How can we ensure our Citizen Observatory practices are equitable, diverse and inclusive (EDI)?
[before, during, after]
Why is it relevant?
EDI is not simply a buzzword or a box to be checked; it is a fundamental value that should underpin all the activities of a CO. Understanding and embracing the principles of EDI will contribute to the success and impact of the CO. By investing time and effort into these areas, communities can foster a culture of fairness, respect, and collaboration that enables them to jointly tackle complex challenges with greater effectiveness and create a more just and inclusive society.
Striving for equity means recognizing and addressing the systemic biases and barriers that exist within our society. By understanding and acknowledging these disparities, we can actively work towards creating a level playing field, where everyone has an equal opportunity to participate, contribute, and benefit from the initiatives of the CO. This involves promoting inclusivity and ensuring that marginalised voices are heard and valued.
Furthermore, embracing diversity enriches our collective experience and fosters innovation and creativity. By actively seeking out and welcoming individuals from diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences we can tap into a wealth of knowledge and insights that would otherwise remain untapped. This leads to more robust decision-making, increased adaptability, and a greater capacity for problem-solving.
On a final note, it is important to keep in mind that the roots of inequity and injustice are systemic and cannot be solved with a single action. Nevertheless, being aware of the different issues and striving for equity and inclusion are some of the necessary steps to create a cultural change.
How can it be done?
Perform an EDI ‘health check’ within the CO
✓ One of the first steps is to examine how your CO is currently dealing with inclusivity. There are checklists that can support the team in reflecting how equitable and inclusive the current processes are. Other tools can help the team discuss key questions about user involvement and how they relate with priorities from the community.
✓ Discuss key questions with your team/CO to find out about your inclusive user involvement.
✓ Design the programme in line with community priorities.
✓ Examples (in resources):
SOCIO-BEE Inclusion and Non-discrimination Checklist
BTUS Practical Guide: Towards inclusive user involvement
BTUS Electronic Guide: Some Key questions for inclusive involvement
Pandya’s Framework for engaging diverse communities in Citizen Science
Review communications and activities for inclusive language and the removal of barriers
The language, design, and format used in your CO communication plays a significant role in accessibility. Using inclusive communication will increase awareness of barriers to inclusivity in general, which in turn will ensure your activities and development work are also inclusive.
Inclusive language goes beyond the use of different languages (such as Greek, Catalan, Spanish, English, Dutch and Swedish in the case of the CitiObs Frontrunners) and focuses also on registers and the vocabulary used. This is not only to appeal to different groups but to ensure no offensive or discriminatory language is used. Next to the contents of the text, the way in which it is presented can have a huge impact on inclusivity. The fonts and colours used should be accessible for different groups. For example, the colours should be chosen so that the design is accessible to colour-blind people; or having large fonts to facilitate reading for those who cannot read small letters. All communications must be fit for purpose, which entails considering the COs audience and the groups the team wants to reach out to.
COs can train their teams on inclusive communication and to be aware of the language used as well as accessibility considerations such as fonts and colours. This awareness on inclusiveness extends to how activities are organised and the work of the CO in general. Given that language plays such a big role in shaping our views and the world around us, focusing on it will aid the CO's team to become more aware of how inclusive the activities are.
✓ Make your communication and activities inclusive
Train your team about inclusive (science) communication.
Create consent forms that are easy and accessible.
Check that your use of language is inclusive.
Take into consideration accessibility issues (fonts, colours).
Be mindful of the different backgrounds of participants when recruiting and onboarding.
Organise activities (e.g. meetings, events, workshops, training) as inclusive as possible considering the physical space, the background knowledge that is assumed people have, and the language that is used.
Examples (in resources):
The GlobeScape “Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) in Science Communication” workshop
The SensJus Visual Consent Form
The OXFAM Inclusive Language Guide
The CitiMeasure Guidelines on Competencies for Digital Inclusion
The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Making a Change: A guide to running successful and accessible workshops and training
BTUS Practical Guide: Towards inclusive user involvement
BTUS Electronic Guide 2: Making activities accessible
BTUS Electronic Guide 3: Positive meetings and get togethers
Case study
(Not yet identified)
Useful resources
CHECKLIST: The SOCIO-BEE Inclusion and Non-discrimination Checklist is designed to help Citizen Science projects reflect on inclusion processes and equality at all stages. The aim of this questionnaire is not only to encourage reflection and debate on the need to take into account the criteria of inclusion and equality in citizen science but also to help projects and the people involved in them to improve their dynamics of participation and management of the knowledge generated. [Clarification on the missing link – the checklist is currently under its final review and will be published later this year in the SOCIO-BEE website. We will add the proper link in the online version of this toolkit].
TOOL: The SensJus Visual Consent Form is a tool where you can access and edit template forms that combine visuals and text for consent forms and for informing participants of the project. The aim is to address participants who may have a low literacy level, for whom the standard consent forms and information sheets might fail to achieve an aware participation and informed consent. The forms also illustrate to prospect participants their rights as (research) data subjects according to the GDPR. These forms, co-developed by the SensJus project with a visual artist, are available as non-commercial creative commons resources.
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References
SOCIO-BEE. (2023). Inclusion and Non-discrimination Checklist. Document under review, link will be placed at a later stage.
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