This document discusses the lack of language diversity in citizen science projects and proposes ways to make citizen science more inclusive on a global scale. It notes that most projects are only in English or one or two other major languages, limiting their reach. The document suggests that translating introductory materials and promoting projects through local channels in other countries could bring in many more linguistically diverse participants. It provides an example of how translation and local outreach increased participation from non-English speaking countries in a CERN computing challenge. It advocates for the use of citizen translators and a centralized platform to make citizen science content accessible to more people worldwide.

1. “Citizen Tongues” – enriching the spoken
languages of Citizen Science
Egle Marija Ramanauskaite
emramanauskaite@gmail.com
seplute
Citizen science language diversity is rather poor...
- Projects set up in the English speaking world are usually limited to
English or 1-2 other major languages
- Projects' websites, tutorials, documentation is not understandable
to non-English speaking audience
- The majority of projects are overlooked or rejected by those who
lack English skills
- The popularization of citizen science throughout the world is stalled
Translation & local outreach goes a long way
Experience during CERN Public Computing Challenge 2015 (Citizen
Cyberlab initiave) demonstrated that translation of introductory
material and it's promotion in the native channels of each country can
bring in a myriad of new linguistically diverse users.
In the end, the volunteer computing challenge, which is otherwise
dominated by users from UK, USA, Germany and France, was joined by
users from India, Lithuania, Greece, Italy, Turkey, among others.
Needless to say automatic translation tools (such as Google
Translate plugin) are not adequate nor appealing to potential citizen
scientists.
The citizen science World.
Screenshot from CERN Public Computing Challenge 2015, analytics page.
Content uploaded in a
universal format
Content divided into
microtasks
Have ideas how to make this happen? Let's do it together!
Citizen translators able
to join, translate & learn
Accesibility = inclusiveness
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To deposit project content
To recruit citizen translators
To search for projects in your
native language!
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