Citizen Science

Citizen science is a research approach that engages non-expert members of the public in collecting, processing, or analyzing scientific data, often through purpose-built interactive tools and platforms. In accessibility contexts, citizen science methods have been applied to crowdsource data about the physical accessibility of urban environments, such as sidewalk conditions and building accessibility, by training volunteers to identify and label barriers through web-based tools. The approach can dramatically reduce the cost and increase the scale of accessibility data collection compared to expert-only methods, though it requires careful design of training materials and quality assurance mechanisms to ensure data reliability.