Radical Access: The SFU Scholarly Publishing blog

Scholarly Publishing and Open Access blog

The latest news and answers to your questions about scholarly publishing and open access.


How Community Science opens a new way of knowledge creation: the BC Parks iNaturalist Project

Published by Alison Moore

Did you know that a hiker, birder, or beachcomber can contribute to scientific knowledge while they are exploring nature? Nature enthusiasts can upload a picture and description of plant, animal, insect, fungi or other organism through an app on their cell phone. This article introduces a trend called Community (or Citizen) Science, the website iNaturalist that uses Community Science to identify plant and animal species, and the role of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) in creating easy to use visualizations.