Platforms, Boundaries, and Trust: Assessing Participatory Approaches to Freshwater Science and Monitoring

The growth in citizen science’s popularity during the first decade of the twentieth century occurred amidst a period of optimism about the collaborative and participatory features of the apps and platforms of a “Web 2.0” era. Mobile devices, sensors, and big data analytics tools were heralded as “Science 2.0,” blurring the boundaries between experts and amateurs, creating new modes of public participation in science, and increasing public trust in science. This dissertation draws on interdisciplinary theory from Science & Technology Studies (STS), ecology, environmental management, platform studies, and environmental sociology to investigate the linkages between citizen science apps and platforms and public participation in science. Resisting a technological determinist account that sees technology as an external autonomous force that causes social change, this dissertation builds on work in STS to elucidate the social contexts in which these technologies are developed and deployed. Chapter 1 introduces my research context by providing a conceptual overview of the different types of participation that are solicited from citizen scientists. Chapter 2 produces a critical literature review of the sociological concept of “boundary work” in citizen science to consider how the technologies of the Web 2.0 era may be reinforcing older divisions between amateurs and experts by automating aspects of participation. Chapter 3 identifies characteristics of a process of “platformization” which might be underway in freshwater citizen science. In Chapter 4, I produce a case study of one freshwater citizen science program, which does not rely on the apps and platforms of the Web 2.0 era. I present the results of forty interviews with participants in the Ontario Lake Partner Program to explore volunteer perspectives on the ways that citizen science might build or undermine trust in science. By interviewing participants in a citizen science program that uses conventional methods of data collection, we can gain insights into potential tradeoffs that may arise if freshwater monitoring programs become increasingly mediated by apps and platforms. In Chapter 5, I produce a summary and conclusion of my overall argument, research contributions, limitations, and directions for future research.