Scaling Up: Citizen Science Engagement and Impacts Beyond the Individual

As the application of citizen science expands to address increasingly complex social problems (e.g., community health), there is opportunity to consider higher-order engagement beyond that of individual members of a community. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to foster public engagement in science through Smoke Sense, which is a citizen science research project that aims to reduce the public health burden of wildland fire smoke. Smoke Sense is facilitated by a mobile app that shares information on air quality, smoke, and health, and collects individual reports of smoke exposure and concurrent health symptoms. However, Smoke Sense is also generating interest among organizations that are working in this problem domain at the local, state, national, and tribal levels. The interest in the citizen science project at the organizational level led us to ask: What would motivate members of organizations to engage in a citizen science project like Smoke Sense, and how do they envision that engagement could improve public health? To explore these questions, we collected data through interviews with individuals who were engaged in Smoke Sense through their work at local, state, and tribal environmental and health agencies in the western US. An inductive, thematic analysis suggests that individuals' motivations stem from their experiences and challenges with smoke in their different roles (e.g., personal, professional, and community member). Respondents envisioned leveraging both the app itself and the data generated by individuals in their region to enhance and support their existing outreach and communication efforts related to smoke. Citizen science projects that aim to address issues in complex problem domains should be designed to complement the work of partner organizations.