Dear GOSH community,
Recently, @rafaella.antoniou and I received a small grant to develop an open science learning module as part of the EU-Citizen.Science project funded by the European Union. And we are looking for people to test this module!
Rather than going into details on specific techniques, this module will try to stimulate the learner’s imagination on which aspects of their work could be done as open science. The aspects could include the sources of hardware and software, but also other things like data and media outputs from a project. And, of course, I’ve added a section on open source licensing because that’s my obsession. 
Officially, the primary audience for this open science module are “citizen science practitioners”. But here citizen science is very broadly defined. For example, if you run an open source hardware project that has a community of any size (i.e. you aren’t the only developer), that works. With this definition, I know many of us on this forum would count!
I really hope to get people from diverse backgrounds to test the module, and there are no geographic (or other) limitations on who can help. Here are the tasks:
- Click through the whole module and make sure everything works.
- Provide a critical eye to the module structure and content.
- Put your thoughts into a feedback form.
The whole process will probably take 1-2 hours of your time, and ideally you can do the testing during 22-29 September 2021. (there is a little leeway and I’ll do my best to work with your schedule)
Please respond if you’re willing to help out!!
By the way, as a first step, you can sign up for an account on the EU-Citizen.Science learning platform here (you will also see other interesting learning modules there):
https://moodle.eu-citizen.science/
Then send me your user name and I’ll add you to my module next week. Your feedback will be gratefully acknowledged.
I believe this module is of general interest to GOSH, and since all its contents will be released under CC BY 4.0, they can serve as material for GOSH to use for other purposes. For example, my first interaction on this forum was a discussion with @amchagas on an open source course back in 2017. My open science module definitely has material useful for a course like that!
Thank you for your consideration. 
Here’s the module summary:
This is a high-level, 1 hour 45 minutes course introducing the ethical imperative for conducting citizen science as open science, including what open science is and how its products and processes can be incorporated into all aspects of citizen science.
The primary audience are citizen science practitioners such as those already managing a project or starting a new one. However, no prior knowledge about open science is assumed and anyone with an interest in open science are encouraged to take this course.
After completing this module, you will be able to:
- Describe the ethical, scientific, social, and legal imperatives for practising open science
- Clarify common misconceptions of open science (e.g. it is not just about publishing data)
- Describe the products of open science and the collaborative and inclusive processes they enable
- Identify which aspects of open science are and are not already implemented in your citizen science project
- Evaluate and choose tools to implement open science for all components of your citizen science project including text, images, data, software, hardware, and other media
And here’s a quote from the module - the story of “stone soup” from Wikipedia - illustrating the benefits of collaboration:
Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the very hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making “stone soup”, which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit of garnish, which they are missing, to improve the flavor.
The villager, who anticipates enjoying a share of the soup, does not mind parting with a few carrots, so these are added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not yet reached its full potential. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient, like potatoes, onions, cabbages, peas, celery, tomatoes, corn, meat, milk, butter, salt and pepper. Finally, the stone (being inedible) is removed from the pot, and a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by travellers and villagers alike. Although the travellers have thus tricked the villagers into sharing their food with them, they have successfully transformed it into a tasty meal which they share with the donors.
I hope this piqued your interest!
!
