. Scientific Quality
Participating experts identify the observations, thus ensuring expert review and validation. Publishable scientific results are produced that meet strict data quality requirements during the processing of 516,000+ observations and 881,000+ images.
3. Mutual Benefit
The platform conducts scientific education, increases community awareness, and creates larger databases. Both science and the community benefit: users learn about nature while collecting valuable scientific data.
4. Open Access
Data is publicly available, methodology is transparent, and services are free. Data collected by the platform serves as a useful information source for scientific work and contributes to biodiversity monitoring.
Benefits of Citizen Science
Citizen science projects offer numerous advantages from a scientific perspective. Through thousands of volunteer data collectors, larger amounts of data can be gathered, broader geographic and temporal coverage can be achieved, while being more cost-effective than professional research and enabling real-time monitoring.
From a social perspective, citizen science results in community learning and increased scientific literacy. It increases environmental awareness and supports nature conservation, while creating community cohesion through collaboration for common goals. This democratic approach to science enables everyone to contribute to the scientific process.
Summary
izeltlabuak.hu is a successful citizen science project that demonstrates how to combine community participation and scientific quality. The platform helps in understanding the Hungarian arthropod world while collecting valuable scientific data and conducting education. This approach not only serves the advancement of science but also the increase of society's scientific literacy.
