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Citizen Science and Service Learning

Members of the public are often eager to participate in archeology outreach projects as citizen scientists.

Citizen science is the voluntary (volunteer) participation of the public in structured scientific activities that inform resource management decisions. It is known by many terms, including: service learning, crowdsourcing, community science, participatory action research, co-creation of knowledge, public archeology, among others. Citizen scientists help the NPS to fulfill its mission and its science, education, and stewardship goals.

Archeological field schools, public excavations, artifact processing workshops, site monitoring programs, and contributing research projects are some of the many ways that citizen scientists can assist archeologists. Parks may also initiate projects to draw on the public's expertise, such as engaging metal detectorists to conduct surveys. Due to the sensitivity of archeological resources, every citizen scientist must be trained and supervised.

The NPS Citizen Science Steering Committee responds to the field's citizen science needs by developing guidance, training, communication tools, and more. Contact the NPS Citizen Science Steering Committee by email at < citizen_science_steering_cmtee@nps.gov > .

Legal Authorities

NPS citizen science projects are first and foremost authorized by the Organic Act of 1916.

The Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of 2017 (15 U.S. Code § 3724) authorizes federal agencies to invest in and use citizen science to advance agency missions and stimulate and facilitate broader public participation in science. Among the benefits noted in the Act are: “accelerating scientific research, increasing cost effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars, addressing societal needs, providing hands-on learning in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics], and connecting members of the public directly to Federal science agency missions and to each other.”

NPS Citizen Science

For a NPS project to count as citizen science, it must:

Be motivated by a scientific question or management need;
Rely on data collection and analysis to draw conclusions;
Contribute new information that goes through quality-control processes, is stored in available databases, and informs resource conservation or visitor enjoyment consistent with the NPS mission; and
Be subject to the same policies and procedures that apply to studies conducted by professional scientists (e.g. permits, data management, peer review and administrative review, etc.).

Best Practices

When creating or managing a citizen science program, consider the following best practices:

A professional NPS archeologist (as defined in Appendix E of Directors Order #28) must supervise the project.
If an archeologist is not available, a park should not host a program.
Some projects, such as the curation of artifacts, may be supervised by professionals in appropriate fields.
Citizen scientists and NPS archeologists may co-create projects, but NPS archeologists must drive the research. Citizen scientists must not make resource management decisions.
NPS archeologists are responsible for the management and quality of data.
Volunteers should not work unsupervised or deviate from an archeologist's instructions.
Archeologists should develop a training program and guidebook, and discuss clear expectations with volunteers.
Be sure archeological resource protection law is understood.
Recognize the contributions of volunteers, who often feel excited and privileged to conduct archeology on NPS lands.
Volunteers may publish findings, but should do so through an agreement with NPS. NPS retains control over the subject matter, especially sensitive data.

Citizen science programs can benefit, in particular, from avocational or amateur archeologists who do archeology as a hobby and not as a profession, but they vary greatly in skill level and commitment. Because they come with a skill set and a deeper knowledge, they can be assigned more complex tasks, but NPS staff must retain control over decisionmaking in keeping with NPS policy and procedure.