The specificity of the current unde

The specificity of the current understanding of “citizen science,” as a mode of public participation in science, is the claim that amateurs (“general public”) can contribute to the production of scientific knowledge, with education as an associated goal or a by-product. A variety of other terms have been used to designate practices that fit, at least partially, the current definition of “citizen science,” including “participatory research,” “communitybased research,” “science 2.0,” “open science,” “amateur science,” and many others. Though the meaning and history of these terms do not perfectly overlap, they all encompass participatory practices aiming at including non-professionals in the making of scientific knowledge (the notions of “amateur,” “lay person,” “general public” or “non-professional” are of course problematic and will be discussed below). “Citizen science” is best understood as a recent and increasingly fashionable label applied to a subset of initiatives promoting “public participation in scientific research” (Shirk et al., 2012).