Concealed Inequality and Embedded Control: A Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis of Citizen Science Digital Platforms

Digital citizen science is expected to achieve equal dialogue between scientists and the public, and further the democratization of science. However, through critical technocultural discourse analysis of three Chinese citizen science digital platforms and interviews with their users, it was found that the interfaces of these platforms are embedded with scientific ideological styles and “boundary work” features. Those platforms tend to frame the public as ignorant data collection tools waiting to be guided by scientists, while scientists are framed as educators worthy of admiration. Therefore, the role of digital citizen science in democratization of science should not be overestimated.