Review of Technology Use in Animal-Related Citizen Science Projects

A scoping review of 153 studies examines the challenges and opportunities for coordinators using digital technologies in animal-related citizen science projects. The review, conducted by Sangita Ganesh and following the PRISMA framework, was published on figshare in May 2026. It analyzes coordinator experiences with technologies like social media, mobile apps, and web platforms.

Use Cases

• Identify common challenges in technology adoption for citizen science based on reported issues like accessibility and data quality.
• Analyze the prevalence of different technologies used in projects based on the finding that social media was the most common (52%).
• Study decision-making processes in project design based on the description of predominantly top-down technology implementation.
• Investigate reported benefits of technology for project coordination, such as customization capabilities and low-cost group organization.

Strengths

• Based on a systematic review of 153 studies, providing a synthesized evidence base.
• Explicitly documents the review methodology (PRISMA framework) and search sources (Web of Science, Proquest, Scopus).
• Provides specific quantitative findings, such as social media being used in 80 studies (52%).

Limitations

• The dataset is a single 88.2 KB PDF document; the underlying extracted data (e.g., coded themes) is not provided in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Row count and column-level documentation for any extracted data are unknown, limiting direct analysis.
• The review highlights a geographic bias, with very few studies from the Global South considering local community needs.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Sangita Ganesh.

Collection Method

Scoping review following PRISMA framework, with data extracted from 153 included studies.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-21 05:42:41; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, but with noted under-representation of the Global South.