Inclusive Digital Citizen Science: a technology-driven applied linguistics project within a disability studies framework (DigInCiteS)

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires signatories to ensure the full participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society. Digital citizen science, as an emerging participatory methodology that enables the active engagement of the public in scientific research tasks, offers significant potential to enhance inclusivity in research processes while simultaneously presenting the challenge of guaranteeing equitable access for all individuals, including people with disabilities.

The DigInCiteS project seeks to address this challenge. The project is a ZHAW-UZH joint initiative that aims to lay the basis for new insights into technology-driven inclusive citizen science research. More specifically, the project seeks to 

1. test, evaluate and improve the accessibility of existing citizen science digital tools in the context of an inclusive applied linguistics research project, and 
2. develop a set of best practices for inclusive digital citizen science by conducting research with adults with intellectual disabilities.

The project is expected to provide scope for replication and upscaling of outcomes in other inclusive digital citizen science initiatives across disciplines. The project’s innovative potential and impact will be maximised through dissemination events, as well as publications and conference presentations.