Communicating citizen science: strategies for different target audiences.

Abstract

Applying communication strategies to citizen science initiatives aimed at different target audiences involves planning a set of elements that are crucial to efficient communication. To this end, the newsera project accompanied several citizen science projects in Portugal, Spain and Italy, which co-created, together with quadruple helix target audiences, customized communication strategies tailored to their objectives and needs. These projects were monitored during the implementation of communication strategies, allowing to identify difficulties and challenges potentially relevant to other citizen science initiatives. Through different rounds of work with the projects and various follow-up and mentoring meetings, information was gathered on the challenges encountered by the projects underway in Portugal, which is explored in this article. Strategies such as social media, websites, or training initiatives may be impacted by lack of funding, time, or human resources. Finding ways to facilitate the involvement of different target audiences with citizen science practices and projects is the main need concluded by this article.