CITIZEN SCIENCE AS A SERVICE? A REVIEW OF MULTI-PROJECT CITIZEN SCIENCE PLATFORMS.

The upswing of projects, conducting citizen science (CS) by means of ICT has resulted in the development of numerous digital participation platforms. Recently platformization as a trend away from individual project platforms towards the domination of larger platforms enabling the support of generic citizen science initiatives could be observed. Through their design and functionality these multi-project platforms thus influence the way research initiatives can be conducted in a participatory manner. By performing a structured artifact review of multi-project citizen science platforms on the market, we provide clarity towards the question, which multi-project platforms exist and how they support research projects. The review identified 16 platforms, that assist the conduction of generic citizen science projects. Demonstrating significant differences in functionality and features of the investigated platforms, the review underlines that the choice of multi-project CS platform presents a key decision for project initiators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]