Disruption by re-positioning
Die inzwischen ermüdende Weisheit, dass kein Schatten ohne Licht und keine Wirkung ohne Nebenwirkung ist, letztere hauptsächlich bei Pillen und Kräutern, könnte zu einem formidablen Geschäftsmodell werden.
Towards flourishing Citizen Science
Citizen science, the active participation of non-professional scientists in academic research, is gaining momentum worldwide. Lay people work together with scientist to classify galaxies1, to explore the origins and diversity of languages2, keep tabs on flu outbreaks3 and determine conditions for health aging4. Citizen science not only quenches man's natural thirst for knowledge, but also helps advancing general scientific literacy and bridges the gap between an increasingly critical public and academic research. In this way, it reflects science's overall change towards more openness, transparency and societal responsibility. Read more
Citizen Science und Sozialwissenschaften – so nahe, und doch so fern …
Paradoxerweise, oder gerade nicht, ist Citizen Sience (CS) bis heute in den Sozialwissenschaften weitgehend Fremdwort und Fremdkörper geblieben. Während in den Naturwissenschaften CS bei Erhebungen zur Tiervielfalt im urbanen Raum, zu Migration von Zugvögeln, zur Verbreitung von Krankheitserregern der Stechmücken oder meteorologischen Bestandsaufnahme erfolgreich zum Zuge kommt, lassen sich für die Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften leider nur wenige nennenswerte Pendants finden, man denke etwa an eine grossangelegte Studie zum Brauchtum in Deutschland in der Zwischenkriegszeit.
To the Reader
…reads the title of the famous poem by Baudelaire, angry, cynical, and depressive. Hence, that may not be the right way to welcome you, dear reader. How and whom shall we welcome in a blog? This new type of IT-based medium creates a new type of “counterpart” as well: the reader-writer or writer-reader. So, let me warmly welcome you again, writer-reader and seduce you to participate.Read more
Holiday experiences
In my welcome note to this blog I focused on an audience, which is more from politics and management. But, there is a flip side to the coin. Only if there is a deep societal trust and interest in science, politicians and managers may base and justify their visions and decisions on scientific evidence. One way to foster interest and trust of citizens into science is to support “citizen science”. While there will be more blog posts on that topic soon, as well as upcoming reports let me shortly spend some time on how this blog will contribute: