The Internet allows people to collaborate like never before and the federal government wants to take advantage of that engagement potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, as with all government initiatives, a move toward using crowdsourcing and citizen science has to be done within a comprehensive policy framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
In the memo, Holdren notes the economic benefits of citizen science and crowdsourcing, citing a University of Washington study stating that contributions from 1.3 million to 2.3 million volunteers resulted in some $2.5 billion in value annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Citizen science and crowdsourcing projects can enhance scientific research and address societal needs while drawing on previously underutilized resources,” Holdren wrote. “Other benefits include providing hands-on learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and connecting members of the public directly to federal agency missions and to each other.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The coordinator will work with OSTP, the Federal Community of Practice for Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (CCS) and the General Services Administration, which is standing up a new public database of projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agencies will have 180 days to start contributing to the GSA database, which will act as a central portal for citizens interested in getting involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OSTP and CCS will have metadata requirements for the database ready within 90 days, according to the memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New memo sets requirements for engaging the public to achieve agency goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2349],"class_list":["post-12821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management","category-it-networks"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XVH2NJMK4ZAPPE2TP4IBNC5HPY","arc_canonical_url":"\/it-networks\/2015\/10\/01\/administration-issues-new-mandates-on-crowdsourcing-citizen-science\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n