{"id":18491,"date":"2025-10-24T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/library\/?p=18491"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:23:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:23:52","slug":"open-access-week-co-creating-shared-knowledge-through-citizen-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/library\/2025\/10\/24\/open-access-week-co-creating-shared-knowledge-through-citizen-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Access Week: Co-creating shared knowledge through citizen science"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year’s Open Access Week theme, ‘Who owns our knowledge?’, invites us to reflect on how knowledge is created, where it comes from, whose voices are included and who has access to it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Citizen science<\/span><\/a> exemplifies how knowledge creation can be democratised and individual voices can be meaningfully included in research. It enables the public to contribute to scientific discovery through activities such as observing wildlife, collecting environmental data and helping to analyse research findings. and individual voices can be meaningfully included in research. It enables the public to contribute to scientific discovery through activities such as observing wildlife, collecting environmental data and helping to analyse research findings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Open access databases that support citizen science\u2014like the Atlas of Living Australia and eBird ensure these contributions are freely available to everyone, including researchers, policymakers and community members.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Atlas of Living Australia<\/span><\/b><\/a> serves as the Australian node of the <\/span>Global Biodiversity Information Facility<\/span><\/a> and is an essential resource for researchers, practitioners, government agencies and community groups. Citizen scientists can upload observations, assist in digitising museum collections and utilise data collection tools for their own projects.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

eBird<\/span><\/b><\/a> allows birdwatchers worldwide to submit their sightings and explore data from across the globe. Because both platforms are open access, the data remains freely accessible and reusable, placing control of this scientific knowledge in the hands of the community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent open-access publications demonstrate how Griffith researchers are leveraging platforms like the Atlas of Living Australia and eBird:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n