Community science and the value-free ideal

Abstract Community science—the participation of people who are not professional scientists in scientific research—has enormous potential benefits. This paper addresses community science that is organized around large, stable, digital platforms. One of several commonly expressed worries concerns the relationship among community science, values, and objectivity. In this paper I analyze ways in which the value-free ideal (VFI) functions in scientific and extra-academic communities engaged in community science. I argue that expressions of the VFI can promote objectivity by facilitating interactions within and across these communities, even if the VFI itself is unrealistic. The paper emphasizes the importance of a fully social model of community science.